About the Program
The Department of Music at Berkeley is one of the oldest and most prominent in the country, bringing together a renowned group of composers, scholars, and performers. The graduate program is ranked among the top in the nation. The department offers the M.A/Ph.D. and the Ph.D. degrees (for those who have previously completed the Master’s degree) in composition and scholarship, the latter with options in the history and literature of Western music and in ethnomusicology. The Music Department does not offer the terminal M.A. degree. The program provides graduate students with a solid mastery of their discipline while cultivating a sense of intellectual and creative independence. Students are free to explore related fields of study both within the music program itself and in the larger university. Graduates of the Berkeley Music Department play prominent roles in distinguished musical institutions across the nation and abroad.
Students are supported by both fellowships and teaching opportunities. A typical funding package consists of tuition plus a stipend of at least $21,500.00 per year guaranteed for at least five years (M.A/Ph.D. or four years (Ph.D.), as well as funding for one summer. Additional support for summers and research travel is available by application.
Areas of specialization
Composition
Students in composition
are encouraged to create music that is personal both in style and content while building a firm technical foundation. Composition is taught through seminars and independent studies by all composers on the faculty. Opportunities exist for public performances of student compositions, including chamber, vocal, and orchestral works. Facilities are available for work in electronic and computer music. For more information, view the Graduate Student Handbook.
Ethnomusicology
Students in ethnomusicology
prepare for ethnographic research, through the study of cultural theory and methodology from various disciplines. Each student’s program is individually designed in consultation with an advisor, including opportunities for drawing on Berkeley’s considerable resources in related disciplines and area studies. For more information, view the Graduate Student Handbook.
History and Literature
Students in the history and literature
program gain skills for historical research while developing a sense of critical inquiry and intellectual independence. The M.A. program introduces students to musicological methods and techniques and at the same time seeks to broaden their horizons through a variety of courses, including analysis and ethnomusicology. The Ph.D. involves more detailed work in research seminars and special studies. Dissertation topics at Berkeley have run the gamut of scholarly approaches and subjects, from source studies to theoretical or critical works, and from early medieval chant to the music of the present day. For more information, view the Graduate Student Handbook.
The Master of Arts Degree
The period of study in all areas of specialization is from three to (more typically) four semesters ending with the M.A. comprehensive examination. The general course requirement for the M.A. is 24 units, at least 12 of which must be in the graduate series in music.
The Doctor of Philosophy Degree
Since the Ph.D. degree is awarded for original, creative achievement, not for the mere completion of a course of study, course and unit requirements are not rigidly prescribed. There is an academic residence requirement of two years. The amount of time needed to complete the Ph.D. varies considerably from one student to another, but students are encouraged to proceed as fast as they can and as the nature of their doctoral project allows. It is expected that the typical student (having obtained an M.A. degree) will have pursued sufficient course work, fulfilled all the supplementary requirements, and taken the qualifying examination, advanced to candidacy, and completed a prospectus for the doctoral project by the end of two years. After this time the only requirement is that the student satisfactorily complete the doctoral project.
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Admissions
Admission to the University
Uniform minimum requirements for admission
The following minimum requirements apply to all programs and will be verified by the Graduate Division:
- A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;
- A minimum grade-point average of B or better (3.0);
- If the applicant comes from a country or political entity (e.g. Quebec) where English is not the official language, adequate proficiency in English to do graduate work, as evidenced by a TOEFL score of at least 570 on the paper-and-pencil test, 230 on the computer-based test, 90 on the iBT test, or an IELTS Band score of at least 7 (note that individual programs may set higher levels for any of these); and
- Enough undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.
Applicants who already hold a graduate degree
The Graduate Council views academic degrees as evidence of broad research training, not as vocational training certificates; therefore, applicants who already have academic graduate degrees should be able to take up new subject matter on a serious level without undertaking a graduate program, unless the fields are completely dissimilar.
