Department of Music

MA/PhD
Composition

HANDBOOK
Fall 2017
Revised August 2016
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The MA/PhD Handbook is a commentary on the departmental Degree Requirements spelled

out in the Graduate Bulletin. The requirements in the Graduate Bulletin are official policy and are
binding. Graduate programs are also governed by policies of the Stony Brook University Graduate
School, especially those expressed in the section "Academic Regulations and Procedures" and "Degree
Requirements" of the Graduate Bulletin. You should become familiar with both Graduate School policies
and those of the Music Department.

Abbreviations used in this document:

GPD=Graduate Program Director
GSC=Graduate Studies Committee
DC=Directing Committee
TA=Teaching Assistant
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Table of Contents
I Introduction
A. Admissions
B. Advisors

II. Masters Level Work

A. Advisory Exams
B. Course Work
C. Foreign Languages
D. Comprehensive Exams
E. Compositions

III. The PhD Level Work and the PhD Contract

A. The Directing Committee
B. Drafting the Contract
C. The Process of Contract Approval
D. Contract Requirements
1. Masters Work Outstanding
2. Advisory Examinations
3. Course Work
4. Essays
5. Colloquium
6. Work in the 20th Century
7. Foreign Language
8. Teaching
9. Work in a Secondary Area
10.
E. Carrying Out the Contract Work
1) Contract Additions and Revisions
2) Evaluation of Contract Work
3) Progress in Contract Work
4) Replacement of Committee Members

IV. Advancement to Candidacy

A. Contract Completion
B. The Dissertation Prospectus
C. Preliminary Examination
D. Dissertation Committee
E. Registration Procedures
F. Approval of the Dissertation; The Dissertation Defense
G. Filing for the Degree
H. Award of Degree
I. Commencement
J. Time Limit for Doctoral Degree

V. Appendices
A. MA Degree Checklist
B. Composition Field Exam
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 1

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Admissions
The Department of Music at Stony Brook University offers MA and PhD degrees in music composition.
The Department was founded on a commitment to the interaction between the various sub-disciplines of
music: composition, performance, theory, history, and ethnomusicology.

If you were admitted into the MA program, you are provisionally admitted into the PhD program (see
below for details on moving from MA to PhD). The MA/PhD program is designed to take 5-6 years.
Normally, the first two years comprise MA level work, years three and four are taken up with the early
stages of PhD studies, and the last one or two years are dedicated to writing the dissertation.

B. Advisors
When you arrive at Stony Brook you will be assigned a composition teacher and an academic advisor.
These may or may not be the same faculty member. You are not required to study with your composition
teacher during your entire graduate career; indeed, we encourage you to work with different teachers to
get the advantage of different viewpoints on your work.

Just as you will probably have more than one composition teacher at Stony Brook, you may also have
more than one advisor. Until the defense of your dissertation prospectus (for PhD candidates), your
advisor is the main faculty member who will provide guidance in selecting courses and fulfilling the
various requirements of the MA and the PhD Once you have defended your dissertation prospectus and
formed your dissertation committee, you may have a new advisor, who will work most closely with you
on your dissertation piece. It may be that the same person will fulfill both roles, but you might also have
different advisors, typically one for the stages before you are approved to compose your dissertation piece
and one after. It can also be the case that you might have one advisor for the first two years of the
program, another advisor for the early stages of the PhD, and still a different faculty member as your
dissertation advisor.

Students Entering at the MA level will be assigned an advisor by the Graduate Program Director
(GPD). You will meet with your advisor during orientation week (the week before classes begin) to
discuss the results of placement exams and determine your classes and choose a composition teacher.
Thereafter, you should meet regularly with your advisor, at least twice a semester, and keep him/her
informed of your progress through the program as charted on the MA checklist.

First year Ph.D. students: Academic Advisor and the Formation of the Directing Committee
If you are new to Stony Brook you will be assigned an academic advisor by the Graduate
Program Director. You will meet with your advisor to discuss the formation of the Directing
Committee. The Directing Committee (DC) typically consists of three faculty members who will
assist in the formulation of your doctoral contract and evaluate your work.
If you are continuing on from MA level work you should approach a faculty member who would
be appropriate as an advisor during the early years of your PhD work. Once he/she agrees to serve
as your advisor, the two of you should meet to confer and make recommendations about the
make-up of your directing committee.

In both instances, after you have conferred with your advisor, she/he will inform the GPD of your
recommendations. Then the GPD will make the final decision about the make-up of the DC and invite
the relevant faculty members to serve on your committee. See below for more details on the Directing
Committee.
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 2

Choosing a Dissertation Advisor

Stony Brook's contract program provides opportunities to work closely with several faculty members
during the early stages of PhD course work and through the process of revising contract papers. As
students develop research concentrations and prepare their colloquia and special field exams, they
typically begin to interact more with one or two faculty members on the basis of shared interests. You
may know early in the program which faculty member you would like to have as your dissertation
advisor, or you may only reach this decision in the course of preparing your dissertation prospectus. You
are encouraged to discuss your decision with your Directing Committee members. Once you have
decided, you should consult with the faculty member about his/her willingness to advise the proposed
dissertation. See below for more details on the Dissertation Committee.

