For More Information
Graduate Program Chair in Composition and Theory, Yu-Hui Chang
Graduate Program Chair in Musicology, Eric Chafe
Joint MA Advisor in Music & Women's and Gender Studies, Allan R. Keiler
For more information about admissions, financial aid, and student services, please visit the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Graduate Programs Overview
The department of music offers graduate programs in two areas: composition and theory, and musicology. The department also offers, in conjunction with the program in women's and gender studies, a joint MA in music & women's and gender studies.
Musicology faculty and students actively participate in the American Musicological Society of New England. Click here for their schedule of meetings:
Composition and Theory
There are three degree programs in composition and theory: M.A. (normally one year), M.F.A. (normally two years), and Ph.D (normally two or more years following the completion of M.F.A. requirements). The programs are designed to help students develop a command of the craft of composition. That objective is supported by studies in theory and analysis and in electro-acoustic music. Student's compositions are performed on the New Music Brandeis concerts and by ensembles-in-residence.
Musicology
There are three degree programs in musicology: M.A. (normally one year), M.F.A. (normally two years), and Ph.D (normally two or more years following the completion of M.F.A. requirements). The programs offer an integrated approach to the understanding of the nature, structural basis, and historical development of music. Students may elect to emphasize or concentrate in music history, or in theory and analysis. In the music history program, a variety of techniques and methodologies, including source studies, style development, and historiography, are applied to different repertories and historical problems. The theory and analysis program features work in the history of theory as well as analytic work in the context of theory construction involving the evaluation of pretonal, tonal, and contemporary analytic models. Courses consist of proseminars and seminars: proseminars survey an array of topics illustrating the representative avenues of research and methodological approaches and seminars typically concentrate on a single topic.
Music & Women's and Gender Studies
We offer an interdisciplinary program with women's and gender studies, leading to a joint M.A. in music & women's and gender studies. Topics include feminist theory, gender studies, cultural history, and the investigation of work by and about women.
Please note: the Music & Women's and Gender Studies Program will not be accepting any applicants for the 2013-14 academic year.