Capstone Requirements for MM Music Theory Students

The Capstone Requirements for the MM Music Theory program are as follows:

• Capstone Requirements form to be signed by two Theory faculty attending each portion
• A Keyboard Skills exam
  • 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.
  • Download the keyboard skills packet
• A Teaching Demonstration
  • 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.
• Capstone Presentation
  • 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.