II. The MA Stage of Study

A. Advisory Examinations
Students entering the MA or PhD Composition programs must take advisory examinations in harmony
and counterpoint, musicianship, and piano proficiency. The harmony and counterpoint exams are mailed
out and completed by the student during the Summer before matriculation; the others are given during the
week before classes. All advisory exams are described in the Graduate Bulletin music section under
"Admission to the MAprogram." These include exams in musicianship (ear-training and sight-singing)
and piano proficiency. Any deficiencies determined through the exam process must be remedied by the
end of the first year of study.

B. Course Work
To graduate, students must complete 30 credits, exclusive of Music 501, 505, and 591, which do not
count toward the degree. The student must achieve an overall 3.0 average. Course requirements for the
MA degree, as specified in the Graduate Bulletin, are as follows:

501, Compositional Skills of Tonal Music (if needed)

505, Foundations of Musicianship (if needed)
506, Graduate Musicianship (if needed)
515, Foundations of Electronic Music
516, Electronic Music Workshop or 517, Introduction to Computer Music
History: typically 503 or 507
Theory: 502, Analysis of Tonal Music (if needed) and 504, Analysis of Music of the 20th- and 21st-
Century, or a higher level class as demonstrated by proficiency
523, Advanced composition (in every semester of residency)

(For students moving from the MA to the PhD program, note that course requirements for the PhD are
determined via contract, designed by the student and the Directing Committee.)

C. Foreign Languages
There is no language requirement for the MA in Music Composition. For students continuing into the
PhD program, please note that a reading knowledge of one language from among French, Italian,
German, or Spanish is required. Students are required to pass a translation exam, given at the beginning
of every semester, in one of these languages. Students planning to continue on to the PhD might choose
to address their language competence during the Masters course of study.

As of this writing, changes are taking place in the availability of undergraduate courses for graduate
students. However, if such courses continue to be offered, students may take:
Reading Knowledge (500) courses in French, German and Italian. These are intensive, single-
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 3

semester graduate courses that meet once per week for 3 hours. These courses are specifically
designed to teach basic proficiency for reading and translating scholarly and literary texts.
Undergraduate language courses, which meet several times a week, cover basic grammatical and
conversational skills, and stress pronunciation, speaking, reading comprehension, and writing.
The year-long sequence is typically numbered111 and 112; the one-semester intensive course is
101. Grad students should NEVER take these courses with the undergrad (1xx) numbers.
If you do so, you will lose tuition support. If you wish to take these courses, you should make
arrangements to take the course under FRN/ITL or GER 582. The Graduate Program Director
yearly outlines the procedures for taking such courses.

D. Comprehensive Examination in Music Analysis

MA composition students (and PhD candidates who have not received their masters degree in
composition at Stony Brook) must take and pass an examination in analysis. Students are required to
write an analytical essay on a tonal work and a work of the 20th- or 21st-centuries. These exams, on pieces
chosen by faculty, are given at the end of every Spring semester. Students have one week to write
(typically) 7-10 page essays on each piece. These are read by two members of the faculty. If readers
disagree on the suitability of the work, a third reader is assigned.

E. Compositions
Students must satisfy the Departmental requirement that they have written compositions of sufficient
quality and variety during the period of study after admission to the Graduate School. In order to
graduate, a student must submit a portfolio of all compositions created during the Masters degree period.
These are given to the Graduate Program Coordinator and are examined by members of the composition
faculty.

See Appendix A for the MA Degree Checklist.

Early in the semester in which you will earn your degree, you should file for graduation online at the
Graduate School website.

III. The PhD Stage of Study and the PhD Contract

A.The Directing Committee

The PhD contract puts forth a meaningful and challenging program of study for you in the context of
your long-term professional goals. You will write your contract in consultation with a Directing
Committee, whose function is threefold:
to help formulate your plan of study
to guide in drawing up a contract and assist your subsequent progress through the program
to review all your contract work.

The make-up of the Directing Committee

You and your advisor (see I.A. regarding advisors) will confer about the make-up of your Directing
Committee. Your advisor should then confer with the Graduate Program Director, who will formally
invite the other members of your Directing Committee and appoint the chair. The Directing Committee
consists of your advisor, who will normally be the faculty member you expect to work with most closely,
and 2 (or, occasionally, 3) other faculty members. A committee member other than your advisor will
serve as committee chair and is responsible for convening meetings. If your contract involves a
considerable amount of work in another area of music or in another department, the Directing Committee
may include members from that area or from outside the department. (Please refer to the section on
interdisciplinary work below.)
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 4

B. Drafting the Contract

The chair of your Directing Committee will call a meeting of the full committee early in the fall to draw
up a contract. To prepare for this initial meeting, you should meet with your advisor to sketch out a plan.
Because the contract requires both written essays and study in contemporary music, you should bring
some papers and an account of your prior experience in 20th/21st -century music to your Directing
Committee to help them assess your preparation and advise an appropriate level of study.

1. Drafts of doctoral contracts must be submitted to the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) by
the sixth week of the first semester of formal doctoral study. Students and the Directing
Committee should adhere to this deadline and start planning individual doctorate programs early
in the first semester.

2. The proposed date of completion of the contract should take into account your expectation
of productivity. If you have completed masters level work at Stony Brook, you should
expect to complete the contract within two years. If you have entered Stony Brook from
another program, you may need an extra semester or two. Contract work should normally be
completed within three years. However, if you are receiving financial support you should be
aware that it is often not possible for the Department to offer you support for more than three
years of doctoral level work.

3. Note that the initial contract can be revised during the course of your studies, as long as
those revisions are in keeping with standards for your PhD preparation. All changes in the
initial contract must be approved by your Directing Committee and then submitted to the
Graduate Studies Committee for final approval.

