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The Doctor of Musical Arts Degree
The objective of the program leading to the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts is to provide a select number of qualified students with the highest level of professional development in the art of musical performance or the craft of musical composition, within a context of comprehensive understanding of the common body of theoretical and historical knowledge and of the literature specific to the applied major.
The Doctor of Musical Arts degree certifies that its holder is a sophisticated professional performer or composer who is able to exercise professional leadership, using his or her skills and understanding to expand existing horizons of knowledge and perception.
Admission Requirements
Students matriculating into the Doctor of Musical Arts degree program should meet the following criteria:
- A Master of Music degree or its demonstrated equivalent is a prerequisite for admission to the Doctor of Musical Arts degree program. Prior to applying to Peabody, a DMA candidate should have taken a course in Music Bibliography or its demonstrated equivalent; if not, the student will be required to enroll in 610 • 651 Bibliography.
- All applicants must pass a personal audition. It is not possible to audition for the DMA program by recording. Audition requirements by major are available on the Peabody website at www.peabody.jhu.edu/admissions or from the Admissions Office. Pre-screening recordings are required for some majors.
- All applicants must submit evidence of their research and writing skills in the form of an essay written within the previous two years. This essay, of 1,500 or more words, should be on a musical subject of the applicant’s choice. It must be typed and supported by citations and references. The essay serves as the basis of the DMA interview and should adequately reflect the applicant’s academic capability. Of particular interest to the DMA interviewing committee is evidence of a capacity for independent thinking, initiative, and ability to present, develop, and support a thesis or point of view. Four copies of the essay must be submitted to the Admissions Office by the application deadline. If the essay is not submitted by the application deadline, the application is considered incomplete, and the applicant must wait until the next audition period for admission consideration. Graduates of other Peabody programs are not exempt from this requirement.
- At the time of audition, the DMA applicant will be scheduled for an interview with members of the Peabody faculty. The purpose of this 15– to 20-minute interview is to ascertain the applicant’s suitability for the academic aspects of the DMA program. The meeting also provides an opportunity for the faculty to assess the applicant’s verbal skills, and to discuss the applicant’s particular interests and motivation in pursuing the degree. A portion of the interview will relate to the essay submitted with the application.
- At the time of auditions, all applicants take music theory examinations, written and aural and a music history exam in which they write essays chosen from a list of topics in the history of Western music. These examinations are used to evaluate the applicant both for admissions and for placement in graduate courses.
Degree Requirements (DMA)
The program of study for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree will normally require an attendance of two years beyond receipt of the master’s degree. The doctoral candidate must attend full time for at least one year (minimum of 18 to maximum of 36 credits for one academic year, including 8 credits of private study), and may complete the remainder of the requirements on a part-time basis. Upon completing coursework and recitals, students achieve Degree-in-Progress (DIP) status. For the purposes of student loans and F-1 visas, students who have achieved DIP status are considered full-time students. To maintain that status, students must register for Consultation (610 • 813–814) each semester and pay DIP fees. Continuous registration each year in courses or applied studies is required: a DIP students may not take a leave of absence.
A maximum of 12 semester hours of graduate study (coursework) completed at other accredited institutions may be applied to the Doctor of Musical Arts degree, with the approval of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, after examination of placement results and consultation with the entrance interview committee. Credit must have been earned within five years of the student’s first graduate degree registration at Peabody and must carry grades of B or better.
Students may petition the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to have credits for courses and/or ensembles that were over and above the minimum requirements for a previous Peabody degree applied to the DMA degree program. No coursework that was required or used to fulfill minimum credit requirements for a previous degree may be applied to a subsequent graduate degree. Work completed in the Graduate Extension program, beyond the MM degree level, may transfer to the DMA program, upon satisfaction of all other admission requirements. All previously earned credits applied to the DMA degree must carry grades of B or better, and must have been earned not more than five years prior to initial registration in the program.
Deficiencies in ear-training and music theory identified during the entrance/placement examinations must be corrected in the first year of enrollment and may be corrected either by remedial study or by re-examination. Students may not enroll in graduate courses in these areas until deficiencies are remedied. Review courses carry zero credit and do not count toward fulfillment of degree requirements, but the grades earned are calculated in the GPA and the hours are counted as part of the course load which determines full-time status.
All requirements for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree must be completed within seven academic years from the date of initial DMA registration. Exceptions to this regulation may be granted by the DMA Committee only under extraordinary circumstances.
