Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Jazz Studies

 

OVERVIEW

Under the leadership of Howard Hanson and formulated by forward-thinking Eastman faculty, the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree was, as it were, "invented" and first offered at the Eastman School in the early 1950s. Since then the degree has become the standard for performing musicians who desire a doctorate, and Eastman is arguably the most eminent institution at which to pursue such study. As stated in the Eastman Academic Policy Handbook, "the degree is designed to represent high attainments in the practice of music, with emphasis on the arts of performing and teaching."

Since the early 1970s, when composer Rayburn Wright, pianist Bill Dobbins, and saxophonist Ramon Ricker comprised the Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media (JCM) faculty and developed the first Eastman jazz degree programs, the department has distinguished itself as a leader in the field of jazz education. This reputation for the finest possible jazz instruction continues today, and the department faculty, students and performing groups are continually honored with national awards and accolades. It seemed only natural that a distinguished institution, with higher education’s most prominent DMA degree program and with a nationally recognized jazz department should offer a Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Studies degree.

 

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

The degree represents high broad-based attainments in the field of jazz, with special emphasis on performing, composing/arranging, and teaching. The degree is in jazz studies and not specifically centered in the two usual academic jazz tracks--performance or composition. The student has freedom to create a program that suits his or her needs, interests and career goals.

 

PROFILE OF A JAZZ STUDIES DMA STUDENT

• Current college teacher needing and wanting a doctorate
• Person with a masters degree desiring to teach at the college level and hoping that a DMA will provide a competitive edge
• Person with the desire to learn as much as possible about jazz improvisation, theory, history and pedagogy

<< back to top >>

BASIC STRUCTURE OF THE DEGREE

The DMA in Jazz Studies degree is patterned after the other Eastman DMA degrees. The material in this section is adapted from the published Eastman DMA requirements found in the Academic Policy Handbook.

Student Qualifications
The Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Studies degree is designed to represent superior accomplishments in the field of jazz music, with emphasis on the arts of performing, composing/arranging and teaching. The ideal candidate for this degree would be a person who is involved, or intends to become involved, in a career as a teacher in higher education. A candidate for this degree must be, first of all, a proficient instrumentalist and a first-rate jazz improviser and/or composer/arranger. The candidate must also demonstrate intellectual attributes of a high order. Only those who meet rigorous standards in musical performance and scholarship will be accepted for candidacy.

Residency, Time Limit
The curriculum for the Doctor of Musical Arts in Jazz Studies degree will normally require 90 semester hours beyond the bachelor’s degree or 60 hours beyond an acceptable master’s degree. Full-time residence is defined as two consecutive semesters exclusively devoted to graduate work. During this period the student must obtain credit for at least 24 semester hours of work, except for one holding an assistantship, who may register for 18 semester hours, but not more than 24 semester hours.

Graduate students occasionally are admitted to a doctoral program having earned only a bachelor’s degree. More commonly, however, a graduate student will have earned a master’s degree at the Eastman School of Music or elsewhere before being admitted as a doctoral candidate. Work leading to the DMA degree is expected to be completed within seven years following the bachelor’s degree or six years following the master’s degree. Candidates unable to complete their work within these time limits may petition the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for an extension of time. Such extension, if granted, will be of limited duration.

Juries
All students are expected to take a departmental jury during their first year of residency at Eastman. Students who do not demonstrate adequate progress in their primary applied-music study may be placed on probation at the discretion of the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies in consultation with the Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media department chair.

Performance Requirements
Public demonstrations of proficiency in the field of jazz are required of all candidates for this degree. Candidates majoring in jazz studies will present three recitals. Students are encouraged to complete/pass at least two of their three recitals by the end of their second year of study. The proportion between lecture and solo recitals and the balance between performance and composing/arranging will vary according to individual needs. Students are expected to use different repertory for solo recitals from that used in lecture recitals.

Lecture Recital
The lecture recital is, in a very real sense, the culmination of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree program, in that it requires the candidate to bring to bear his or her accumulated skills and knowledge on a presentation demonstrating an ideal synthesis of performance and scholarship. The following statement of policy is intended to aid the candidate in the preparation of this event.

