Department of Music
Faculty
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Chair Director of Graduate Studies Professor Associate Professor |
Assistant Professor Senior Lecturer Lecturer Associated Faculty |
Requirements
Faculty and students in the Department of Music focus their work in either composition or musicology; departmental courses, seminars, and degree requirements are specified below for the respective programs. Music theory, as a subject for advanced study at Princeton, is concerned with systematic explanations, formal and/or empirical, of musical phenomena. This often includes investigating relationships between theory and practice in non-Western as well as Western musical cultures under the rubric of comparative musicology. Though the department does not offer separate programs in theory or ethnomusicology, students with strong interests in either of these areas are encouraged to pursue them in connection with one of the two focal programs (such students should indicate on their application under which of the programs they would expect their studies primarily to fall). Students in all fields are encouraged to participate in courses or seminars in whichever program may be relevant to their particular interests. Occasionally a student with a strong focus and demonstrated competence in theory or comparative musicology may be given a specially designed general examination.
Applicants in musicology should submit samples of previous work. Applicants in composition should submit representative compositions, in replaceable copies, with corresponding recordings of performance if possible. Applicants in either focal area who are specifically interested in theory or comparative musicology should also submit samples of their work in those fields.
Graduate Program in Musicology
Musicology embraces the study of the history, theory, and practice of music from many points of view. Graduate study in musicology may cover approaches such as historical and ethnographic investigation as well as music theory, hermeneutics, and criticism. Students are expected to become familiar with a wide range of areas, including methods, philosophies, and techniques of historical research methods for the analysis of music and ethnomusicological research.
Plan of Study. Entering students are normally expected to spend at least two years in full-time residence, regardless of prior graduate work, and all are subject to the same program, department, and Graduate School requirements.
There is no formal core curriculum for musicology at Princeton. Courses and seminars offered by the musicology faculty deal mostly with fields in which faculty members are actively engaged and do not attempt to survey all areas or periods. At least one seminar dealing with some historical and/or analytical aspect of music during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries is offered every year. The MUS 503, 504 course sequence, Medieval Musical Style and Notation, is offered every other year; in alternate years MUS 511 Problems in Early Christian Music and/or MUS 512 Topics in Medieval Music are offered. The selection of other courses and seminars is made each year, with the particular interests of the musicology faculty and students of that year kept in mind.
In addition to active participation in courses or seminars, students are expected to familiarize themselves with the current state of musicological research and thinking through independent study as well as in consultation with faculty members. Students are also expected to take an active part in the working musicological community at large, through participation in regional, national, and international meetings and concomitant informal contacts with students and faculty at other institutions. Musicology graduate students organize and participate in a Colloquim Series each year. Graduate students and faculty also have the opportunity to present their work to the community in the Work-in-Progress Series. Graduate students from Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, and the University of Pennsylvania collaborate to offer a student-sponsored conference every year.
Language Requirement. A reading knowledge of German and one other language of scholarship (normally Italian or French) is required. The language requirement is normally satisfied by examinations administered by the musicology faculty. Both requirements must have been passed before a student can be admitted to the general examination. Students are urged to satisfy at least one of the language requirements during the first year of graduate study.
Examinations. Early in the second term of the first year, each student submits to the musicology faculty a written paper based on work done in one of the fall term courses or seminars. During the second term, students are also given an examination to evaluate their control of music theory, consisting of an orally presented analysis of an assigned work from the late 18th to the early 20th century, with a week or two provided for preparation. Toward the end of the spring term, decisions about readmission to the second year of study are made on the basis of all of the student’s work to date as well as continuing promise.
The general examination for students of musicology (whether concentrating in history, theory, or ethnomusicology), normally taken in May of the second year, is in six general fields, chosen during the first three terms in consultation with and with the approval of the faculty. Fields are chosen to present a broad range chronologically, methodologically, and theoretically; it is expected that some fields will expand and complement work done in seminars, while others will cover areas studied independently. A student whose general record and performance on the general examination are satisfactory is admitted to candidacy for the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).
The requirements for a Master of Arts (M.A.) degree are the successful completion for all required course work (with no incompletes), the first-year paper, and the language requirements, as well as passing at least half of the general examination.