C. The Process of Contract Approval

After being drawn up and signed by you and all of the members of your Directing Committee, the
contract is presented to the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) for review. This review is to ensure some
uniformity of standards and expectations within the program and to call attention to aspects of the course
of study that may need more careful consideration. If the GSC suggests revisions, you and your Directing
Committee must consider the suggestions and resubmit a revised contract for approval as soon as
possible. All work presented for the degree must have been stipulated in an approved Contract or
Contract Revision/Additions document.

Failure to have a PhD contract approved by the second semester of formal doctoral study will have the
following consequences:
If your contract has not been approved by the middle of the second semester you will not be
eligible for a traineeship or other forms of financial support
If your contract has not been approved by the end of the second semester in formal doctoral study
the validity of all your past doctoral work will be in jeopardy, and no subsequent work will be
accepted as valid until a contract is approved.
If your contract has not been approved by the end of the third semester in the program, you may
be dismissed from the PhD program.

D. Contract Requirements
This section explains each aspect of your PhD contract work in detail.

1. Master's Work Outstanding

Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 5

Students who do not possess an MA in composition from Stony Brook will be asked to demonstrate
achievement commensurate with that degree by the end of the first year of study by taking any
coursework recommended from the advisory examinations and by passing the comprehensive analysis
examination.

2. Advisory Exams
If you are entering with an MA from another program or school, you will need to take the Advisory
Exams as described above in II.A. Any deficiencies determined through the exams must be remedied by
the end of the first year

3. Course Work
Your advisor will guide you in selecting the appropriate course work for your first semester of study.
For subsequent semesters, course work should be specified after the contract as a whole has been
considered. That is, you need first to look at the goals and requirements of the overall contract and
plan seminars and independent studies accordingly.

Since the music department schedules courses only one or two semesters in advance, you can not
make definitive plans beyond the first two semesters. But you can indicate a certain breadth of study
and seminar areas that might fit your particular interests and needs. You can emend the contract at
later date if a planned course is not offered. Advanced Seminars with numbers 537, 538, 539, 541,
542, 543, 547, 549, 553, 555, 557, and 559 are appropriate for PhD study, especially for composers
interested in a breadth of scholarship in music theory, analysis, and history. MUS 519, Composers
Forum, is required in every semester until you advance to candidacy.

4. Essay
This normally originates from a seminar. The contract requires formal revision and submission of
one essay, which should demonstrate strong scholarship in an area of 20th-or 21st-century of analysis,
historical research, or criticism. As the completion of the essay involves a process of substantial
revision, you should regard this process as a way to develop and refine the skills needed for original
research, analysis, or writing for publication.

If you intend to use a particular seminar paper as one of your doctoral contract essays, you should so
inform the seminar instructor in the semester in which you take the course. On completing the
course, you will discuss with the instructor any desirable revisions to the essay.

In the semester following the course, you will sign up for MUS 695 with the approval of the course
instructor, who will then supervise and sign off on the acceptable paper. The essay will then be
circulated to the entire Directing Committee. Each member of the committee will be expected to read
and provide comments on your essay within 4 weeks of its delivery, which should occur at least 4
weeks before the end of the term. Students will revise the paper according to the instructions of the
Directing Committee, the members of which will sign the approved final paper, which will be
deposited in your file. A standardized syllabus, with a timetable for completion of the work, has been
adopted by the faculty. Please consult this syllabus as you begin your revisions.

5. Colloquium
An important professional skill for composers is the ability to give an effective
colloquium, either at conferences or as part of a job interview. PhD students in composition must
prepare and deliver a public lecture or colloquium on a topic of significant interest in 20th- or 21st-
century music. Students prepare the lecture/colloquium with a member of the faculty with expertise
in the students topic of interest, signing up for Music 696, Doctoral Colloquium, in the semester in
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 6

which they plan to deliver the talk. A standardized syllabus, with a timetable for completion of the
work, has been adopted by the faculty. Please consult this syllabus as you begin your work.

These stages are involved in colloquium preparation.

a) You choose a faculty member to guide you and sign up for that persons section of MUS 696 in the
semester in which you prepare the colloquium. Your DC must approve the topic of your colloquium,
which will usually entail an Addition/Revision to your contract.

b) You must submit a proposal to the GSC that briefly describes your colloquium project and states your
proposed thesis. The proposal must include an outline of research to be undertaken and an initial
bibliography of relevant research sources. It must be endorsed and signed by the MUS 696 instructor and
should be submitted no later than the second week of the term in which you are preparing the
colloquium.

c) Prepare a colloquium that lasts approximately 45 minutes, including any playing of musical examples.
You should be prepared to respond to questions after it.

d) When your preparation is complete, draft an abstract and submit it to your colloquium advisor 5-6
weeks before the date you have scheduled for the colloquium. . The abstract presents the main substance
and outline of your presentation. It should be between 3-4 pages long and must include a bibliography of
central materials and sources.

e) Once your colloquium advisor has approved the abstract, submit it to your performance and academic
advisor for approval.

f) Once all members of your DC have approved the abstract, gather their signatures on the Colloquium
Abstract and Approval Form and submit it to the Graduate Program Coordinator. It must be submitted
at least two weeks before the date of your colloquium. The abstract and date/time/place of your
colloquium will be posted on the Music Department website.

You may give your colloquium at the end of the term in which you take MUS 696, or at the beginning of
the following term.

