Doctoral Degree Procedures

This option allows the student to choose a Secondary Area of Concentration so that they will be professionally prepared in an area that will complement the performance major. The current list of approved Secondary Areas includes Choral Conducting, Composition, Education/Pedagogy, Musicology, and Theory. Additionally, the School of Music recently added four brand-new Secondary Areas (Winds, Brass & Percussion; Keyboard; Strings; Voice), which we plan to have active by the start of Fall 2024.

Entry to the Secondary Area

Entry to the Secondary Area must be reviewed and approved by a DMA student’s faculty advisor, the Division Head of the Secondary Area, and the DGS.

The student must apply to add a Secondary Area by completing the Application for Secondary Area, which requires the following materials:

• A statement of interest in the Secondary Area of study

• A current copy of the University of Minnesota transcript

• Copies of graduate-level transcripts from all previously attended institutions

• A sample of work in the proposed field of study

Once the student has obtained approval signatures from their faculty advisor and the Division Head of the Secondary Area, they submit both the Application for Secondary Area and the supplementary materials to grad-music@umn.edu for the Director of Graduate Studies to review.

In addition, a mentor from the Secondary Area must serve as a member of both the preliminary and final exam committees. The student has the option of requesting that this mentor also serve as a co-advisor. For this to occur, the student must email grad-music@umn.edu to request the addition of a co-advisor; the Assistant Director of Graduate Studies will then enter this co-advisor assignment into the student’s record. Once this faculty member has been added as a co-advisor, they will be required to approve the GPAS planner/GDP form and Thesis Reviewers’ Report form when the forms are filed. 

Description of the Criteria for Secondary Areas

A Secondary Area comprises a minimum of 15 credits in total — normally five 3-credit courses, at least two of which must be at the 8xxx level. The School of Music requires that all 15 credits of a Secondary Area be earned at the School of Music at the University of Minnesota (i.e. no transfer credits can be used in forming a Secondary Area, and no credits from outside of the School of Music may be used). 

DMA students pursuing a Secondary Area are only required to complete three doctoral recitals. Students who wish to complete all five recitals may do so, but this will add extra time and credits. When planning for a recital, the student must consult their Faculty Advisor to ensure that each recital meets specific requirements set by the area (e.g. the number of solo/chamber recitals needed).

Additionally, DMA students pursuing a Secondary Area may “double dip” up to nine credits maximum between their DMA degree and their Secondary Area. These students must consult with the Assistant Director of Graduate Studies at grad-music@umn.edu regarding this process, and how to have it recorded on their GPAS. 

Students pursuing a Secondary Area must still complete a thesis (4 credits) after having passed the preliminary doctoral exams.  It is highly recommended that students discuss with their faculty advisor(s) whether or not their thesis projects should incorporate the Secondary Area.

List of DMA Secondary Areas & Requirements (Opens Google Doc) 

The School of Music offers two ways of fulfilling recital requirements for the DMA degree:

• For the standard recital option, students are required to perform 5 doctoral recitals, at 4 credits per recital (20 recital credits total). 

  • For the flexible recital credit option, students are required to complete 5 doctoral recitals, at 2 credits per recital (10 recital credits total). The flexible recital credit option also allows 10 additional credits of academic coursework (ensemble experiences, chamber music, directed study, directed research, internships, or related coursework).

  • Additionally, some areas (such as Conducting, Instrumental Performance, and Piano) have their own specific recital requirements. When planning for a recital, the student must refer to the Degree Tracking Sheet and consult the Faculty Advisor to ensure that each recital fulfills specific requirements set by the area. 

During their first term in the program, DMA students must consult with their faculty advisor about which option is the most appropriate for their degree plan. Additionally, it is best practice for DMA students to select their recital option before they begin registering for their recitals. Once their recital option has been selected, students cannot switch to the other recital option. Students cannot pursue a mix of 2- and 4-credit recitals.

For both the standard recital option, as well as the flexible recital option, 4 thesis credits are required. Thesis credits are to be completed after the student has passed their preliminary doctoral exams. 