Programs may consider students for an additional academic master’s or professional master’s degree if the additional degree is in a distinctly different field.
Applicants admitted to a doctoral program that requires a master’s degree to be earned at Berkeley as a prerequisite (even though the applicant already has a master’s degree from another institution in the same or a closely allied field of study) will be permitted to undertake the second master’s degree, despite the overlap in field.
The Graduate Division will admit students for a second doctoral degree only if they meet the following guidelines:
- Applicants with doctoral degrees may be admitted for an additional doctoral degree only if that degree program is in a general area of knowledge distinctly different from the field in which they earned their original degree. For example, a physics PhD could be admitted to a doctoral degree program in music or history; however, a student with a doctoral degree in mathematics would not be permitted to add a PhD in statistics.
- Applicants who hold the PhD degree may be admitted to a professional doctorate or professional master’s degree program if there is no duplication of training involved.
Applicants may only apply to one single degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission cycle.
Any applicant who was previously registered at Berkeley as a graduate student, no matter how briefly, must apply for readmission, not admission, even if the new application is to a different program.
Required documents for admissions applications
- Transcripts: Upload unofficial transcripts with the application for the departmental initial review. Official transcripts of all college-level work will be required if admitted. Official transcripts must be in sealed envelopes as issued by the school(s) you have attended. Request a current transcript from every post-secondary school that you have attended, including community colleges, summer sessions, and extension programs.
If you have attended Berkeley, upload unofficial transcript with the application for the departmental initial review. Official transcript with evidence of degree conferral will not be required if admitted.
- Letters of recommendation: Applicants can request online letters of recommendation through the online application system. Hard copies of recommendation letters must be sent directly to the program, not the Graduate Division.
- Evidence of English language proficiency: All applicants from countries in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. This requirement applies to applicants from Bangladesh, Burma, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Latin America, the Middle East, the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and most European countries. However, applicants who, at the time of application, have already completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with grades of B or better at a U.S. university may submit an official transcript from the U.S. university to fulfill this requirement. The following courses will not fulfill this requirement: 1) courses in English as a Second Language, 2) courses conducted in a language other than English, 3) courses that will be completed after the application is submitted, and 4) courses of a non-academic nature. If applicants have previously been denied admission to Berkeley on the basis of their English language proficiency, they must submit new test scores that meet the current minimum from one of the standardized tests.
Admission to the Program
Applicants for the combined MA/PhD or PhD programs are required to specify the track to which they wish to apply: Composition, Ethnomusicology, or Music History & Literature. Applicants are encouraged to name at least two faculty with whom they wish to work as part of their application.
All applicants are required to submit supplemental materials as part of their application to our program. Applicants in Ethnomusicology or Music History & Literature will submit examples of scholarship, and Composition applicants will submit scores and recordings of their compositions as part of their respective applications.
Doctoral Degree Requirements
Normative Time Requirements
Normative Time to Advancement
Normative to Advancement for all concentrations is 8 semesters.
Normative Time in Candidacy
Normative time in Candidacy for the Composition and Music History & Literature concentrations is 4 semesters. Normative Time in Candidacy for the Ethnomusicology concentration is 6 semesters.
Total Normative Time
Total Normative Time for the Composition and Music History & Literature concentrations is 12 semesters. Total Normative Time for the Ethnomusicology concentration is 14 semesters.
Time to Advancement
Curriculum
Composition Concentration
Students are generally expected to take a minimum of two graduate-level seminars in the department per semester until the MA degree has been completed (end of fourth semester).
| MUSIC 157B | Orchestration | 3 |
| MUSIC 156 | Studies in Musical Analysis | 3 |
| MUSIC 201 | Course Not Available | |
| MUSIC 203 | Seminar in Composition (must be taken every semester until student passes the MA exam) | 4 |
| MUSIC 290 | Colloquium (must be taken every semester until the student passes the PhD QE) | 1 |
Ethnomusicology Concentration
Students are expected to take a minimum of two graduate-level seminars in the department each semester until the MA degree has been completed. In addition, they are expected to attend events in the colloquium series and to participate actively in the discussion.
