The MA Examination is given each April. The morning portion involves responding to specific questions about three compositions. The afternoon is devoted to three essays intended to test your ability to develop a music historical narrative. These questions are drawn from a pool of twelve essay questions ordinarily provided by the end of the previous spring semester. Exam questions are solicited from all members of the musicology faculty. (Three essay questions in the pool are replaced each year.)
Here are the instructions that will appear on each section of the examination, with some explanatory commentary that may help you prepare.
Part I (morning): Scores/Recordings.
“Three scores or recordings are provided, one each from (1) pre-1800; (2) 1800-1930; and (3) 1930-present. Each composition is accompanied by a set of questions, which are intended to guide you through the analysis of the pieces. Your essays should include the material covered in the questions, but not necessarily provide ‘answers’—write a single continuous essay for each score or recording.” [Time: ca. 3 hours]
As part of this portion of the exam, you may be asked to consider genre, compositional technique, rhythm and meter, and instrumentation, in addition to making comparisons with compositions of a similar type.
Part II (afternoon): Prepared Essays.
You will be asked to respond to three essay questions, selected by the examination committee from the list circulated in advance. Your treatment should provide sufficient detail (such as references to specific compositions, chronology, and so on) to indicate your familiarity both with the music and with the historical issues of the question or topic. [Time: ca. 80 minutes for each essay question]
You will have had a chance to prepare these topics in advance, since they are drawn from the pool for the current exam cycle. You should have an outline in mind, as well as the key examples you plan on using; notes are not allowed in the examination room. Secondary literature is not the focus of these essays—the committee will focus on your knowledge of repertory and of generally accepted connecting threads, although if you know scholarship about the topic you are welcome to bring it in.
The exam is given once each year, in April; exceptions may be granted only for extreme circumstances. A student who needs to request a change in schedule, or misses the scheduled exam, should submit to both the Department Chair and the Exam Committee Chair a request explaining the circumstances. For such requests, and for students who have failed the exam, the Committee will determine on a case-by-case basis the most practical date for an exam re-take.
MA musicology students have access to a OneDrive folder housing the current pool of essay questions for Part II together with a copy of the previous year’s entire exam.