Academic Programs Catalog

College of Music

Graduate Study

Music Education - Doctor of Philosophy

In addition to meeting the requirements of the university and of the College of Music students must meet the requirements specified below.

Admission

To be considered for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy degree program in music education, an applicant must:

  1. Submit to the College of Music his or her master's thesis, if a thesis was required for the master's degree.  An applicant who did not complete a thesis must submit a comparable sample of his or her academic or professional writing.
  2. Have completed successfully at least three years of employment as a school music teacher, as evidenced in letters of recommendation and other documents submitted in support of the application. 
To be admitted to the program on regular status, an applicant must have at least one previous degree in music education, a master's degree in music education or a related field, or a total of 30 credits of approved course work.

Students who are admitted to the doctoral program in music education must have completed each of the following graduate courses with a grade of at least 3.0 (B): two courses in either historical musicology or ethnomusicology, and one music theory course in advanced analysis. A student who has not completed such courses will be required to complete those courses, in addition to completing the courses that are required for the doctoral degree.

Guidance Committee

The student's guidance committee, which must be formed in the first year of graduate study, must consist of an advisor, who must be a music education faculty member, two additional music education faculty members, and one member of the music faculty  in the student's cognate area.

Requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Music Education

The student must:

1. Complete a minimum of 36 credits of course work as specified below:
a. Research Core 
All of the following courses (9 credits):
MUS 864 960Seminar in Measurement in Music Education 3
MUS 965 Seminar in Quantitative Research in Music Education 3
MUS 966 Seminar in Qualitative Research in Music Education 3
b. Music Education Core
(1) Both of the following courses (6 credits):
MUS 962 Advanced Studies in the Philosophy of Music Education 3
MUS 967 Music Teaching and Learning Across the Lifespan 3
(2) A minimum of 2 credits from the following courses:
MUS 488 Disability Studies and Music Education 2
MUS 859 Race Issues in Music Teaching 3
MUS 860 Philosophical Considerations in Music Education 3
MUS 861 Seminar in Psychology of Music Education 3
MUS 862 Seminar in Music Curriculum and Methodology 3
MUS 863 Seminar in the Sociology of Music Education 3
MUS 888 Seminar in Disability Studies and Music Education 1
MUS 964 Seminar in College Music Teaching 2
If MUS 488 is used to satisfy this requirement, the student must enroll concurrently in MUS 888.
c. Music Cognate.  Nine credits in graduate courses in one of the following areas: composition, conducting, jazz, musicology, theory, or performance. Students may also design their own cognate within or outside of the College in consultation with their guidance committee.
d. Electives.  Nine credits in graduate courses within or outside the College of Music as approved by the student's guidance committee.
2. Demonstrate competency in teaching.  This requirement must be met by teaching a college–level music course or ensemble under the guidance of a faculty member.
3. Demonstrate competency in scholarship.  This requirement must be met by writing and submitting for publication a scholarly paper on an aspect of music education and presenting the paper at an on–campus or off-campus colloquium approved by the student's academic advisor.
4. Complete 24 credits of MUS 999 Doctoral Dissertation Research and a dissertation under the direction of a member of the music education faculty that is acceptable to the student’s guidance committee. A copy of the dissertation must be submitted to the Graduate School and to the office of the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and will be retained as part of the permanent degree record.
Academic Standards
Doctoral study presumes continuing excellence in course work. A student may accumulate no more than 6 credits with a grade below 3.0 in courses that are to be counted toward the degree.