| MUSIC 200B | Introduction to Music Scholarship II | 4 |
| MUSIC 200C | Introduction to Music Scholarship III | 4 |
| MUSIC 243 | Transcription and Analysis in Ethnomusicology | 4 |
| MUSIC 244A | Tools of Ethnomusicological Research | 4 |
| MUSIC 244B | Research Design for Ethnomusicologists | 4 |
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History & Literature Concentration (H & L)
Although courses in musicology at the graduate level will constitute the core of any program of study at the MA level, students may supplement those courses with a graduate course in another department that might be relevant to eventual dissertation work, with language courses (graduate or undergraduate), or with undergraduate courses in music that help to meet the proficiencies required for the entrance exam’s various subjects (harmony, counterpoint, sight singing, score reading, and dictation). In general, courses at the graduate level are more appropriate for music graduate students to enroll in than undergraduate courses. It is expected that students take a minimum of two seminars in the department each semester until the MA is completed. Students should take courses with as many professors in the H & L program as possible.
Faculty
Professors
Jeanne Bamberger, Professor.
Benjamin Brinner, PhD, Professor. Indonesia, Java, Bali, Israel, musical memory, situated musical cognition, musical interaction, improvisation, gamelan, music and oral narrative.
Research Profile
Edmund Campion, Professor. Music, composition, musical application of computer technologies.
Research Profile
Cindy Cox, Professor. Composition, music analysis and theory, post-tonal music, piano, music and live electronics, text-setting.
Research Profile
Jocelyne Guilbault, Professor. Cultural politics, Caribbean, popular and traditional musics, nation, diaspora, cultural entrepreneurship.
Research Profile
Marika C Kuzma, Professor. Music, directing, conducting, choral conducting technique, choral literature, Slavic choral literature, art song literature, choral music.
Research Profile
David Milnes, Professor. Music, directing, orchestral conducting technique, music ensemble.
Research Profile
Davitt Moroney, Professor. Music, musicology, music performance, Italian Music.
Research Profile
Mary Ann Smart, Professor. Staging of opera, 19th-century music, opera, opera and politics, 19th-century Italy, music and gender, singers and voices, Verdi, Wagner, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini.
Research Profile
Richard Taruskin, Professor. Nationalism, music, musicology, theory of performance, Russian music, twentieth-century music, theory of modernism, analysis.
Research Profile
Bonnie C. Wade, Professor. Japan, India, music, ethnomusicology, East Asian studies, East Asia, North India, music of Asia.
Research Profile
David Wessel, Professor. Music, musical applications of computer, technologies; music perception and cognition; composition, improvisation; interactive live performance.
Research Profile
Associate Professors
Nicholas Mathew, Associate Professor. Handel, aesthetics, Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, music and politics, Napoleonic Wars, Vienna, piano performance, historical performance practices, pianos, music and identity.
Research Profile
Myra Melford, Ba, Associate Professor.
Ken Ueno, Associate Professor. Music composition, noise, electronic music, Asian music, music of Japan, extended vocal techniques, overtone singing, musical culture of Japan, experimental improvisation.
Research Profile
Assistant Professors
Franck Y. Bedrossian, Assistant Professor.
James Quail Davies, PhD, Assistant Professor. History of science, cultural performance, colonial melodrama, pianists and pianos, singers and voice, nineteenth-century life sciences, township opera.
Research Profile
Tamara C. Roberts, Assistant Professor.
Lecturers
Christy L. Dana, Lecturer.
C. K. Ladzekpo, Lecturer.
Midiyanto Midiyanto, Lecturer.
Michael Orland, Lecturer.
David Pereira, Lecturer.
Karen Rosenak, Lecturer.
Doniel Mark Wilson, Lecturer.