It is recommended that DMA students register for and perform their recital within the same semester. However, DMA students may also register for a recital before or after it is performed, so long as they have received permission from their faculty advisor (studio teacher).

Once the GPAS Planner/GDP has been approved, the student may assign the Preliminary Exam committee using the “Assign/Update Preliminary Oral Exam Committee” webform. Be sure to complete this form at least one month prior to the Preliminary Oral Examination.

Note: You should assign your Preliminary Examination Committee prior to completing your Preliminary Written Examination. 

It is the obligation of the faculty advisor to assist students in choosing four (4) faculty members for their examining committees:

• First member: The student’s advisor

• Second member: A faculty member from an academic area within music (Theory, Creative Studies & Media, or Musicology/Ethnomusicology)

• Third member: A faculty member within the student’s area of concentration

• Fourth member

  • For DMA: Another faculty member from within the student’s area of concentration

  • For PhD: A faculty member from the minor, or a related field “outside of music”

In listing the names of these faculty members, the student indicates that they have secured their agreement to serve on the examining committee. Committee members cannot represent more than one (1) field simultaneously.

Additionally,  if the student has a Secondary Area in the degree program, a representative of that area must also serve as a member.

For the purposes of the preliminary examination committee, the committee chair may also be the student’s faculty advisor. This differs from the final defense committee, in which the advisor cannot serve as the committee chair.

All examining faculty members must hold the appropriate appointment in the Graduate School to form a valid committee. Find Graduate School faculty roles and appointment information online. 

Change of Examining Committee

If the student needs to change one or more of the committee members/thesis reviewers for milestone examinations, please check the OneStop website on examination committees. All members affected by the change, along with the DGS, will review this request for approval.  

PhD Music Education Committees

The Preliminary Exam committee requirements for PhD Music Education students differ from those of our other degree programs:

• At least two of the committee members must be faculty members from within Music Education.

• The third committee member may be from Music Education, or from another Division within the School of Music.

• The fourth committee member may be from another Division within the School of Music, or from another Department outside of the School of Music.

Preliminary Written Examination

Doctoral students are required to complete preliminary examinations within the same term that they first register for thesis credits. Instructions regarding how to schedule the preliminary oral exam, initiate the Preliminary Oral Exam Report, and successfully complete the preliminary oral exam may be found online via the DMA Degree Completion Checklist and the PhD Degree Completion Checklist. 

It is the responsibility of the committee chair to solicit questions from the examining committee about eight (8) weeks before the planned oral exam and to screen those questions to  ensure that the exam is of an appropriate length and scope. These written questions are generally comprehensive, either based on coursework or covering some basic area of the discipline which the committee deems essential to the student’s area of study.  

Every member of the examining committee is asked and expected to submit a question or series of questions. (The “outside” member or members of the committee may choose not to submit a question although they are certainly welcome to do so.)  The faculty advisor will then help the student to determine how much time they will need for each question, where they will be allowed to complete the exam (e.g., the library, a controlled exam room, home, etc.), and what resources, if any, will be permitted.  The written examination will vary in format by Division, but should be about twelve (12) to fifteen (15) hours in duration and should be finished approximately two (2) weeks before the scheduled preliminary oral examination. 

For policies on failing and/or retaking the examinations, read “Doctoral Degrees: Performance Standards and Progress” on the University Policy Library.  

Submitting the Preliminary Written Examination Result

Once passing results are received (with any indicated reservations satisfied) by the committee chair, they must then communicate the results of the preliminary written examination to the Assistant Director of Graduate Studies at grad-music@umn.edu, who will, in turn, submit the preliminary exam results to the College of Liberal Arts.

The College must receive the preliminary written examination results no later than one week before the preliminary oral examination. The student will be notified once the exam result has been recorded, and should go on to record the preliminary oral exam committee if they haven’t yet.

Preliminary Oral Examination

The student should plan up to a two-hour block of time for the oral examination.  In discussing possible dates and times with the committee members, the student may also inquire about possible areas of questioning to allow themselves to be as well prepared as possible. 