Choosing and developing the topic. At least two months prior to the projected date of the lecture recital, the candidate must submit a proposal (which includes date, time, and place of lecture recital) that has been approved by two faculty advisors. The first advisor is the major applied teacher, and the second is chosen typically, but not exclusively, from the Jazz Studies faculty. The signatures of these two faculty members indicates their approval of the proposal and their willingness to work with the student as co-advisors on the preparation of the lecture recital, to attend the event, and to participate in the evaluation of it. Students are encouraged to develop the lecture recital out of research begun in a Jazz Studies and Contemporary Media course, an independent study, or a Doctoral Essay, though the topic may be unrelated to such enrollments. It may have to do with performance and analysis, performance practice, pedagogy, editions, new music, or other areas of the student’s interest. In developing the presentation, the candidate should strive to direct the content to fellow doctoral students. The presentation should be appropriate for presentation at a college or university job interview or at a meeting of a national professional organization such as the International Association of Jazz Educators or the Music Teachers National Association. It is the student’s responsibility throughout the preparation of the lecture recital to maintain regular contact with the project’s co-advisors. In order to help ensure a coherent and well-organized presentation, the co-advisors may require the student to write the entire lecture portion. It is expected, however, that the candidate will know the material well enough to be able to present from notes or a topical outline. After the two faculty advisors have approved and signed the student’s proposal, the student must obtain the signature of his or her program advisor.

Format for the presentation. It is expected that the lecture recital will last approximately one hour, including a few minutes at the end for questions from those in attendance. Of this time, not more than 20 minutes may be used for a complete performance of the work(s) being presented. The basic format normally is a lecture, illustrated by brief performance excerpts, followed by a complete performance. Students are expected to attend lecture recitals throughout the time they are enrolled in the program, in order to develop a personal sense of various formats that are used and which might be appropriate for topics being considered.

Evaluation of the presentation. The student must submit the signed proposal of the lecture recital to the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at least two months in advance of the recital. The Associate Dean of Graduate Studies then designates a third faculty member who will join the co-advisors to form the committee that will evaluate the presentation. A lecture recital may be repeated one time.

<< back to top >>

PROGRAM OF STUDY

The program of study lists those courses for which the student will receive graduate credit. Individual programs of study may vary considerably, depending upon the needs of the student, as revealed in the placement tests in jazz and non-jazz theory, jazz and non-jazz music history, general educational background, and career goals. However, each student’s program will normally comprise at least 60 credits beyond the master’s degree. When approved by the Graduate Professional Committee, the program of study constitutes the formal requirements that must be met by the student before completion of work for the degree. Subsequent program changes can be made only by action of the committee.

I. Applied Music and Improvisation  (20 credits)

• Applied music study (460A--5 credits per semester) 10 credits
  (This could include both jazz and classical study, if desired)
• Jazz Performance Workshops (JCM 451/452 - 2 credits per semester) 4 credits
• Projects in Improvisation or Projects in Jazz Composition (JCM 4XX--3 credits per semester. These courses do not presently exist. They would be independent study courses.) 6 credits

II. Research and Writing Seminars  (12 credits)

Consisting of one of the following:

(A) four JCM* or MHS 590s

(B) three JCM or MHS 590s plus one of the following: TH 481,TH 581, TH 590, MUY 400-500-level course, or independent study at the 500 level (major document required);

(C) two JCM 590s plus a doctoral essay (6 credits);

(D) dissertation (12 credits)

If option C or D is chosen, the student must submit a proposal to the Graduate Professional Committee, which votes on the proposal, and appoints a three-member faculty committee (at least one member will be from the music education, musicology, or music theory departments) which will serve as the final jury after the essay/dissertation is complete in fair copy. In addition, if option C or D is chosen and the essay/dissertation does not involve work in music history, then 6 credit hours of MHS will be required in the minor field/elective category.

*(590 JCM courses do not presently exist.)

Typical courses could be:
The History and Significance of the Blues
The Music of Duke Ellington
Jazz Insights: The Saxophonists
Jazz Insights: The . . . . . etc.
The Swing Tradition and American Popular Song
Bebop/Atlantic-Prestige Era
Blue Note Era/Modal Experimentation
ECM Era/Bitches Brew and Beyond
Ragtime’s Relationship to Jazz

III. Music Theory  (6 credits)
Six credits as determined by the student, his/her advisor and the results of the placement tests. At least one course must be an analysis course (TH 401, 402, 511, 513 or 531). TH 400 may not be used.

IV. Jazz Composition/Arranging  (6 credits)
Courses to be determined based on background and experience of the student. They could include JCM 224 & 225 Jazz Composition and Arranging II & III, JCM 481,482 Advanced Projects in Arranging and Composition.

V. Minor/Electives  (16 credits)
Students are encouraged to develop a minor field (normally at least three courses, ca. 8—12 credit hours) in consultation with their advisor. The minor field, along with the program of study, must receive approval of the Graduate Professional Committee by the third semester of doctoral study (normally after 20 credit hours have been taken). The minor field may occasionally involve applied-music study in a secondary instrument or voice; in such cases, a maximum of 6 credit hours of applied-music study may apply towards the minor.