Dissertation and Final Public Oral Examination. Students should begin considering possible doctoral dissertation subjects as soon as possible after admission to the program. Dissertation proposals should be submitted by the beginning of the spring term of the third year of study. Reenrollment for the fourth year of study may be contingent upon approval of the dissertation proposal.
Ideally, the doctoral dissertation is written during the student’s official last year in residence to ensure full and frequent consultation with the supervisor and other faculty members. When the dissertation has been completed, reviewed by two readers, seen by the entire department, and accepted, a final public oral examination is scheduled; upon its successful conclusion the student is recommended for the Ph.D.
Graduate Program in Composition
The field of composition today is complex. The graduate program in composition at Princeton offers a course of study designed to enable each of its students to understand the field and to contribute to it in a productive, resourceful, and individual way.
Plan of Study. At the core of the program is the student’s own creative work, carried out in regular consultation with members of the composition faculty. Arranged around this core are 13 courses, three or four of which are given each term, as chosen by students and faculty on the basis of current interests and needs. There are no specific requirements, but all students are expected to pursue a variety of interests during the first two years. These courses have three principal aims: (1) to develop and sharpen those skills each student needs to realize his or her compositional intentions; (2) to expand each student’s conception of what is possible in construing and creating music through theoretical and compositional speculation and experimentation; and (3) to develop a larger and sharper sense of the context in which the student’s own work exists, and on which it depends, by continued study of a variety of existing music and by writing about music. Although the number of students enrolled in the program is small (three to five are enrolled each year), the diversity in their backgrounds and interests can be enormous. The lively exchange of ideas among composers of markedly different approaches is an essential feature of the program.
First-Year Requirement. By the end of the first year of study, the composition student is expected to complete a composition and a paper that engage musical concerns central to the student’s development. At the end of the spring term, each first-year student also completes a conference with the faculty in which he or she presents an analysis of a musical work. In response to this work, goals and strategies for the second-year composition and paper are discussed with each student by the whole composition faculty, and the specific areas of emphasis for the general examination are established by faculty and the student in consultation. In both years, compositions are normally written with currently available instrumental and electronic resources in view. Students are encouraged (in fact, before taking the general examination, are required) to help prepare sonic realizations of at least some of their work.
Language Requirement. Each student is asked to demonstrate, before taking the general examination, a relevant foreign language, or, alternatively, a working knowledge of some ancillary discipline relevant to his or her concerns as a composer, a relevant computer language, or some other discipline that the case may suggest.
General Examination. The general examination, normally taken at the end of the second year of study, is designed to establish the candidate’s readiness to undertake a Ph.D. dissertation. The examination has two parts: part one focuses on the candidate’s original second-year work (a composition and a paper), including a recording of the composition, and any related matters; part two explores the larger issues and contexts of this work by establishing the candidate’s command of music and musical discourse within several substantial musics, agreed upon the year before. In a given year, for example, part two might emphasize a particular mid-20th-century work, Beethoven’s late chamber music, and post-World War II European semi-improvisatory music; in another, the emphasis might be on Impressionist orchestral music and the American “experimental” tradition. In addition, a question is posed to frame a discourse about a body of music or a way of thinking about music.
The requirements for an M.A. would be the successful completion for all required course work (with no incompletes), the first-year paper and composition(s), and the language requirement, as well as passing at least half of the general examination.
Dissertation and Final Public Oral Examination. After successful completion of the general examination, the student may also be qualified to begin the process of consultation with faculty members that leads to the candidate’s formulation of a Ph.D. dissertation proposal and selection of an appropriate faculty adviser. This proposal, completed during the third year of study, should describe in detail the goals and strategies of a twofold dissertation project in composition and prose—a unified project clearly expressive of the candidate’s central concerns in the field of contemporary music. During the two post-generals years of study, Ph.D. candidates remain eligible to enroll in graduate courses. The dissertation, followed by a final public oral defense, completes the requirements for the Ph.D.
Courses
Music
MUS 501 Seminar in Academic Writing
Barbara A. White, Wendy Heller
A seminar designed to examine and cultivate scholarly writing. We will consider examples from the historical and analytical writing about music and related disciplines, including more traditional and more experimental models. Students will critique one another's papers and dissertation chapters, focusing on form, content, methodologies, and analytical strategies, and will have the opportunity to present work in progress. Recommended for post-generals students in both composition and musicology.