Once the oral examination date is established with the committee, they must formally schedule the exam at least one week prior to the examination date. Also, be sure to schedule an examination room with the Student Services Office in Room 100 no later than one week prior to the exam. Please note: It is not appropriate to bring to the exam gifts or refreshments for the examining committee members.

At least one day prior to the preliminary oral exam, the student must initiate the Preliminary Oral Exam Report for Doctoral Students form to review the examining committee for accuracy. Upon initiation, the committee chair will receive an email with a link to the form, which they will complete upon the conclusion of the exam. The chair will need a computer at the Preliminary Oral Exam in order to complete the form following the exam. The chair must record the votes of each committee member listed on the form. If there are alternates, the committee can record their names and votes on the form. Once the chair submits the form, the student is immediately notified of the committee’s final decision.

Any changes to the exam committee must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies and the Graduate School prior to the exam and must be submitted online.

All students are eligible for in-state tuition rates in the terms after passing the preliminary exams. Contact One Stop if you have questions regarding the doctoral non-resident waiver. 

Requesting Remote Participation in Graduate Examinations 

University policy “Required Conditions and Best Practices for Remote Participation in Graduate Examinations” requires that the following conditions must be met in order to allow remote participation by graduate examination committee members and/or the student in the master's final oral examination, the doctoral preliminary oral examination, or the doctoral final oral examination:

• If the student requests to participate remotely, all members of the examining committee must agree in advance to allow the remote participation of the student.

• All participants must be able to communicate with each other at all times during the examination.

• Accessible versions of all materials must be available to all examination participants.

• Provisions must be made for independent balloting during the initial vote by examiners.

• Provisions must be made for signing the examination report form.

• For doctoral final oral examinations, arrangements must be made for a public presentation, including opportunities for questions from the audience.

• The chair of the examining committee must recess the examination immediately if any technical problems unduly interfere with the proceedings.

• All participants must be notified ahead of time of the options for recessing the examination.

• The chair of the examining committee must guarantee that all the above conditions are satisfied.

Voting Policy for the Preliminary Oral Exam

At the conclusion of the preliminary oral exam, the student is excused and the committee casts non-binding votes before the discussion of the examination starts. This non-binding voting is intended to represent the independent assessment of each committee member of the student’s examination performance free from unique influence from other committee members. Following the discussion, the committee casts final votes. The voting is based on three categories: pass, pass with reservations, and fail. The minimum number of passing votes needed for a passing exam is three (3) if the number of committee members is four (4). Please note that the passing vote includes any vote of pass with reservations. For more detailed information regarding the voting policy, please refer to Section IV(f) of the Doctoral Degree: Performance Standards and Progress by the University Policy Library.

Credits after the Preliminary Examination

The student must maintain active status to complete all coursework and exams for the degree.  If the student does not register for any courses in a given term, the Graduate School will inactivate the student’s status. 

Once the student has completed all required coursework, thesis credits, and preliminary exams, the student may register for either MUS 8444 or GRAD 999.

MUS 8444 (1 credit):

• If the student has passed both the written and oral preliminary exams, the student may be eligible to enroll in one (1) credit of MUS 8444.

• This applies to students who are holding a graduate assistantship or in certain cases when holding a University fellowship such as the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (please refer to terms and condition of the specific fellowship for registration requirements).

• This will maintain full-time student status, but will reduce the cost to the student and the department.

GRAD 999 (0 credits):

• This is a 0-credit, 0-tuition, non-graded registration option for Graduate School students needing solely to meet the Graduate School’s fall/spring registration requirement.

• GRAD 999 only maintains a student’s active status in the Graduate School and does not meet any other University or external agency’s requirements and may have an impact on student loan repayment.

• International students are strongly advised to consult ISSS prior to enrolling in GRAD 999 to ensure that they meet all the visa requirements.

For more information on the impact of these Special Registration Categories, please reference OneStop's information. 

Students must enroll for the required number of thesis credits (MUS 8888) before receiving their doctoral degrees.  Students cannot transfer thesis credits from other graduate institutions, double-count thesis credits between two doctoral degrees, or use thesis credits to meet the minimum major and related field coursework requirements for the degree.

