Guiding Principles

Each PhD program within MPAP governs itself by a unique set of guiding principles, as follows.

Educational Theatre

PhD in Educational Theatre

The Ph. D. Program in Educational Theatre provides specific pathways for specialized study at the doctoral level in three areas of educational theatre praxis: Drama in Education, Applied Theatre, and Theatre for Young Audiences and Play Production.

The Ph.D. in Educational Theatre is designed for individuals who intend to pursue positions as academics, researchers, scholars, curriculum developers, and educational consultants. Graduates of our program are teachers of drama education and theatre at colleges and universities across the country and around the world.

Through a broadly designed and individualized curriculum, students in the Ph.D. in Educational Theatre will develop their artistic praxis needed to transform today’s learning communities in a variety of educational, cultural, and vocational contexts. The Ph.D. program provides comprehensive research and artistic training that equips graduates with the knowledge and skills to have significant impact on scholarship in educational theatre. 

Program Goals

By the end of their studies, PhD students will be able to:

• Demonstrate competence around the artistic processes outlined in the New York State Learning Standards for Theatre

• Engage in systematic and ongoing analysis as a reflective practitioner

• Demonstrate competence around arts-based, qualitative, and/or quantitative research paradigms

• Create, design, and implement original research projects that expand upon existing scholarship 

Music Education

Music Education PhD: Music Education for College and University Faculty 

This research-based doctoral degree prepares students to pursue a career as innovative music educators teaching at the college and university levels. Students study specialized research methodologies and theoretical development, and work closely with leading New York City artist-teachers who are top educators, composers, and commercial and symphonic performers both here in New York City and around the world.

Music Education PhD: Music Therapy Specialization 

Music therapy at NYU is characterized by a consideration for the whole person and for the central role of music in clinical processes. These foundations are reflected in a variety of ways: a recognition that relationship dynamics and human emotions are relevant concerns in all clinical applications; a respect for the individualized way that human beings engage with music to enhance their lives and promote development; and a recognition that music therapy is a human service profession in which the clients who access its services are the primary stakeholders. The program in all of its facets—including master’s level education, doctoral study, and the activities of the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy—is guided largely by humanistic values in the broadest philosophical sense. 

Students in this doctoral program are experienced clinicians who have developed research interests from their area of clinical expertise. The curriculum for each student’s course of study is highly individualized and include coursework from areas as diverse as music studies, psychology and counseling, cultural studies, and neuroscience.

Music Composition and Performance

Music Composition

The doctoral program in Music Composition supports composers in the development of their unique artistic voice, prepares them for careers in the field, and encourages scholarship with research and writing. Students work closely with faculty, who are active in the field, to explore new ideas in music, further develop their craft, as well as develop critical thinking. Through course work, individual meetings, concerts, recordings, and research there are opportunities to develop compositional expertise, deepen understanding of musicological and cultural issues, explore a wide range of music aesthetics and traditions, work collaboratively, hone skills for teaching on a university level, and develop entrepreneurial understanding for redefining the cultural landscape. Faculty expertise includes concert music, film scoring, and music technology. 

Music Performance

The Ph.D. program in Music Performance provides individual pathways for specialized study at the doctoral level for advanced musicians in the classical and jazz idioms. Emphasizing interdisciplinary research, the program promotes practitioner-based perspectives on the repertoire and its evolving performance traditions.

The Ph.D. in Music Performance is designed for individuals who represent the highest level of achievement both in the academy and on the concert stage. Graduates possess the expertise to not only perform professionally  but also contribute to the broader scholarly community, complementing their activities on-stage and in the studio with  public presentations of their research, publications, and teaching. Graduates of our program are performers are committed to exploring musicological, theoretical, and historical perspectives on the repertoire and the performance practices to which they are dedicated.

Students in the Ph.D. program in Instrumental Performance work closely with Artist Faculty. They benefit from the mentorship of internationally renowned performers, as well as the unique performance opportunities available at NYU and in the context of New York's unparalleled cultural life. They also collaborate with scholars outside their immediate field, supplementing their performative knowledge with insights from other disciplines. A flexible curriculum allows them to engage in research questions relating theory to practice, including but not limited to studies in aesthetics and reception, historiography, ethnography, and psychology, exploring the sociological and political aspects of the diverse repertoires and performance traditions they represent.

Program Goals

PhD Students in Composition and Performance will personalize their course of study around individual research interests, taking courses that support their areas of specialization. They will be able to:

• Perform artistic research by developing quantitative and qualitative research methods appropriate to their field of inquiry.

• Engage in a variety of collaborative environments with artists and professionals in related fields

• Broaden their perspectives and relate their own music-making activities to diverse cultural contexts and intellectual traditions

• Develop foundational knowledge in disciplines applicable to yet outside their field of specialization, including psychology, performance studies, historical musicology, ethnomusicology, media, arts education and technology, and the social sciences.

• Communicate the results of their original research orally and in writing, in conference presentations and academic publications.

Music Technology

The PhD program in Music Technology prepares students for research and teaching careers in academia, industry and the public sector, at the constantly changing intersection of music, sound, and technology. This degree program involves research in the fields of computer music, immersive audio, music psychology and neuroscience, sound and music computing and data science, as well as in cutting-edge technologies for music experiences, interaction, education, creation, production, and accessibility. The program offers personal mentoring and advisement from doctoral faculty and opportunities to participate in faculty-led research teams in the Music Technology program, the larger Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, the Steinhardt School, and other NYU units including the Tandon School of Engineering, the Center for Data Science, the College of Arts and Science, as well as the NYU global sites in Abu Dhabi and Shanghai. Students typically complete their studies in 4 to 5 years of continuous full-time study.

Program Goals

By the end of their studies, students will be able to

1. Produce works that are of sufficient quality for publication in scientific journals and conference proceedings.

2. Demonstrate proficiency in oral and written communication appropriate to the discipline.

3. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of various methods and techniques from the applied sciences and mathematics, in areas such as computer programming, digital signal processing, machine learning, time-series analysis, neuroscience, cognitive sciences, computational modeling, acoustics and electronics.

4. Demonstrate proficiency in the use of common methodologies for scientific experimentation and evaluation, with a focus on the explanation of observable phenomena by measuring evidence and applying inductive reasoning, and the testing of these explanations, or hypotheses, by means of carefully-designed, statistically rigorous and reproducible experimental studies.

5. Critically analyze/apply/discuss the theories, concepts and critical issues in the fields of computer music, music cognition, audio recording and production, sound and music computing, music theory, performance and composition, and immersive audio environments.

6. Demonstrate the ability to make a significant and original contribution to scholarly work at the intersection of music, science and technology.

7. Demonstrate the ability to teach and mentor college students.