Graduate Degrees, page 6
School of Music
Qualifying Examination
The qualifying examination for the D.M.A. is administered by the student's guidance committee. It is comprehensive, partly written and partly oral, and designed in part to test the student's fitness for independence as a performer, composer, teacher, researcher and/or scholar. The student must obtain permission from the guidance committee to take the qualifying examination and schedule it at least two months in advance to insure the committee's availability. The examination may be taken at any time during or following the final semester of course work (except dissertation or individual instruction), provided that all members of the guidance committee are available to administer it. Qualifying examinations will not be scheduled during summer sessions except under extraordinary circumstances and only with the written approval of all guidance committee members. All portions of the examination must be completed within one month.
Written examinations are prepared and read by the guidance committee. All of the student's areas of concentration, except performance, conducting and composition, will be covered in a written examination or comparable project. The examination in performance, conducting or composition normally is a public recital, evaluated by appropriate members of the guidance committee. If the written examination is judged to be satisfactory, an oral examination is then given. This examination covers in depth topics discussed in the written examinations and/or new material, particularly when a recital in one or more areas of concentration has been presented.
All members of the guidance committee must be present at the oral examination and render a judgment on the acceptability of the qualifying examinations as a whole. The examinations will be reported as passing if there is no more than one dissenting vote on the guidance committee. A student must pass both the written and oral examinations to pass the qualifying examination. A pass on the examination cannot be made contingent upon any form of additional work.
If a student fails the qualifying examination, the guidance committee may permit the student to repeat it once at a mutually satisfactory time within a period of not less than six months nor more than one year from the date of the first examination. A student may not take the qualifying examination more than twice.
Admission to Candidacy
Admission to candidacy occurs after the student has passed the qualifying examination, upon formal action of the dean of the School of Music. The dissertation, treatise, or one final recital must be completed after admission to candidacy.
Doctoral Dissertation
A dissertation based on original investigation is required of candidates in church music, composition, and music education, and a treatise is required in choral music. Either document must reveal scholarly ability, technical mastery, capacity for independent research and originality in creative thought.
Dissertation Committee
After the guidance committee recommends admission to candidacy and approves the dissertation or treatise topic, it is reduced to three members. This smaller committee guides the student through the completion of the final project. Additional members may be added at the discretion of the chair of the committee if the topic requires special expertise.
Registration
The student must register in 794 Dissertation each semester after admission to candidacy until degree requirements are completed. Registration for the dissertation in no less than two regular term semesters following admission to candidacy entitles the candidate to supervision by the dissertation committee. If the dissertation is not completed and accepted within two semesters, the candidate must register for 794 each semester thereafter until the document has been accepted. No more than eight units of credit in 794 may be accumulated regardless of the number of semesters the candidate may be required to register.
A candidate who must withdraw temporarily from registration in 794 for a semester must formally report this before the beginning of that semester to the Office of Student Services, School of Music, requesting by petition a leave of absence. During a leave of absence the candidate will not be entitled to assistance from the guidance committee or to the use of university facilities. A leave of absence does not change the candidate's responsibility for meeting the time schedules for the completion of degree requirements. Leave will be granted only under exceptional circumstances.
Format for Theses and Dissertations
All theses and dissertations submitted for requirements for graduate degrees must conform to university regulations in format and method of preparation. See