A student may not register for thesis credits until the term in which they are planning to take the Preliminary Written Examination. If the student has not yet passed the Preliminary Written Examination, they will be allowed to register for thesis credits only with the Director of Graduate Studies’ approval, which will be granted in consultation with the faculty advisor. Registration for thesis credits must be made by the end of the second Monday of classes each term.   

For DMA students, please note a significant difference from the PhD: DMA students only need to enroll in four (4) thesis credits, and they typically defend their thesis project during their final semester of coursework. Conversely, a PhD student must have all of their coursework completed and graded before they register for twenty-four (24) thesis credits and complete their Final Oral Exam. 

Even though DMA students typically register for four (4) thesis credits during their final semester of coursework, it will most likely take more than one semester to complete the thesis project. It’s typically best practice for DMA students to start planning for their thesis project before the semester in which they register for thesis credits. These students should plan accordingly with their faculty advisors. 

After passing the preliminary examinations, the student will need to complete the School of Music Thesis Proposal Form. The student should submit the completed form to the faculty advisor for approval and signature, and submit the final document to the School of Music Graduate Student Services Office at grad-music@umn.edu for review by the Director of Graduate Studies. Please note that this form may only be submitted after passing the preliminary exams. 

Doctoral students should work closely with their advisor in developing their Thesis/Project Proposal and are encouraged to take advantage of the extensive College of Liberal Arts proposal development resources, including the Dissertation Proposal Development Program (DPD).  

The Final Oral Examination Committee usually comprises the same members as the Preliminary Examination Committee, but it is not required. The requirements for the committee composition are the same as the Preliminary Oral Examination Committee, except that the student’s faculty advisor cannot serve as the chair, and the student must assign two (2) major thesis reviewers and one (1) minor/outside thesis reviewer. If the student has a secondary area in the degree program, a representative of that area must also serve as a reviewer.

As before, all examining faculty members must hold the appropriate appointment in the Graduate School to form a valid committee. Find Graduate School faculty appointment information online before assigning the Final Oral Examination Committee, and contact grad-music@umn.edu with any questions.

Occasionally, there is not sufficient expertise among the faculty to examine the student’s work with a very narrow or specific research focus. In such instances, the college may consider a request for an expert outside the University of Minnesota to serve as a member of the examining committee. If interested, the student should discuss the possibility of including an external committee member on the examining committee with the faculty advisor and DGS. Contact grad-music@umn.edu to begin the process to add an external committee member to your committee.

The student will be asked to list the Final Oral Examination Committee on the Thesis/Project Proposal Transmittal form. Once the Thesis/Project Proposal form has been approved by the DGS, the student must assign committee members online using the “Assign/Update Final Oral Examining Committee” at least one month prior to the exam. 

Change of Examining Committee

If the student needs to change one or more of the committee members/thesis reviewers for milestone examinations, please check the OneStop website on examination committees. All members affected by the change, along with the DGS, will review this request for approval.

After submitting the Examining Committee webform, the student must also visit the degree completion steps webpage at z.umn.edu/degreesteps (SoM-specific degree completion steps may be found on the Intranet under “Graduate Degree Planning”). The website contains instructions for applying to graduate, initiating the Reviewers’ Report form, scheduling the doctoral final oral exam, and other required tasks. In order for a student to receive their degree, they must complete all of the steps listed on this webpage.

Length and Scope

Because the theses and dissertations at the Doctoral level are highly specialized, the length and scope vary greatly among students. The student should consult with the faculty advisor on the appropriate length and scope of the document.

PhD students are encouraged to apply for the Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (DDF) and Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship (IDF), which provides support for an entire year while the student completes the writing of their dissertations. The DDF program is funded and managed by the Graduate School. 

Document Preparation

PhD students must follow the University of Minnesota formatting requirements. Unlike the PhD dissertation, the DMA thesis/final project does not need to adhere to the prescribed formatting requirements.

When the dissertation/thesis is complete, the student should then share copies with all reviewers, allowing them at least three weeks to review their work.

