MM/PRL DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
Listening Test
Course Requirements
Juries
Oral Exam
Recital
MM LISTENING TEST
Required for MM/PRL, MM/ACM, MM/EM, & MM/CND, MM/OPR, and MM/OPS students
The MM Listening Test evaluates the student’s ability to identify by ear specific works taken from a published list of works which represent a broad spectrum of historical periods and performance media. It also tests the student’s ability to identify works not on the published list, by style-period rather than by title, with some brief description of the characteristics of the work that suggest the period choices. The exam consists of 25 excerpts, 20 of which involve identification of specific works from the published list and 5 of which cover style-identification. The basic list of works is published annually and serves as the source for the Listening Test administered during orientation week. Copies of the list are available in the bins outside the Graduate Office, Room 103 or on line at http://webct.rochester.edu. Students must take the Listening Test upon entry to their degree program. If the student does not pass the exam, s/he must re-take it the following year. The Listening Test is a degree requirement, and students must pass the examination in order to walk and participate in the commencement ceremony.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
All students in the MM/PRL program must accumulate at least thirty (30) credits to complete the degree. A student admitted as a "woodwinds specialist" must complete at least 38 credits, and should refer to the Academic Policy Handbook for the special requirements of that program. Requirements in the various areas of study (for those who are not in the "woodwinds specialist" program) are indicated below:
Applied Music - No more than ten (10) credits earned through private instrumental or vocal study may be used against the minimum of 30 credits required for the degree. Credits for major applied-music study are earned at the rate of five (5) credits for each semester of weekly one-hour lessons. No credit is granted for the degree-recital, but the student must be registered for applied-music study during the semester in which the recital is presented. All students in the MM/PRL program are required to enroll for semesters of weekly one-hour lessons until the degree-recital is successfully presented.
Music History - At least eight (8) of the 30 required credits must be earned in Music History or Musicology courses. This normally includes the two-credit MHS 480 (Bibliography) course and two of the graduate "Period" courses from the MHS 421-426 sequence. Additional "Period" courses may be taken for elective credit.
Music Theory - A one-semester course (TH 400 - Analytical Techniques—3 credits) is required of all students in the program. This course is an introduction to the basic techniques of analysis of both tonal and non-tonal repertoires, designed with the particular needs of the performance major in mind. Additional Music Theory courses may be taken for elective credit.
Ensemble – 1) All MM/PRL candidates in strings and in winds, brass, and percussion must enroll for two semesters of ensemble during the first two semesters of their study at Eastman. No more than four (4) credits earned through participation in the School's various large and chamber ensembles may be used against the 30 credits required for the degree.* 2) At the discretion of the director of choral activities, students who major in voice shall participate in a large choral ensemble (Eastman Chorale or Eastman-Rochester Chorus) for one semester, that semester to be determined each year by the director of choral activities and the voice faculty. All MM/PRL voice majors must audition for the choral director at the beginning of their first semester of study.* 3) All MM/PRL majors in piano are required to accompany one singer and one instrumentalist during each semester of residence (up to and including four semesters). This will include one rehearsal and one lesson per week with each partner (pianists will not be required to work more than 8 hrs./wk.) All MM/PRL pianists who receive graduate awards in accompanying will automatically meet this collaborative requirement by fulfilling the terms of their graduate award, and will not have any additional collaborative responsibilities.
* MM/PRL candidates may elect to enroll in ensemble beyond the degree requirements for zero (0) credit, and without charge.
Other requirements - The remaining credits to make up the minimum total of thirty (30) are prescribed, in part, for students whose major instrument is guitar, harp, harpsichord, organ, or voice, and elective for all other students in the program. All elective credit must come from courses numbered 200 or higher, NONE MAY BE EARNED FOR APPLIED MUSIC STUDY, and no more than six (6) may be earned in courses which are not music courses.. MM students may take an ALP course for degree credit if it is cross-listed in an academic department; students must register for the course by its academic department listing, not by its ALP course number. Guitarists are required to enroll for GTC 401, 402 (Seminar in Guitar--4 credits), harpists for PED 210, 211 (Harp Pedagogy--2 credits), harpsichordists for KBD 407 (Harpsichord Performance and Literature through the Eighteenth Century--2 credits) and KBD 443 (Keyboard Continuo Realization--2 credits), organists for KBD 421, 422, 423, 424 (Organ Repertoire--8 credits), and singers for either two semesters of CHB 431, 432 (Voice Repertoire--2 credits) or one semester of CHB 431 and one semester of OP 433, 434, or 435 (Opera Repertoire).