In preparing for the colloquium, you should keep in mind that it needs to be highly focused, concise,
and tailored for oral presentation. The Department sponsors a regular series of colloquia given by
Stony Brook faculty, visiting scholars, and your fellow students; you should attend as many of these
as possible.

6. Work on Music of the 20th/21st-centuries.

Both the essay and the colloquium should treat music of the 20th- and/or 21st centuries.

7. Foreign Languages
A reading knowledge of one language from among French, Italian, German, or Spanish is required.
Students are required to pass a translation exam, offered at the beginning of every semester, in one of
these languages. The contract toward candidacy may specify further or alternate language proficiency
depending on the area of the dissertation, subject to the approval of the Graduate Studies Committee. For
more information, see II. C.

8. Teaching
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 7

The department requires a minimum of two semester-long courses, preferably an introductory college
course in musicianship, theory, literature, or world musics. Students may also volunteer to teach
private composition lessons to undergraduate students. The teaching requirement is independent of
whether or not you hold a teaching or graduate assistantship. If you do not hold a TA, contact the
Department Chair to request a teaching assignment. You will be given a teaching assignment, such as
teaching music composition to undergraduates. Winter session and summer teaching is sometimes
available to students, and advanced doctoral candidates may also be assigned to teach upper-division
or graduate courses in the School of Professional Development on a special topic, but such an
opportunity depends on particular circumstances and so cannot be specified in the contract.

In the process of assigning teaching duties, the chair sends out teaching preference forms. If you have
a teaching assistantship, you should request courses which would be most beneficial for your area(s)
of specialization and future career plans. Teaching done at the MA level may be used to fulfill this
requirement.

9. The Field Exam

The Composition Field Exam is a 2-hour oral examination that must be taken before PhD composition
students advance to candidacy. If you do not pass the exam you will not be allowed to advance to
candidacy, and must retake the exam in the following semester. The examination committee will consist
of three members of the composition faculty, to be chosen by the Graduate Program Director in
consultation with the members of your directing committee.

The purpose of this examination is to ensure that candidates for the PhD in music composition are
well acquainted with a wide range of compositions and compositional styles from the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries. The faculty regards the works on the list as important for a variety of reasons.
A work might usher in a new style or may be a significant or outstanding work exemplifying a
particular style. Or it might be an important representative example of some genre, such as show
music, religious music, electronic or computer music, etc. Or it might be a work of historical (even if
passing) significance, or a work of exceptionally high quality. The faculty believes that any student
obtaining a PhD in composition should be well familiar with important trends, styles, and attitudes in
the compositional landscape of the 20th- and 21st-centuries and have a scholarly understanding of the
history of music since 1900. You are asked to familiarize yourself with all of the music on this list,
consulting both recordings and scores. (Recordings can be heard in the Music Library). The list is
primarily devoted to concert music in the Western Art Music tradition, but a few key works in the
area of jazz and popular music are also included. This is not a drop the needle test; you will not be
asked to identify works from recordings or scores. Nor are you expected to do an exhaustive analysis
of each piece, but you need to be knowledgeable about the technical underpinnings of the music,
important aspects of the composers style, as well as its larger historical and social context. One
question you might ask yourself as you prepare for the exam is why did the faculty choose this
particular piece? The answers to that question may help guide you in your examination of the work.

You may add up to five additional works of your own choosing to the music on the list. You need to
make sure that scores and/or recordings of these works are readily available to the examining committee.
Your list of additional works must be ready, and the list sent to your advisor, in the semester prior to the
one in which you take the exam.

Your examination will take the form of a broad-ranging conversation with the committee about this
music, its significance, and its relevance to your own work as a composer. Obviously, not every work on
this list will be covered in the examination, but you must be prepared to speak knowledgably about any
work on the list.
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 8

The list of pieces and a recommended bibliography are given in Appendix B.

10. Work in a secondary area

Please note that if you wish to do advanced work in a secondary area of specialization (one other than
that to which you have been admitted), the faculty in that area must review your preparation to determine
whether you are qualified for such advanced study. For example, a composer wishing to declare
history/theory as a formal area of secondary specialization would have to submit his/her analytical or
historical work to the convener of the history/theory faculty for review and be accepted as a student by a
member of the history/theory faculty.

E. Carrying Out the Contract Work

1. Contract Additions and Revisions

You should keep in mind that additions and revisions to the contract are a normal part of the contract
process. The procedure is as follows:
Use the special Addition/Revision form to submit contract changes. You can find this form
on line on Blackboard, under My OrganizationsMusic-Graduate Students in MA/PhD
Programs.
All members of the Directing Committee have to signal their approval with a signature on
this form before it is submitted to the GSC.
Please note that all additions (specific courses, essays, compositions, etc.) and revisions to the
contract (changes in course selection, essay topics, colloquia, etc.) must be endorsed by the
Directing Committee and submitted to the GSC for review and approval.

2. Evaluation of Contract Work

Evaluation of specific contract components is carried out by Directing Committee members. For
each component, each member of the Directing Committee should sign the relevant signature
document indicating acceptance of the work as satisfying the degree requirements.

3. Progress in Contract Work

You should meet with your Directing Committee at least once each semester to assess
progress in contract work. More frequent meetings with your advisor and your DC Chair will
also keep you on track for timely completion of your contract.
You may request a full meeting of your Directing Committee at any time, and should seek
advice from members informally throughout your course of study.
If you are long overdue in fulfilling contract terms (a year or more) you will normally be
asked to renegotiate the contract. Such renegotiation may involve additional formal study.

