Musicology & Ethnomusicology

Diversity of approach meets breadth of expertise

Diversity of approach and breadth of expertise distinguish graduate study in musicology and ethnomusicology at the UW–Madison. Our commitment to interdisciplinary research encourages students to develop original approaches that draw on recent work in history, anthropology, and cultural theory.

Our graduate program seeks both to deepen and widen the domain of musical discourse, encourage students to follow their own intellectual inclinations, and discover their own musical voices. Students are encouraged to become active in their chosen fields at both the regional and national level.

Degrees offered

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Admissions

Please see the Graduate Admissions page for detailed information on application requirements. Be sure to review the Graduate Application Guide as well as the additional information for the Musicology area.

Funding
M.A. students are generally offered the Leland Coon Musicology Fellowship in their first year, followed by a Teaching Assistantship in the Musicology area (teaching sections of the undergraduate curriculum) for their second year. In order to increase your chances of being offered funding for your degree, please describe your teaching qualifications in your Statement of Purpose.

Degree Requirements

The M.A. program in historical musicology encourages graduate students to gain a broad background in musical repertories and musicological methods. Beyond a full complement of courses surveying particular periods of European music history, we offer courses in American music, popular musics, African-American music, gender studies, and performance practice. Students at the master’s level are also encouraged to broaden their backgrounds in music theory and interdisciplinary options outside of the School of Music. The two-year program culminates in a thesis, usually an expansion of work begun as a seminar paper, as well as a comprehensive examination covering all periods of music history. A reading knowledge of German is required for the M.A. degree.

See M.A. Musicology degree worksheet for details. This is the document your advisor will use to keep track of your degree progress.
For detailed information on exams, recitals, etc., please visit the Graduate Advising KnowledgeBase. Be sure to check out the School of Music Graduate Student Handbook.

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Admissions

Funding
Ph.D. students are generally offered the Leland Coon Musicology Fellowship in their first year, followed by a Teaching Assistantship in the Musicology area (teaching sections of the undergraduate curriculum) in subsequent years. In order to increase your chances of being offered funding for your degree, please describe your teaching qualifications in your Statement of Purpose.

Degree Requirements

In the Ph.D. program, doctoral students immerse themselves within the various critical methodologies of the discipline, choose an area of research specialization, and pursue intensive studies in a related minor area. Recent seminars have addressed The Earliest Motets, The Tams-Whitmark Collection, Rousseau musicien, the Concerti of J.S. Bach, Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, and Stravinsky’s Ballets. After two years of coursework, doctoral students write the preliminary examination, demonstrating detailed knowledge of a 200-year period of music history and scholarship surrounding the student’s area of specialization. A reading knowledge of German and one other foreign language is required for the Ph.D. degree. We regard teaching experience as a vital part of graduate training, and many of our students serve as Teaching Assistants at some point during their studies.

See Ph.D. Historical Musicology degree worksheet for details. This is the document your advisor will use to keep track of your degree progress.
For detailed information on exams, recitals, etc., please visit the Graduate Advising KnowledgeBase. Be sure to check out the School of Music Graduate Student Handbook.

Doctoral Minor – Required for all Doctoral programs

The purpose of the doctoral minor is to add breadth and depth to the D.M.A or Ph.D degree. To insure coherence a minor program must be approved by the appropriate department, a student’s advisor, or the Director of Graduate Studies, and must include courses at the 300-level or above. Typically, a minor requires 12 credits of work.

Students have a variety of options, including completing an internal minor within the School of Music (e.g., Ph.D. in music theory who minors in clarinet performance), completing a minor in a department outside the School of Music (e.g., a D.M.A. in horn performance who minors in Women’s Studies or a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology who minors in East Asian studies).

Students may, in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies, devise a distributed minor that brings together courses from a variety of departments around a particular topic or area of interest. For example, a D.M.A. student in voice devises a minor in vocal health that includes courses in communicative disorders, or a Ph.D. student in musicology devises a minor in Medieval History that includes courses in art history, history, and languages.

Pursue imaginative research with faculty colleagues

Our small and flexible program provides a supportive environment within which to pursue imaginative research grounded in close interaction and cooperation among graduate students and their faculty colleagues.