Advisory Committees
Each student will be advised by a major field advisory committee and an academic advisory committee.
- The major field advisory committee is appointed by departments in consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. The major field advisory committee is responsible for approving the student’s repertoire list, approving and jurying all the student’s recitals, and submitting questions for the major field qualifying examination.
- The academic advisory committee consists of the major teacher three other faculty members. Each academic advisory committee must have a faculty member from the Departments of Musicology and Music Theory. This committee shall be available to the student for consultation and advice concerning curriculum and possible dissertation or paper topics. Members of this committee also shall submit appropriate questions for the written qualifying examinations and sit on the oral qualifying examination committee. The academic advisory committee is selected by the student but appointed by Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and must be seated before the student becomes a degree-in-progress student.
For more detailed information about the DMA program, please consult the DMA Guidelines, which is published yearly and archived by the Office of Academic Affairs.
Curriculum Components (DMA)
Major Applied Study
Individual studio work includes in-depth repertoire development, and culminates in a series of recitals or final projects, depending on the chosen path of study. DMA candidates may elect alternative programs of study in some areas (see individual curriculum descriptions).
Upon entry to the program, each candidate must submit a repertoire list to the department faculty indicating works memorized and works performed. At the end of each year in the program, the candidate will submit an updated repertoire list reflecting new works studied and performed.
DMA students may perform in large ensembles on a space-available basis after students with an orchestral requirement have been seated.
Recitals
A minimum of three recitals is required of all performance majors. Any student not playing a degree recital in a year of residency will be scheduled for a graded hearing before the department faculty at the end of the spring semester.
For performance majors, one recital program may be specialized in content if the others are varied. One ensemble program may be presented. One lecture-recital may be presented subject to prior approval by the major field advisory committee.
For conducting majors, the first two recitals must be chosen from the following three options
- A full-length program given on campus
- A full-length program presented at some other venue while the student is in residence
- A combination of performances presented during the student’s residency that total at least 60 minutes. This must be approved by both the student’s advisor and the Ensemble Office.
Each performance must be videotaped and copies provided by the student to each committee member who is grading. The student’s major field committee must approve each program prior to performance, and all students must complete the necessary paperwork for scheduling and registration as required by the Concert Office in consultation with the Ensemble Office.
It is advisable for the doctoral student to register for recitals when enrolled full time. The student must be registered for private study during the semester in which a recital is presented. Exceptions to this include the chamber music recital (chamber music registration) and lecture-recital (lecture-recital registration). Any degree recital must be approved by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Concert Office (see Program Approval above and Student Handbook).
Recital Programs
Each program must be approved by the candidate’s major field advisory committee and the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. A copy of the approved program must be received by the Concert Office four weeks before the recital. Students are responsible for obtaining the necessary signatures.
The student must supply program notes of publishable quality before each program is approved. These should be approximately one page in length, and must be approved by a representative of the musicology faculty. The program submitted to the candidate’s committee must carry the appropriate signature indicating such approval.
The lecture-recital must be based on an analytical or historical document approved by the candidate’s academic advisory committee and by the Graduate Document Committee. The program submitted to the Concert Office must carry the appropriate signatures indicating such approval. The recital is juried by the members of the candidate’s major field and academic advisory committee. The document may be filed with the Academic Affairs Office at any point prior to April 1 of the semester in which the candidate expects to graduate and must be completed prior to presentation of the lecture-recital.
Portfolio of Compositions
Composition majors must submit to the composition faculty, by April 15 of the year in which they intend to graduate, a work of major proportions as to length and medium and a substantial research paper on a topic approved by the candidate’s Academic Advisory Committee. These together constitute the final document for composition. In addition, the portfolio must contain one or more smaller works. The specific requirements of these works will be determined in each case in consultation with the composition faculty.
Candidates who are enrolled full time may register for the portfolio of compositions without additional fee; non-full-time candidates will be charged fees on a credit-hour basis. Students wishing to delay submission of the portfolio beyond the first week of the semester following registration must make application through the Office of Academic Affairs and must be registered for private study during the semester in which the portfolio is actually presented. No additional fees will be charged for a delayed submission.