4. Replacement of Committee Members

If a member of the Directing Committee is not in residence for longer than a semester, the
GPD will appoint an appropriate faculty substitute. This person is determined through
consultation among the GPD, the chair of your Directing Committee, and yourself. In the
case of leaves-of-absence or sabbatical leaves, the original committee member will normally
resume her/his supervision of the contract on her/his return. Sometimes a committee member
(especially your advisor) will agree to continue working with you and to participate in the
Directing Committee even though officially on leave.

If a member of your DC leaves the university, the GPD will replace that person with another
appropriate faculty member, to be chosen in consultation with either your advisor or DC
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 9

Chair (or both) and yourself.

IV. ADVANCEMENT TO CANDIDACY (for the following in outline form, see Appendix C)
A. Contract Completion
1. When all contract work has been accomplished and formally accepted by the Directing
Committee, the Chairperson sends the Graduate Program Director a memorandum stating that
the contract has been satisfactorily completed. This must be accompanied by a contract
checklist (available on Blackboard in the file marked PhD--Composition ) signed by the
committee Chair, on which all information pertaining to the contract completion is recorded.
2. After the memorandum and checklist have been received and approved by the Director of
Graduate Studies, you are eligible for advancement to candidacy.
3. To advance to candidacy, you must submit a dissertation prospectus and pass a preliminary
dissertation prospectus examination (see below). In addition, you must submit a portfolio of
your contract pieces to your Directing Committee, all the members of which must approve
the portfolio before the dissertation prospectus examination is scheduled. Please note that
most students advance to candidacy within three years. The Graduate School pays tuition
(though not fees) for students who have advanced to candidacy, so it is advantageous for you
to advance in a timely way.

B. Dissertation Prospectus
1. Preparing the Prospectus. The Dissertation Prospectus presents in some detail your plan for a
dissertation composition and should set forth important overall aspects of the piece you want
to compose. This should include the performance forces, the approximate length of the piece,
and aspects of the compositiongeneral style, harmonic/motivic/rhythmic usage, formal
aspects, etc.that expresses your intentions. If the work sets a text, you should discuss the
choice of text and any ideas you have about its treatment. The prospectus will typically be two
or three pages, plus a bibliography/discography, if relevant, that references texts and pieces
you plan to study as part of your preparation. The composition faculty understands that the
final dissertation piece may be quite different than the work as originally envisioned in the
prospectus. However, any major changes, for example in a decision to write a string quartet in
lieu of an orchestral work, must be approved by the Directing Committee and the Graduate
Studies Committee.

2. While preparing your Dissertation Prospectus, you will normally register for MUS 697,
"Directed Reading" under the supervision of your intended dissertation advisor. When the
advisor is satisfied with the overall shape and content of the prospectus, you will circulate the
piece to the other members of the Directing Committee. A subsequent stage of revision will
take account of their comments.

3. Once all members of the committee have signaled to the chair of the DC that they have passed
the composition portfolio and support the prospectus, the DC chair in consultation with the
GPD and DC members will schedule the Preliminary Examination. The Prospectus should be
submitted to the GPD and the DC at least 3 weeks prior to the proposed date of the Preliminary
Examination.

C. Preliminary Examination
The preliminary examination is an oral examination lasting approximately one hour, during which the
student will be asked about all aspects of the proposed dissertation. The committee may request
further revisions of the prospectus following the exam.
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 10

D. The Dissertation Committee

When the preliminary examination has been passed and your prospectus approved, your advisor, in
consultation with other members of the Directing Committee and the GPD, will determine the
Dissertation Committee. This committee may have the same constitution as your Directing
Committee. Your Dissertation Committee must consist of 3 faculty members from the Department of
Music and one external faculty member, typically a composer from another institution. While you
may submit suggestions for an outside member to the chair of your Directing Committee, the formal
invitation to the external dissertation committee member must come from the Graduate Program
Director.

During the process of writing the Dissertation, you will be working most closely with your major
teacher. When you and your advisor agree that the piece is finished, you will circulate the
composition to the other members of your Dissertation Committee (including the external evaluator).
It is crucial that you plan ahead to allow everyone on your committee sufficient time to study the
score well in advance (at least four weeks) of your defense. Please remember that faculty members
are not expected to examine your score during the summer months.

Please note that the dissertation must be formatted in specific ways before being sent to the Graduate
School. Please consult the Graduate School for the formatting and procedure for submission.

E. Registration Procedures
To maintain full-time G5 status you must register for 9 credits of MUS 699 for dissertation research
on campus or the New York metropolitan area, MUS 700 for dissertation research in the United
States, or MUS 701 for dissertation research abroad. You must enroll in the appropriate course for
each Fall and Spring semester prior to and including the semester in which the degree is awarded.

F. Approval of the Dissertation; The Dissertation Defense

Your formal oral dissertation defense is conducted by your Dissertation Committee, but is open to the
public. You must advertise the defense by posting flyers in the department no less than a week
before the event, and you also must give or send a copy to the Graduate Coordinator for inclusion in
your file. In addition, you must e-mail the information (day, date, time, place, colloquium title) to the
concert manager (also a week in advance) to post on the department website. The audience is usually
invited to ask questions toward the end of the session, which generally lasts 1.5-2 hours. If the
outside committee member cannot be present, that individual usually sends questions that the Chair of
the dissertation defense committee poses during the course of the discussion. Starting Fall 2015,
students MUST hold the defense no later than two weeks before the end of the semester.