MUS 503 Medieval Musical Style and Notation
Peter G. Jeffery
Style-critical problems, readings from the theorists, and practical exercises in transcription from the musical notations of the 12th to the 15th centuries are studied.
MUS 504 Medieval Musical Style and Notation
Peter G. Jeffery
Style-critical problems, readings from the theorists, and practical exercises in transcription from the musical notations of the13th to the 15th centuries are studied.
MUS 505 Studies in Comparative Musicology
Peter G. Jeffery
This course is an introduction to the study of traditional music through a close examination of the theory and practice of one or more Asian regions of the world.
MUS 506 Studies in Comparative Musicology
Harold S. Powers
This course is an introduction to the study of traditional music through a close examination of the theory and practice of one or more Asian regions of the world.
MUS 507 Transcription and Analysis
Judit L. Frigyesi
The purpose of this course is to familiarize students with various sound structures through intense listening, transcribing, and analysis of selected pieces from Western and non-Western music cultures. Visual representation of musical sounds are dealt with as it appears in Western and non-Western musical tradition as well as in current scholarly works. The assignments involve transcription of various musical styles, and the classes focus on discussing the validity and the problems of transcription in each case. Through transcription, analysis, and discussions, the course also aims to develop skill in listening and the appreciation of unusual
MUS 509 Topics in Popular Music: Issues in Global Popular Music
Noriko Manabe
Course serves as an introduction to some of the issues involved when popular music interacts with the global media industry, the global flow of people, and the formation of local identities.
MUS 510/SLA 520 Topics in Contemporary Soviet and Post-Soviet Culture
Leonid V. Maximenkov
The course explores various metaphors of family used to organize and represent different social process in contemporary Russian culture. By analyzing recent film, fiction, and examples of popular culture, we will try to understand why metaphors of relatedness and narratives of belonging became especially prominent and effective after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
MUS 511/HLS 511 Problems in Early Christian Music
Peter G. Jeffery
Historical, paleographic, and stylistic studies in the liturgical chants of the Christian East and West are studied.
MUS 512 Topics in Medieval Music
Rob C. Wegman
Source-critical, historical, and stylistic studies of one of the late medieval polyphonic repertories are studied.
MUS 513 Topics in 19th- and Early 20th-Century Music
Simon A. Morrison, Mark Morris
Text-critical and analytic studies in the works of one or several of the major figures are studied.
MUS 514 Topics in 19th- and Early 20th-Century Music
Simon A. Morrison
Text-critical and analytic studies in the works of one or several of the major figures are studied.
MUS 515/COM 512/ITA 557 Topics in the History of Opera
Wendy Heller, Pietro Frassica
Critical, historical, and analytic studies of music, language, and drama in the European operatic tradition are studied.
MUS 516 Topics in the History of Opera
Staff
Critical, historical, and analytic studies of music, language, and drama in the European operatic tradition are studied.
MUS 517 Topics in the History of Musical Theory to 1725
Peter G. Jeffery
The course explores advanced problems in the development of earlier musical theory in the West.
MUS 518 Musical Theory from the 18th-Century to the Present
Joseph N. Straus
Studies in the history of tonal-harmonic and rhythmic-formal theory and of changing concepts of music theory in the West are explored.
MUS 519 Topics in Music from 1600 to 1800
Wendy Heller
No Description Available
MUS 520 Topics in Music from 1600 to 1800
Wendy Heller
No Description Available
MUS 521/ENG 571 Literary and Cultural Theory
Alexandra T. Vazquez
A study of the role of culture in literary practice and theory. Topics include postmodernism, post-colonialism, feminism, performance theory, queer theory, and popular cultures, among others.
MUS 525 Topics in Music from 1400 to 1600
Rob C. Wegman
Studies in one or more of the major vocal or instrumental repertories of the 15th and 16th centuries are explored.
MUS 526 Topics in Music from 1400 to 1600
Rob C. Wegman
Studies in one or more of the major vocal or instrumental repertories of the 15th and 16th centuries are explored.
