Doctor of Philosophy (Music)

Program Requirements

Students must complete a minimum of 18 units in graduate-level course work. Completion of a thesis is also required.

Coursework

A minimum of six 3-unit graduate-level courses to be chosen in consultation with the supervisor.
PhD students are required to take 9 units from the following proseminar courses unless they have received prior credit in courses of similar description.
Additional coursework may be recommended by the supervisory committee after the first year.
- Students who hold a BMus or BA (Hon) in Music must complete the core of courses relevant to the MA.
- Students who have not taken a bibliography and research methods course (or equivalent) will be required to take MUSIC 505 . This course will not be considered as one of the approved graduate-level courses.

Thesis

Registration in 900-level THES. All PhD students must present a thesis embodying the results of their research on a topic approved by the supervisory committee.

Qualifying Requirements

All PhD programs require the student to complete qualifying requirements, normally by the end of the second year after completion of the coursework and language requirements, and prior to the oral candidacy exam. There are three qualifying requirements:

A 45 minute public presentation on a piece of music
Preparation of three subject area annotated bibliographies relevant to the dissertation topic
Preparation of a dissertation proposal

Candidacy Exam

All PhD programs require candidacy (oral) examinations. Students will proceed to the candidacy examination once they have passed their qualifying requirements.

Language Requirements

Students are required to demonstrate proficiency in one approved language other than English appropriate to the area of research and approved by the student’s supervisory committee. Course work undertaken to satisfy this requirement will not be credited toward the program. Students must satisfy the language requirement prior to the qualifying and candidacy examinations.

Residence Requirements

The minimum period of residence is two academic years of full-time attendance at the University of Alberta.

Length of Program

The time required to complete the program will vary with the individual candidate; however, a minimum of three years of study and research is normally required.

The maximum time to complete the PhD program as set by the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies is six years.