Music History
& Literature

SOM Graduate
Program

MA in Music History and Literature Graduate Handbook

Faculty Profiles

Undergraduate Program

Student Handbook

The M.A. degree program in Music History at West Chester University has been designed to serve a diverse student population, from those with specific research interests to those simply seeking greater exposure to music history and literature for educational purposes. Music educators attempting to strengthen their own teaching curricula are especially encouraged to apply, as the program meets state requirements for an M.A. for school teachers. Studies may also be customized to serve those who wish to specialize in librarianship or editorial pursuits. Any undergraduate music degree (education, theory, history, performance) fulfills the prerequisite for the program.

The M.A. program is now more compact and easier to complete, as the previous 33 credit requirement has been reduced to 30.  Degree requirements include 15 credits in music history, 9 elective credits, and 6 credits directed toward thesis-related research.  Students may complete the 9 elective credits in subjects of their own choosing, drawn from the full spectrum of offerings across the School of Music and university, including music education, music theory, and performance, and other fields.  Students may satisfy the language requirement by exam or by applying 6 of their 9 elective credits to language study

A sampling of recent completed M.A. theses includes: "The Music of a New Nation: The Music Industry in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia," "The Keyboard Sonatas of Frantisek Xaver Dusek (1731-99)," Alfonso Ferrabosco the Younger (ca. 1575-1628) and His Unpublished Works for Lyra Viol," "Abramo ed Isacco by Josef Myslivecek (1737-81): An Italian Oratorio for the Electoral Court in Munich (1777)," "The Influence of the Dodworth Family and Dodworth's Brass Band School on Nineteenth-Century Brass Bands,” and "Sporting Houses, Juke Joints, and Road Shows: Social Context in the early Development of a Vernacular Afro-American Piano Style."

Recently the department's core offerings were revised to direct students better toward thesis work.  Traditional survey courses have been replaced with "topics" courses in which fewer works are examined in greater depth. The masterworks of the past are studied in their political and cultural contexts to demonstrate the manifold interconnections of music, the other arts, and society. Sample topics (drawn from different courses in the curriculum) include "The Palestrina Style and the Counter-Reformation," "Lully and Music for the Court of the 'Sun King,' " "Vivaldi's The Four Seasons and the Concerto," "Mozart's Le Nozze de Figaro and the Enlightenment," "Schubert's Songs and the Romantic Cult of Sensibility," "The Influence of Ragtime and Jazz on European Art Music in the 1920s and 1930s," and "Music and Minimalism: Riley, Reich, and Glass."

Requirements

• 15 credits in music history (five courses, three from the sequence MHL 610-615)
• 9 elective credits (three courses, may include music history)
• 6 credits for thesis-related research (two courses, MHL 698 and 699)
• foreign language requirement
• thesis defense

Graduate Handbook
The Handbook is provided for music students as a guide in program planning for graduate studies in the West Chester University School of Music. It furnishes a summary of requirements and procedures needed for the successful completion of the degrees of Master of Music and Master of Arts.

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