Reviewers’ Report

The student must initiate the Reviewers’ Report form at least one week before the scheduled date of the final oral exam. Typically, students submit the Reviewers Report and the Final Oral Exam Scheduling form at the same time. Once submitted, each of their reviewers receives an email with a link to the form from wfgen-nr@umn.edu. Reviewers will launch the form, record their decision, and submit the form, indicating whether the student’s dissertation/thesis is acceptable for defense, acceptable with revisions, or not acceptable for defense. 

All committee members designated as “reviewers” submit their responses 3-4 days before the final exam. If the designated reviewers are in unanimous agreement (that the dissertation/thesis is acceptable for defense) the student will be notified via email of the committee’s decision. 

If a reviewer deems revision to the thesis/project necessary, the reviewer has one opportunity to call for revisions to the dissertation/thesis. If the revisions called for are completed to the unanimous satisfaction of the committee, a reviewer may not call for new revisions at that stage. In the event that additional revisions are called for after the first have been addressed, the student may – with the approval of their advisor and the Director of Graduate Studies – remove the reviewer at hand from the committee and seek a substitute.

Final Defense

It is the student’s responsibility to coordinate with their committee members to find an appropriate date and time to hold the exam while it is the obligation of the advisor to ensure that the student is following an appropriate timeline. Students must allow at least three weeks for the committee to read the thesis.  The student should submit the Final Oral Exam Scheduling form as soon as they have established a date of the Final Oral Exam (usually submitted with the Thesis Reviewers’ Report) or at least one week before they plan to defend. Once the final exam form is submitted, the student may schedule an examination room with the Student Services Office no later than one week prior to the exam. Please note: It is not appropriate to bring to the exam gifts or refreshments for the examining committee members. 

In the case of DMA candidates, the Final Oral Defense is one hour in length. In the case of PhD candidates, the Final Oral Defense consists of two parts, one hour each: 1) A public presentation of the candidate’s dissertation to the doctoral final oral examination committee and the invited scholarly community, and 2) A closed session immediately following the public presentation.

Requesting Remote Participation

University policy “Required Conditions and Best Practices for Remote Participation in Graduate Examinations” requires the following conditions must be met in order to allow remote participation by graduate examination committee members and/or the student in the master's final oral examination, the doctoral preliminary oral examination, or the doctoral final oral examination:

• If the student requests to participate remotely, all members of the examining committee must agree in advance to allow the remote participation of the student.

• All participants must be able to communicate with each other at all times during the examination.

• Accessible versions of all materials must be available to all examination participants.

• Provisions must be made for independent balloting during the initial vote by examiners.

• Provisions must be made for signing the examination report form.

• For doctoral final oral examinations, arrangements must be made for a public presentation, including opportunities for questions from the audience.

• The chair of the examining committee must recess the examination immediately if any technical problems unduly interfere with the proceedings.

• All participants must be notified ahead of time of the options for recessing the examination.

• The chair of the examining committee must guarantee that all the above conditions are satisfied.

Thesis/Dissertation Approval & Deposit Agreement

Prior to the last business day of the month, PhD students must initiate the Thesis/Dissertation Approval & Deposit Agreement. DMA students do not need to initiate this form.

No later than the last business day of the month of the anticipated graduation date, advisors must submit their response to the form and all PhD students must file a digital copy of the dissertation with the University in ProQuest. The dissertation must meet University formatting guidelines and is free of errors prior to submission. Carefully review the University of Minnesota’s details about dissertation formatting requirements and submission. Again, DMA students do not need to complete this step.

Upon submitting the thesis/dissertation, the student will receive an email within five (5) business days either confirming approval or requesting revisions. Any revisions must be completed and the dissertation approved by the last business day of the anticipated month of graduation, so please plan accordingly.

For both PhD dissertations and DMA thesis projects,  one copy should be given to the student’s advisor after final corrections have been made. Note: All DMA students must submit electronic (PDF) versions of their completed projects to the Assistant Director of Graduate Studies at grad-music@umn.edu.

The student’s advisor(s) must sign the thesis to confirm that it is complete and satisfactory in all respects and that all revisions required by the final examining committee have been made.