Remedial courses that are required as a result of the placement exams [English (if it is a second language), Bibliography (MHS 480), Music History (MHS 119), Music Theory (TH116), Review Ear Training (TH115), Jazz Theory (JCM 119), Jazz History (JCM 241)] or upon admission to a program must be taken above and beyond the 90 credit hours required for the DMA.

It is expected that a jazz DMA student would not normally minor in Music History, since that level of interest would probably direct the student to a PRL emphasis with a JCM minor. However, if a minor field in music history is chosen, it must consist of four courses from the Music History and/or Musicology listings, all of which are on the 400 level or above and two of which are on the doctoral (500) level.

A student wishing to minor in composition must receive explicit permission to do so from the composition department. Such permission is granted only on the basis of review by that department of three or four works by the student. The minor will be a course of study assembled by the faculty, which will consist of a minimum of 12 credit hours. Of these 12 credits, there must be two semesters of composition study with a faculty composition teacher. Other courses from the offerings of the composition department will be determined according to the particular needs and abilities of the student seeking this minor.

CANDIDACY, COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATIONS

Before completing the degree, all students in the Doctor of Musical Arts program must pass the comprehensive examinations and must satisfy their various major departments and the Graduate Professional Committee that they have attained broad competency as practitioners of music. A person submitting a full dissertation to satisfy the requirements of the degree will not be considered a candidate for the degree or permitted to begin work on the dissertation until he or she has passed the comprehensive examinations.

The comprehensive examinations will consist of a written examination in the fields of music history, literature, and theory and an oral examination. The oral examination will be broad in nature and will cover the student’s major and minor fields of study. The written examination will include jazz history, theory and literature questions in addition to non-jazz questions and will be designed in such a way that the jazz student will be on equal footing with the non-jazz student. While the exact format of the comprehensive examination has yet to be finalized, discussions with the Music History and Theory departments indicate that perhaps the best solution is as follows: Parts I, II, and IV would be expanded to include jazz questions. Those sections would be graded in the usual manner. Section IV would be specialized and specific to the jazz student. The questions would be written and graded by jazz faculty. Tthe current Comprehensive Examination will need to be expanded to include more choices of essay topics and term identifications, so as to accommodate the JCM student to the appropriate degree. Still, it is expected that the student will be able to demonstrate on this exam some basic knowledge and understanding of non-jazz theory, music history and repertoire. Our intention is to create a comprehensive exam for JCM students which combines all aspects of their DMA curriculum.

Students submitting a full dissertation to satisfy the requirements of the degree must pass the comprehensive examinations at least seven months before the final examination. Students not writing a dissertation or doctoral essay will sit for the comprehensive examinations after all academic requirements (i.e., coursework) of the degree and two of the performance requirements (plus the departmental jury) have been met. The committee of examiners for the comprehensive examinations will consist of designated members of the graduate faculty including a jazz representative. A second qualifying examination after failure may not be taken within five calendar months. A third examination may be taken only with the permission of the Graduate Professional Committee.

<< back to top >>

ADMISSIONS PROCESS

Preliminary Taped Audition:
All Candidates for DMA JCM degrees must submit a preliminary audition tape.

Tapes must be submitted with Completed Eastman Application Forms no later than December 1. Select candidates will be invited to audition in person in February or March.

TAPE REQUIREMENTS:

• Cassette or CD format
• 15-20 min. of music
• Recording must focus on the applicant and not supporting musicians
• 3-4 varied jazz selections
• emphasize improvisation and comp./arr. skills
• Jazz faculty will review tapes by January 1
• Select candidates will be invited to ESM for a live audition.

Live On-Campus Audition for Select Candidates:
Candidates selected from the preliminary tape process will be invited to attend one of the designated Eastman audition days (see below). Candidates are encouraged to attend classes, rehearsals, and performances surrounding their audition date.

Live Audition Requirements:
Each applicant plays a 20-30 minute private audition accompanied by an Eastman student rhythm section. Be prepared to perform 3-4 jazz selections in varied styles (original compositions and non-standard literature are acceptable). Bring 3 photocopies of each selection in lead sheet form (for the Eastman student rhythm section that will accompany you). The jazz faculty may guide applicants through other spontaneous formats. From 4:00-5:30 on your audition date, applicants will meet and perform for faculty as a group.

Classical Audition:
is required of all jazz applicants (see guidelines in Eastman bulletin). Classical auditions of jazz applicants will not be judged in competition with classical performance majors.

Scholarly Writing:
DMA candidates must demonstrate the ability to do scholarly research. All applicants must submit a scholarly historical or analysis paper.

Jazz Composition and Arranging Materials:
Submit to Admissions Office (with application) representative scores and recordings of compositions and/or arrangements for any jazz medium.

<< back to top >>