Info for Graduate Music Theory Majors

Start by seeking out one or more mentors on the music theory faculty. If you’d like to share your work with the whole area (as either an informal brainstorm or a more formal presentation), request to be added to the music theory colloquium schedule.

Yes! Assembled by MSU’s Music Librarian, Grace Haynes, this site contains links to a variety of journals, professional societies, and other informational webpages in the music theory discipline.

There are several sources, depending on the nature of your project. Bring your application form to Dr. Gordon Sly, area chairperson of music theory, before submitting it, as a modest amount of funding might be available from the theory area as well.

• travel funding from the music theory area (to attend a conference without presenting or participating in a workshop) | Application Form
• travel funding from the College of Music (to attend a conference at which you are presenting and/or participating in a workshop) | Learn more
• research enhancement funding from the College of Music (e.g., to travel to collect data or conduct research off campus) | Learn more
• funding from the MSU Council of Graduate Students (e.g., professional development, conference travel, hosting an event on campus) | Learn more
• conference travel grants from the Society for Music Theory (e.g., minority travel grant, international travel grant, accessibility travel grant, and child care travel grant) | Learn more

If you become aware of an additional source of funding for research, please let us know.

The Society for Music Theory maintains an extensive Upcoming Events page that lists conferences throughout the discipline, as well as a Call-for-Proposals page that organizes conferences chronologically by their deadline.

In addition, if you are not already subscribed to the SMT-Announce email list, doing so will keep you in the loop on calls for proposals to conferences. Subscribe here.

One of the best ways is to join one or more interest groups of the Society for Music Theory. They are listed here, and each one has a webpage as well as a leader or co-leaders whom you can contact to request to be sent relevant information. If you attend the SMT conference in November, attending the interest group meetings is a great way to network with scholars who share your interests.

Yes, our collection of teaching equipment is constantly growing. Music theory TAs and tutors are welcome to use it for any theory or aural skills class, provided that they speak with the music theory area chair in advance and return it promptly.

Here’s what we currently have:

• 5 electronic keyboards (requiring AC power) and 14 battery-powered roll-up keyboards | 422 MPB
• 25 pairs of headphones | 421 MPB
• 12 portable whiteboards with staff lines | 422 MPB
• a portable Bluetooth speaker (intended as a backup in case classroom audio fails) | 422 MPB
• many textbooks, workbooks, and anthologies on music theory pedagogy | 421 MPB

If you can think of additional materials that would be helpful in your theory or aural skills teaching, please fill out this request form.

• The music theory area owns two video cameras and two tripods, which are housed in 422 MPB. First priority goes to theory pedagogy courses and degree teaching demonstrations, but students are welcome to borrow the equipment in order to create a teaching sample for job applications or to facilitate self-assessment. Please speak with the music theory area chairperson in advance.

The keyboard exam will be graded by a committee comprised of two members of the music theory faculty selected by the area chairperson. Students are strongly encouraged to wait until they have completed MUS 876, Keyboard Skills and Improvisation, to schedule the exam.

Upon successful completion, both faculty members sign the capstone requirements form. If the student is unsuccessful, the exam may be retaken no earlier than the start of the following semester. Therefore, students are urged not to wait until their last semester in residence at MSU.

To schedule your exam, contact the music theory area chairperson no later than the start of the semester in which you intend to complete it.

The keyboard exam packet is available here.

The teaching demonstration must take place after the student has completed MUS 970 (Pedagogy of Music Theory I), and should if possible take place after the student has at least two semesters of classroom teaching experience as a music theory GA. If the student intends to take MUS 971 (Pedagogy of Music Theory II), it is recommended to wait until after or at least during that course as well. The student must teach an entire, 50-minute lecture of an undergraduate Music Theory course different from the one to which the student is currently assigned as a graduate assistant, if applicable. The music theory area chairperson determines which course and assembles a committee of three faculty members of which two must be on the music theory faculty. The student works with the course instructor, in consultation with the committee members and the area chairperson, to determine a date, topics, and learning objectives.

Upon successful completion, all three faculty members sign the capstone requirements form. If the student is unsuccessful, the exam may be retaken no earlier than the start of the following semester. Therefore, students are urged not to wait until their last semester in residence at MSU.

To schedule your exam, contact the music theory area chairperson no later than the start of the semester in which you intend to complete it.

The public research presentation will take place at a music theory colloquium and will take the form of a conference-style presentation, with a lecture of approximately 30 minutes followed by a 15-minute block allocated to questions from those in attendance; plus a written essay, which could take the form of either an article or a word-for-word presentation script if the latter is to be read rather than delivered extemporaneously. Students are welcome, but not required, to create a handout for the presentation, but urged to do so paperlessly by uploading a PDF to a file-sharing service and providing the link (and/or a QR code) to the audience at the outset of the lecture. Students are also encouraged to include a slide show (in Keynote or PowerPoint, for example) as part of the presentation.