Credit for courses in which a grade lower than "C" has been earned will not be counted toward completion of the thirty-credit requirement. A student who receives a grade of "C" in six - (6) credit hours or more of the total credits for his or her degree will be considered to have an unsatisfactory record, will be placed on probation, and may be dismissed from the degree-program. A student on probation normally may not hold a Graduate Award. Decisions regarding academic probation are made by the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in consultation with the department chair and other relevant faculty.
JURIES
Each student in the Master of Music degree-program in Performance and Literature must perform an official jury examination before receiving the degree. Normally, MM/PRL students are expected to take a departmental jury during their first year of residency at Eastman. Most juries are held in April (during a week when all academic classes and ensembles are cancelled); however, some departments also hold juries in December. Consult your department chair for the exact dates of the juries in a given year. Jury examinations for all students are requested by their major applied teachers, but it is the responsibility of each student in the MM/PRL program to see to it that s/he presents at least one jury examination before completing the degree-program.
Students who, as Eastman School undergraduates, have attained the highest grade-level or have been awarded the Performer's Certificate may be excused from the necessity of taking a graduate jury, on the basis of a request from the major applied teacher which is approved by the department chair.
ORAL EXAMINATION
The Oral Examination is administered by the student's major applied department and normally is taken before the student's degree-recital. The student must inform the chair of his or her major applied department of the date of his or her degree-recital, as soon as that date is established with the Concert Office. In consultation with the student's major applied teacher, the chair will then appoint three faculty members as the student's oral-examination committee, will schedule the date and time of the examination, and will report that information to the Department Secretary. The principal subject of the Oral Examination is determined by the student’s major applied teacher. It may involve repertoire on the student’s recital, or it may cover some other topic relevant to the student's performance area. AT LEAST TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE EXAMINATION, the major applied teacher will inform the student of the principal subject of the examination, and the student will prepare a 10-15 minute presentation on the subject for the first part of the examination. The remaining portion of the examination will consist of questioning by the examiners on the subject of the presentation or on other topics related to the subject or to the student's recital. At the request of the student or his/her major applied teacher, one member of the Oral Examination committee may be from outside the department, such substitution being called for when the principal subject of the examination makes it appropriate. The chair of the examining committee will be appointed by the chair of the student's major applied department and will be someone other than the student's major applied teacher.
RECITAL
One full-length solo recital is required of all candidates for the master's degree in Performance and Literature. It is to be prepared under the guidance of the student's major applied teacher, and the student must be registered for credited instruction with that teacher during the semester in which the recital is presented. These recitals normally comprise at least fifty minutes of music and demonstrate the student's ability to perform solo literature on an advanced level.
At least two evaluators will attend the recital: the student's major applied teacher and at least one of the teacher's departmental colleagues. Both of these persons must approve the recital, and it is the student's responsibility to schedule the recital when all required evaluators can attend. Some departments require more than two evaluators to attend the recital; students should check with their applied teachers to make sure that the scheduling and evaluation of their recitals follow departmental procedures.
The recital is to be scheduled in such a manner, also, that the Oral Examination can take place before the recital occurs. Since no degree-mandated recitals may occur after the last day of classes of either semester, students scheduling their recitals at the end of the Spring Term should assume that their Oral Examinations will take place before Jury Week.
All arrangements for the recital are to be made by the student through the Concert Office. Information concerning scheduling and other responsibilities of the student in connection with the recital are found in the booklet, "Student Recital Handbook," available from the Concert Office.
MM/PRL students must register for ESM 401 in the semester in which they plan to give their recital. There is no cost for recital registration, and no credit is awarded. A grade of “S” for satisfactory, or “U” for unsatisfactory, will be given. The results of the degree recital will be submitted to the departmental chair, who forwards the grade to the Registrar. Students who intend to graduate at the end of the semester in which they present their degree recital should plan to play their recital no later than the last day of final examinations.