After the defense, your dissertation committee will formulate a response indicating whether you have
satisfied the dissertation requirement. Often, the committee advises some revisions prior to full
acceptance of the document.

When such revisions are judged satisfactory, the Committee members sign your dissertation cover
sheet and you may then proceed to file it with the Graduate School according to the appropriate
guidelines. (See H. Awarding of Degree below). The Graduate School requires submission of the
document electronically according to their instruction.

G. Filing for the Degree

You must inform the Graduate School of your intention to graduate. MAStudents apply online
through their SOLAR account, and PhD students apply at the Graduate School website
(https://www.grad.stonybrook.edu/CurrentStudents/apply_for_graduation.shtml). The deadlines for
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 11

such filing are university-wide and are announced in the Academic Calendar each year. Failure to
submit this application by the announced deadline will delay conferral of the degree. The application
must be submitted in the semester in which the degree is awarded. If, for any reason, the conferral of
the degree has been delayed, contact the Graduate Program Coordinator for procedures on changing
the degree candidacy date. In addition, you must be enrolled in at least one graduate credit in the
semester in which you intend to graduate.

H. Awarding of Degree
To be awarded your doctorate degree, your Dissertation must be prepared in accordance with
Graduate School guidelines as specified in the "Guide to the Preparation of Theses and Dissertations"
published in the Graduate Bulletin. Be aware that the guidelines are revised periodically and the
Graduate School is rigid in its enforcement of the guidelines.

I. Commencement
Commencements take place in December and May of each academic year. In December, the
commencement ceremony and doctoral hooding ritual (in which the doctoral hood is placed over the
students gown on stage) are part of the same ceremony. In May, there is a special doctoral hooding
ceremony and university-wide commencement on the following day. The Department of Music also
holds a convocation and reception on the same day as the university-wide commencement. December
graduates may opt to participate in the May graduation ceremony, even though the conferral of the
degree will take place in December. Students are encouraged to participate in the various graduation
events.

J. Time Limit for Doctoral Degrees

1. The time limit to degree is clearly stated in the Graduate Bulletin, which can be accessed through the
Graduate School website. It currently (July 2014) reads:

The time limit for a doctoral degree is seven years for a student who has a previous
graduate degree or 24 credits of graduate study in such a degree program. For all other
students, the time limit for a doctoral degree is seven years after completion of 24
graduate level credits at Stony Brook University.

In exceptional cases where the program cannot be completed within these periods, students may
petition for an extension of the time limit. The Request for Waiver of Graduate Time Limit
form can be found by selecting the forms link from the Graduate School Web site. Requests for a
time limit extension must be filed before the limit is exceeded and must contain a significant
justification. (See
http://sb.cc.stonybrook.edu/gradbulletin/current/degrees/phd/time_limit_phd.php)

Note well: The critical starting point for the time to degree countdown is not the year of
advancement to candidacy but the semester by which you have completed 24 graduate credits.

2. Upon written request to the Director of Graduate Studies, you may take a leave of absence for a
maximum of one year, renewable upon explicit written request for a second year. A leave of absence is
granted only if you do not intend to make any progress toward the degree during the leave period. You
must be registered if you are submitting work for comment and revision or are conferring with
faculty members. Students on approved leaves of absence do not register in those semesters for which a
leave has been granted; however, they must register for the semester in which a degree is awarded.

3. PhD students should carefully monitor their time to degree limit as they approach the specified
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 12

deadline. Ideally, each individual should aim to complete the Composition doctoral degree well before
the stipulated time limit. Adherence to realistic timetables for stages in writing and research should
contribute to timely completion of the PhD degree.
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 13

Appendix A M.A. Degree Checklist

M.A. DEGREE CHECKLIST Intends to graduate date: ________________

Name: ID Number:
___________________________________________ ________________________________________

Area: Acad. Advisor:

___________________________________________ ________________________________________

General: 30 Credits (excluding 501, 505, 591)

GPA 3.0 or better
MUS 501, if needed
MUS 502, if needed
MUS 505 - 506, if needed

Piano Proficiency Exam

Composition
Requirements:
Music History (usually 503 or 507); if not course # ________

MUS 504 (or advanced 20th c. theory/analysis if qualified) ________

MUS 515 - 516

Comprehensive Exam: Analysis (written essays)

Approval of Composition Portfolio

Comments:
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 14

Appendix B

Composition Field Exam: Pieces and Suggested Bibliography

The Pieces
All pieces are available in recordings in the Music Library. Available DVDs and videos are
listed on the fair right.