The presentation is the culmination of a research project undertaken under the supervision of a member of the music theory faculty. That person, as well as one other theory faculty member who attends the lecture, will sign the capstone requirements form. In most cases, the capstone presentation will emerge from work begun in either MUS 973 (Readings in Music Theory) or MUS 971 (Pedagogy of Music Theory II), but a separate project could be counted as a capstone with the permission of the music theory area chairperson. If the capstone presentation stems from course work, it does not necessarily require expansion of the scope of research provided that there is sufficient material to support a 30-minute presentation.

To schedule your capstone presentation, contact the music theory area chairperson or complete the colloquium proposal form, in either case no later than the start of the semester in which you intend to present.

It is always best to speak with the music theory area chairperson to double-check course offerings, since the list below may occasionally change due to faculty sabbaticals or other special circumstances. However, in the normal rotation, courses are offered as follows:

• MUS 830 (Research Methods): every fall plus spring of odd years only
• MUS 869 (Counterpoint): every fall
• MUS 870 (Adv. Modal Counterpoint): spring of odd years
• MUS 871 (Adv. Tonal Counterpoint): spring of even years
• MUS 873 (Post-Tonal Techniques): every fall
• MUS 874 (Schenkerian Analysis): every fall
• MUS 875 (Analysis of Musical Scores): summer of every year plus approximately once every other year during the fall or spring
• MUS 876 (Keyboard Skills and Improvisation): fall of even years
• MUS 970 (Pedagogy of Music Theory I): every fall
• MUS 971 (Pedagogy of Music Theory II): spring of odd years
• MUS 973 (Readings in Music Theory): most springs and most falls
• MUS 974 (Proseminar in Post-Tonal Music Theory): spring of odd years
• MUS 976 (Performance and Analysis): approximately once every other year during the fall or spring
• MUS 977 (Adv. Schenkerian Analysis): spring of even years
• MUS 978 (Analysis of Contemporary Music): every spring
• MUS 979 (Proseminar in Music Theory): fall of even years

Learn more about the contents of these courses.

The best strategy for making sure that you don’t miss any job openings is to track several sources at once. We recommend monitoring all of the following simultaneously:

• The Music Theory Jobs Wiki, which includes theory-only positions as well as theory+composition, theory+performance, and theory+other
• The job listings page at Music Theory Online
• The email list-serv, SMT-Announce, to which you can subscribe here if you have not done so already
• Our bulletin board on the walls next to 420 MPB (yes, the old-fashioned way is still helpful sometimes)

Unlike the application process to graduate school, the job-application process is all over the map in terms of deadlines and timelines. You really need to check at least once a week when you are on the market.

Of course, come see each of the music theory faculty members for advice. We are all happy to talk with you and offer advice.

We are not aware of a single website that collates all of the deadlines and other information about doctoral programs in music theory. (Perhaps this is due to the relatively small size of music theory as a discipline.) But most Ph.D. programs have a deadline of around December 1st, give or take a few weeks, and most of the applications require the following materials:

• writing sample(s): scholarly writing that demonstrates clear prose, presentation and defense of an argument, close analytical engagement with one or more piece(s) of music, and close scholarly engagement with theories, analytical methodologies, and/or specific analyses found in existing published literature;
• personal statement: reflective writing that outlines what draws you to the discipline of music theory, what equips you for doctoral study in the field, and what attracts you specifically to the institution to which you are applying;
• letters of recommendation: statements of support from your current advisors and teachers in music theory (i.e., us!), attesting to the strengths and experiences that equip you for success in a doctoral program;
• transcripts of your previous degree(s);
• a curriculum vitae.

In addition, some doctoral programs require the following application components:

• the GRE exam (presumably as a measure of your writing and/or reasoning ability);
• a Skype and/or on-campus interview, usually as part of a second round of screening following an initial evaluation of written applications;
• demonstrations of skills such as model composition or part writing (often as part of an assessment of your readiness to teach music theory)

Each Ph.D. program in music theory has its own signature features. We are happy to discuss these with you in individual conversations, and we urge you to touch base with all members of the music theory faculty as early as possible during your time at MSU. Here are the Ph.D. programs that we are aware of, along with links to their landing pages:

• Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
• City University of New York (CUNY)
• Columbia University
• Eastman School of Music
• Florida State University
• Harvard University
• Indiana University
• Kent State University
• Louisiana State University
• McGill University
• Northwestern University
• Ohio State University
• University of British Columbia
• University of California, Irvine
• University of California, Santa Barbara
• University of Chicago
• University of Connecticut
• University of Kansas
• University of Iowa
• University of Maryland
• University of Michigan
• University of Minnesota
• University of Oregon
• University of Pennsylvania
• University of Texas–Austin
• University of Toronto
• University of Washington
• University of Wisconsin
• Washington University in St. Louis
• Yale University

As a start, join the national Society for Music Theory and our regional society, Music Theory Midwest. Join their email list-servs and attend their annual conferences as well.

If you plan to attend a conference, touch base with the music theory faculty at MSU so we can introduce you to people we know if we are attending as well.