MUS 527 Seminar in Musicology
Amy C. Beal
Original work in areas of current musicological significance are presented to and reviewed by the seminar as the occasion arises. Emphasis is given to student projects, but work in progress by any member of the seminar may be discussed or a topic of particular controversy examined.
MUS 528 Seminar in Musicology
Elizabeth Bergman
Original work in areas of current musicological significance are presented to and reviewed by the seminar as the occasion arises. Emphasis is given to student projects, but work in progress by any member of the seminar may be discussed or a topic of particular controversy examined.
MUS 531 Composition
Staff
Emphasis is placed on the individual student's original work and the study and discussion of pieces pertinent to that work.
MUS 532 Composition
Paul Lansky, Barbara A. White, Steven Mackey
Emphasis is placed on the individual student's original work and the study and discussion of pieces pertinent to that work.
MUS 533 Seminar in Analysis
Barbara A. White
The compositional particulars of one large-scale work, usually from the 20th century, are studied, with occasional reference to ancillary and related compositions.
MUS 536 Serial Music
Claudio Spies
A critical examination, primarily of 12-tone serialism. Particular emphasis is given to the relations embodied in the 12-tone set and its transformations, associated invariants, combinatoriality, derivation, and aggregate structure, with reference to representative compositional realizations. The dimensions and levels of structure that do not necessarily manifest set relations are also examined.
MUS 537 Points of Focus in 20th-Century Music
Paul Lansky, Steven Mackey
Selected areas in 20th-century music are chosen for detailed examination and study. Representative works are subjected to critical scrutiny, and an attempt may be made to draw conclusions regarding larger theoretical, analytical, and social issues.
MUS 538 Computer Music: Compositional Applications
Perry R. Cook, Daniel L. Trueman
The use and design of computer-based synthetic instruments and compositional software is studied. The emphasis is on the construction of computer-musical environments, for the realization of sound as well as for compositional assistance.
MUS 539 Acoustics and Compositional Resources
Daniel L. Trueman, Perry R. Cook
Issues in the applications of signal-processing techniques to compositional adaptations, focusing on understanding the acoustic properties of musical and nonmusical sounds as well as the study of the application of current computer technology.
MUS 540 Composing Opera
Peter T. Westergaard
An introduction to some of the compositional problems pertinent to opera. Musical potentials of language and dramatic structure as well as theatrical potentials of music are explored through experiments in text setting and libretto construction.
MUS 541 Seminar in Musical Composition
Barbara A. White
A seminar focusing on the relationship (symbiotic or otherwise) between artistic creation and intellectual inquiry in compositional practice. Course will deal with practical concerns by sharing works in progress, recent works, and by hosting performers who are currently collaborating with members of the seminar. Although all composition graduate students are welcome, the seminar is especially geared toward first-and second-year students in composition.
MUS 542 Instrumentation and Performance
Barbara A. White
A study of the characteristics of individual instruments, including extended contemporary techniques and writing arrangements for chamber ensemble and for orchestra. Special attention is given to problems of combining voice and instruments. The arrangements written for this class are performed by the Composers' Ensemble at Princeton and the Princeton University Orchestra, and problems of performance involving notation, rehearsal, and conducting are dealt with.
MUS 544 Improvisation
Steven Mackey, Barbara A. White
Improvisation with conventional, unconventional, and electronic instruments, in groups of various sizes, with and without other mediums, in various physical and social contexts, both structured and unstructured is explored. The emphasis is on collaboration and interaction.
MUS 545 Contexts of Composition
Dmitri Tymoczko
An examination of the proliferating variety of relations between composers and composition, in film, theater, and dance; technologically based systems and collaborative situations. Extended meanings of composition, including new applications made possible by technology and recording and the exploration of musical extensibility of subjects such as meditation, games, ritual, social action, and cognitive science.
MUS 548 Contexts of Music Theory
Peter G. Jeffery
This seminar scrutinizes musical values and formulational cogency in various approaches to musical description, explanation, speculation, and polemic.
MUS 549 Topics in Tonal Theory
Scott G. Burnham
Topics such as theoretical models, analytical procedures, and the relationship of each to theories of composition and performance, may be covered.
MUS 550 Current Topics in Theory and Analysis
V. K. Agawu
The presentation and examination of an important work of current interest in theory and analysis and original research of faculty members and graduate students are explored.