LAST FIRST TITLE DATE Record Call Score Call # DVD's,

# VIDEOS
Adams John Nixon in China 1987 CD 5538
(Excerpts) M1503.A2137
LP:18711/13 N5 1999
Anderson Laurie Oh Superman 1981 1272 NX512.A54
A4 1984
(Text)
Andriessen Louis Workers Union 1977 7375 M1470.A52
W6 1977 - x
OVERSIZE
Arel Blent Stereo Electronic 1970 8940 N/A
Music No. 2
Babbitt Milton Philomel 1964 2490 Cage -
M1613.3.B11
8 P5 1964a -
No Loan
Bartk Bla String Quartet No. 4 1928 1316 M452 .B29p
no.4
Bartk Bla Music for String 1936 8980 m M1140.B42
Instruments, M9 1939
Percussion and
Celesta
Beatles Sergeant Pepper's 1967 1289 M1741.18
Lonely Hearts Club .B42 1993
Band
Berg Alban Wozzeck 1922 5157/8 M1500 .B48 M1500.B4
W62 - 8 W62
Normal Loan 1987;
DVD -
M1500
.B48 W62
2003
Berg Alban Violin Concerto 1935 5507 m M1012 .B5
1996

Berio Luciano Sequenza V for solo 1966 1293 M92.B3 S3

trombone

Berio Luciano Thema - Omaggio a 1958 2594 N/A

Joyce
Berio Luciano Sinfonia 1969 4871 X M1528.B48
S5
Bernstein Leonard West Side Story 1957 9104/05; M1503.B53 DVD -
Audio LP W4 2000 M1500
17056/7 .B539 W4
2003
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 15

Bolcom William Cabaret Songs, Vol. 1978- ***! M1621.B586

1 83 C33 1997
(Vol. 3 & 4
only)
Boulez Pierre Le Marteau Sans 1956 CD 8411 m
Maitre M1613.3.B77
M3
Boulez Pierre Eclat 1970 4127 M985.B72 E2
1983

Braxton Anthony Creative Orchestra CD 24

Music
Britten Benjamin Peter Grimes 1945 5183/84 M1500 .B827 DVD
P5 M1500.B8
27 P5
2003
Brown Earle Available Forms 1 1961 **LP Audio M985.B87
9370 A92
OVERSIZE x;
Cage John Sonatas and 1948 7104/06; M23.C146 S7
Interludes for Audio -
Prepared Piano 6114/16
Cage John 433 1952 N/A M1470.C34
F7
Carter Elliot String Quartet No. 2 1959 4949/50 M452 .C327
no.2
Copland Aaron Appalachian Spring 1944 2470; m M922.C66
7765/6 A7
Corigliano John Violin Sonata 1963 CD 2858 M219.C816
(1964) 1967
Cowell Henry Piano Music: The 1912- CD 8289 M22.C87 D3
tides of Manaunaun, 1925
Exultation, The
Banshee, Aeolian
harp, Fabric, Tiger,
Advertisement
Crumb George Ancient Voices of 1970 1178; 5532 OVERSIZE x
Children M1613.3 .C92
A5
Dallapiccola Luigi Il Prigioniero 1948 10052 M1503.D146
P9
Davidovsky Mario Synchronisms No.3 1970 CD 8908/10 M1465 .D395
for Cello and Tape no.3
Davis Miles Bitches Brew 1969 2342/3 N/A
Debussy Claude Prelude a l'apres- 1891 4248/49; m M1002.D28
midi d'un Faune 4246/47 P73 1999
Debussy Claude Preludes, Book I 1910 9177/78 M25.D29 P7
Ellington Duke Black and Tan 1927 2374(1927) M1366.E46
Fantasy (1927 & 2319 (1938) B55 1934
1938 versions)
Feldman Morton Rothko Chapel 1971 2878 M1531.F37
R7
Ferneyhough Brian Cassandra's Dream 1970 7084 M62.F36 C3
Song 1975
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 16

Gershwin George Rhapsody in Blue 1927 CD 7777, M37.G47 R6,

Audio - ML96.5.G38
23,428 R42 1987
1996
Golijov Osvaldo Ainadamar 2003 CD 10332 ***
Grisey Grard Partiels 1975 9679/80 M985
.G88 P3 2007
Gubaduilina Sofia Concerto for Violin 1987 4723 M1012.G9 O3
"Offertorium" 1986
Harvey Jonathan Mortuos Plango, 1990- 6183 (no score)
Vivos Voco 99
Hindemith Paul Symphony Mathis 1933 356 m M1001.H66
der Maler M3 1984
Ives Charles The Unanswered 1908 703 M1045.I95 C6
Question 1984
Ives Charles Piano Sonata No. 2: 1915 1353 M23.I92 no.2
Concord
Johnston Ben String Quartet No. 2 1964 8640 M452 .J63
no.2 1989
Lachenmann Helmut String Quartet No. 3, 2002 10771 M452
"Grido" .L157 G7
2002
Lang David The Little Match Girl 2007 *** ***
Passion
Ligeti Gyorgy Artikulation 1958 5478 OVERSIZE x
M1473.L53
A8
Ligeti Gyorgy Atmospheres 1961 6804; 3574 M1045.L73
A8
Ligeti Gyorgy Piano Etudes, Book 1985 6781; 3228 M25.L54 E78
1 1986
Lucier Alvin I Am Sitting in a 1970 1136 N/A
Room
Lutoslawski Witold Venetian Games 1961 1086 m
M1045.L975
J5
Maxwell- Peter Eight Songs for a CD 174 OVERSIZE
Davies Maxwell Mad King x M1613.3.D2
57 S6
Messiaen Olivier Quartet for the End 1940 3573 M422.M4483
of Time F5
Nancarrow Conlon Studies for Player 1948 5826/30 M25 .N36 S8
Piano, No. 4,5,9- vol. 6
12,15-18
Nono Luigi Il Canto Sospeso 1956 10368 M1530.N85
C3 1995
Oliveros Pauline Sonic Meditations 1972 (none OVERSIZE x
available) M1470.O45
S6 - Normal
Loan
Prt Arvo Tabula Rasa 1977 331 M1112.P313
T3 1980
Partch Harry The Bewitched 1957 8390; 3413
Penderecki Krzysztof Threnody for the 1960 593 M1145 .P4
Victims of Hiroshima T6
Piazzola Astor Four, For Tango 1989 6849 M452.P53 F6
1989
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 17

