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 MA/PhD and the PhD 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 MA 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 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 $26,000 per year guaranteed for at least five years (MA/PhD) or four years (PhD), as well as funding for one summer. Additional support for summers and research travel is available by application.
Concentration Areas
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.
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 adviser, including opportunities for drawing on Berkeley’s considerable resources in related disciplines and area studies.
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 MA 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 PhD 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.
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 MA comprehensive examination. The general course requirement for the MA is 24 units, at least 12 of which must be in the graduate series in music.
The Doctor of Philosophy Degree
Since the PhD 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 PhD 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 MA 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
Minimum Requirements for Admission
The following minimum requirements apply to all graduate programs and will be verified by the Graduate Division:
- A bachelor’s degree or recognized equivalent from an accredited institution;
- A 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 90 on the iBT test, 570 on the paper-and-pencil test, or an IELTS Band score of at least 7 (note that individual programs may set higher levels for any of these); and
- Sufficient undergraduate training to do graduate work in the given field.
Applicants Who Already Hold a Graduate Degree
The Graduate Council views academic degrees not as vocational training certificates, but as evidence of broad training in research methods, independent study, and articulation of learning. Therefore, applicants who already have academic graduate degrees should be able to pursue new subject matter at an advanced level without need to enroll in a related or similar graduate program.
Programs may consider students for an additional academic master’s or professional master’s degree only 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 apply only to one single degree program or one concurrent degree program per admission cycle.
Required Documents for Applications
- Transcripts: Applicants may upload unofficial transcripts with your application for the departmental initial review. If the applicant is admitted, then official transcripts of all college-level work will be required. Official transcripts must be in sealed envelopes as issued by the school(s) attended. If you have attended Berkeley, upload your unofficial transcript with your application for the departmental initial review. If you are admitted, an official transcript with evidence of degree conferral will not be required.
- Letters of recommendation: Applicants may 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 or political entities in which the official language is not English are required to submit official evidence of English language proficiency. This 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, most European countries, and Quebec (Canada). 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 US university may submit an official transcript from the US university to fulfill this requirement. The following courses will not fulfill this requirement:
- courses in English as a Second Language,
- courses conducted in a language other than English,
- courses that will be completed after the application is submitted, and
- 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.
Where to Apply
Visit the Berkeley Graduate Division application page.
Admission to the Program
Applicants for the combined MA/PhD or PhD programs are required to specify the concentration they wish to apply: Composition, Ethnomusicology, or Music History and 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 eight semesters.
Normative Time in Candidacy
Normative time in candidacy for the Composition and Music History & Literature concentrations is four semesters. Normative time in candidacy for the Ethnomusicology concentration is six semesters.
Total Normative Time
Total normative time for the Composition and Music History & Literature concentrations is twelve semesters. Total normative time for the Ethnomusicology concentration is fourteen 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).
Course List
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|
| MUSIC 157B | Orchestration | 3 |
| MUSIC 156 | Studies in Musical Analysis | 3 |
| MUSIC 201A | Proseminar in Computer Music | 4 |
| 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.
Course List
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|
| 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.
Course List
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|
| MUSIC 200B | Introduction to Music Scholarship II | 4 |
| MUSIC 200C | Introduction to Music Scholarship III | 4 |
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Faculty and Instructors
+ Indicates this faculty member is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award.
Faculty
Jeanne Bamberger, Adjunct Professor. Music cognition and child development.
Franck Y. Bedrossian, Associate Professor. Composition, computer music.
Benjamin Brinner, 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
Delia Casadei, Assistant Professor. Voice and politics in Italian 20th-century music.
Cindy Cox, Professor. Composition, music analysis and theory, post-tonal music, piano, music and live electronics, text-setting.
Research Profile
James Davies, Associate Professor. Musics and bodies, cultural performance, romanticisms, nineteenth-century music, histories of science, pianists and pianos, singers and voice, music pedagogy and training, South Africa, colonial melodrama, township opera.
Research Profile
Jocelyne Guilbault, Professor. Cultural politics, Caribbean, popular and traditional musics, nation, diaspora, cultural entrepreneurship.
Research Profile
Matthew Hough, Assistant Teaching Professor.
Nicholas Mathew, Associate Professor. Beethoven, Haydn, music in Vienna, music and politics, music and urban culture, aesthetics, piano performance, historical performance practices.
Research Profile
Myra Melford, Professor. Jazz composition and improvisational practices.
David Milnes, Professor. Music, directing, orchestral conducting technique, music ensemble.
Research Profile
Tamara C. Roberts, Assistant Professor. Aesthetic, political, and spiritual potential of performance; Afro-Asian music and music of enslaved Africans in the U.S., Puerto Rico, intercultural percussion performance, women’s drumming communities, diasporic connections in African American and Afro-Caribbean vernacular traditions, and the technology and politics of spiritual musical practice.
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
Maria Sonevytsky, Assistant Professor. Sovereignty and wildness in post-Soviet Ukrainian ethno-music, the legacy of Soviet cultural policies on music after socialism, folklore and nuclear experience after Chornobyl.
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
Emily Zazulia, Assistant Professor. Medieval and Renaissance Music, the intersection of musical style, complex notation, and intellectual history.
Lecturers
Carla Brunet, Lecturer.
Robert Calonico, Lecturer.
Majel Connery, Lecturer.
Lisa Gold, Lecturer.
Benjamin Goldberg, Lecturer.
Rama J. Gottfried, Lecturer.
Candace Johnson, Lecturer.
C. K. Ladzekpo, Senior Lecturer.
Deirdre Loughridge, Lecturer.
Midiyanto Midiyanto, Lecturer.
Michael Orland, Lecturer.
David Pereira, Lecturer.
Doniel Mark Wilson, Lecturer.
Robert Yamasato, Lecturer.
Emeritus Faculty
Richard L. Crocker, Professor Emeritus.
Christy Dana, Senior Lecturer Emeritus.
Mary Kay Duggan, Professor Emeritus.
Edwin E. Dugger, Professor Emeritus.
Richard Felciano, Professor Emeritus.
+ Daniel Heartz, Professor Emeritus.
Marika Kuzma, Professor Emeritus.
Davitt Moroney, Professor Emeritus. Music, musicology, music performance, Italian Music.
Research Profile
+ Anthony A. Newcomb, Professor Emeritus.
John H. Roberts, Professor Emeritus. Music, music bibliography, Handel, French nineteenth-century opera.
Research Profile
Karen Rosenak, Senior Lecturer Emeritus.
+ Michael C. Senturia, Professor Emeritus.
Richard Taruskin, Professor Emeritus. Nationalism, music, musicology, theory of performance, Russian music, twentieth-century music, theory of modernism, analysis.
Research Profile
Bonnie C. Wade, Professor Emeritus.
Olly W. Wilson, Professor Emeritus.