The student should submit the completed portfolio to the composition faculty, at the same time advising the Office of Academic Affairs that this is being done. Following acceptance of the portfolio by the faculty, the student should prepare a final version, incorporating any modifications which may have been requested, and deliver the portfolio with the official acceptance sheet signed by members of the composition faculty to the Office of Academic Affairs for presentation to the library.
Coursework
Each student shall take a minimum of six hours in musicology and six hours in music theory, plus electives in repertoire and other studies, including a minimum of three hours of upper division coursework in humanities at the School of Arts and Sciences of The Johns Hopkins University or another accredited institution. Minimum requirements vary depending on the major. See the curriculum listings for individual programs, below.
Doctor of Musical Arts students are required to enroll in the Musicology Colloquium during their first year. The colloquium provides opportunities to hear guest lecturers speak on musicology topics of their expertise, and focuses on developing writing and critical thinking abilities. Some majors require DMA students to take additional graduate seminars in musicology as well; see specific program curricula for details. After DMA students pass the preliminary oral examination (usually at the beginning of their second year of study), they will choose an advisor from among the full-time members of the Musicology faculty who will then serve as a guide through the remaining portion of the DMA musicology curriculum. These duties will include approving program notes, preparing and helping to administer the DMA history examination, and advising on preparation of the document or dissertation, lecture-recital, and final oral examination. For further details students should refer to the DMA guidelines, available in the Office of Academic Affairs.
Doctoral students will be required to demonstrate proficiency in one language besides English, the language to be approved by the department and competency determined by the results of a reading examination. As a rule, the foreign languages must be chosen from among French, German, or Italian. With approval of the members of the DMA Committee, other languages may fulfill the requirement when so indicated by the special nature of the student’s intended research. In addition to the reading examination, voice majors must demonstrate diction competency in all three languages (French, German, Italian), conversational ability in one of the three languages, and functional knowledge of the other two.
Unless otherwise specified, the term elective means class elective. Ensemble credits cannot be counted as elective credits. Questions about the appropriateness of courses for elective credit can be directed to the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Preliminary Oral Examination
The third-semester preliminary oral examination is intended to demonstrate a student’s ability to speak about and respond to questions on a single, substantial piece of repertoire, chosen by the student and approved by members of the DMA Committee.
The 25-minute preliminary oral examination consists of an examination on selected repertoire and a listening portion. The intention of the preliminary oral examination is to identify areas in which the student may need additional guidance.
Admission to Candidacy
A student is not admitted to official candidacy for the DMA degree until he or she has satisfactorily passed all qualifying examinations. In order to be eligible to take the qualifying examinations the student must have completed all coursework, at least two recitals, and satisfied the language requirement. Piano majors must have completed the literature exam. The qualifying examinations must be taken within one calendar year after completion of the required coursework and shall consist of:
- Written examinations in musicology, music theory, and the literature of the major field. Detailed information on the music theory qualifying examination may be found in the DMA Guidelines, available in the Office of Academic Affairs.
- The final oral examination shall be the last of the comprehensive exams and will cover many facets of the student’s major field as well as a comprehensive professional perspective (see DMA Guidelines).
Curriculum Options: Lecture-Recital or Dissertation
The following curriculum options are available for the DMA program:
- Option A—dissertation
- Option B—lecture-recital
- Option C—offered in piano (Ensemble Arts) and voice (Performance/Pedagogy)
In fields where candidates for the DMA degree have a choice of writing a dissertation, they must choose a musical subject which has been approved by the Graduate Document Committee. Dissertations may deal with any aspect of music, e.g., analysis, theory, history, criticism, performance practice, development of a critical edition, etc. For composition majors, the dissertation will be a composition of major proportions as to length and medium (e.g., a symphony) accompanied by a substantial written commentary on it. See also the statement on page 100 under Portfolio of compositions (composition majors). An oral defense of the dissertation must immediately follow completion of the dissertation, and must take place at least two weeks prior to the date of submission of the dissertation to the library. Detailed procedures are available in the DMA Guidelines.
For most DMA candidates, the final recital will be a lecture-recital. The lecture-recital will be based on an analytical or historical essay written under the guidance of a member of the candidate’s academic advisory committee. This essay must be completed prior to the presentation of the lecture-recital. Candidates will submit two clean copies of their essay, incorporating all additions and corrections, for placement in the Arthur Friedheim Library. Details concerning the scope of the project, topic approval, the format of the lecture-recital, and the timetable of the process may be found in the DMA Guidelines.