Poulenc Francis Concerto for Two 1932 8489, m M1010

Pianos and 4724,4770/7 .P68
Orchestra 4
Prokofiev Sergei Violin Concerto No. 1917 4952 M1012 .P965
1 op.19 2005
Ravel Maurice La Valse, pome 1929 3879; LP M1049.R25
chorgraphique Audio - V3 1997
23,342
Reich Steve Come Out 1966 3357 N/A
Reich Steve Music for 18 1976 3360 M1528.R35
Musicians M87 2000
Rzewski Frederic The People United 1975 4872 M27.R97 P4
Will Never Be 1979
Defeated
Saariaho Kaija Du Cristal 1990 7509 x OVERSIZE
M1045 .S22
D8
Satie Eric Parade 1917 5866 M1520.S27
P3 2000
Scelsi Giacinto Quattro Pezzi per 1959 8553 ***
Orchestra
Schaeffer/ Pierre Symphonie pour un 1950 34/7 N/A
Henry homme seul
Schoenberg Arnold Five Pieces for 1909 1976, M1045 .S363
orchestra, Op. 16 op.16 1998,
M1000 .S36
1994
Schoenberg Arnold Pierrot Lunaire, Op. 1912 5764, 1764, M1625.S26
21 1128, P51 1990 p
Schoenberg Arnold String Trio, Op. 45 1946 LP Audio - m M351
18492; .S355 op.45
Audio - 1997
11035
Sciarrino Salvatore Luci mie traditrici 1996- 9698 M1500
98 .S4612 L8
2001
Seeger, Ruth String Quartet 1931 7835: 1533 M452.S453
Crawford Q7
Shostakovich Dmitri Symphony No. 5, 1937 CD M1001 .S554
Op. 47 5192/5203;1 op.47 1980z
414
Sondheim Stephen Sweeny Todd 1979 CD 9110/11 M1503.S6974 Videotape
S89 1981 Collection
- Vid Cas
1514
Stockhausen Karlheinz Gesang der 1956 7293 OVERSIZE x
Junglinge ML 96.5
.S839g 2001
Stockhausen Karlheinz Momente CD 3052/3 ML54
.S86 M6 1972
Stravinsky Igor Le Sacre du 1913 7064; 9328; M1520.S9 GV1790
Printemps 9167 S31 1967a .A1 .R58
2004
Stravinsky Igor LHistoire du Soldat 1918 3815 M1520.S9 M1520.S9
H415 1995 S6 1993
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 18

Stravinsky Igor Symphony of Psalms 1930 2908/9 M2020.S882

O26 1998; m
M2020.S882
S95 1948a
Stravinsky Igor Agon 1957 6627; m M1520.S9
2901/06 A4
Takemitsu Tru Rain Coming 1982 921 M1045.T13
R2 1983
Varese Edgard Ionisation 1931 4179/80; m M985.V3 I6
5943 1967
Varese Edgard Deserts 4179/80 M1045.V32
D5
Villa-Lobos Heitor Bachianas 1938/1 CD 1403/8 M1613.3.V54
Brasilieras No. 5 945 B32 1947a
(Soprano and 8
Celli)
Webern Anton 5 pieces for 1923 5694; m M1045
Orchestra, Op. 10 5686/91 .W29 op.10
Webern Anton Piano Variations, 1937 5945; M27 .W38
Opus 27 3442/4 op.27
Weill Kurt Die 1928 CD 600 M1503 .W419 Third
Dreigroschenoper D5 2000 Floor
Stacks -
Videotape
Collection
- DVD
1693 -
31NSbSU;
PN1997.8
5 .D84
1988 -
Westerkamp Hildegard Kits Beach 1989 CD 3670 N/A
Soundwalk
Xenakis Iannis Pithoprakta 1956 CD 180 OVERSIZE x
M1045.X4 P6
Xenakis Iannis Concret PH 1958 CD 5907 N/A
Yi Chen Qi 1995 CD 4242 M447 .C54
Q5 1997
Zorn John Spillaine 1987 CD 304 N/A

Suggested Bibliography

Ross, Alex The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century (New York: Picador: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux, 2007) ML197 .R76 2007

Salzman, Eric Twentieth-Century Music: An Introduction (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice
Hall, c2002.) ML197 .S17 2002

Watkins, Glen Soundings: Music in the Twentieth Century (New York: Schirmer
Books; London: Collier Macmillan, c1988.) ML197 .W44 1988
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 19

Holmes, Thomas B. Electronic and experimental music:Pioneers in technology and

composition. (New York, Routledge, 2002) Music Library ML1380 .H64 2002

Stuckenschmidt, Hans Heinz Twentieth Century Music (New York, McGraw-Hill, 1969) ML197
.S7752

Griffiths, Paul Modern music and after (Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.)
ML197 .G76 1995

Taruskin, Richard Music in the Early Twentieth Century (Oxford-New York: Oxford University
Press, 2009)

Taruskin, Richard Music in the Late Twentieth Century (Oxford-New York: Oxford University
Press, 2009)

Cook, Nicholas, and Anthony Pople. The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music.
Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004) ML197 .C26 2004

Cooper, Martin (ed.) The New Oxford History of Music Volume X: The Modern Age 1890-1960
(Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press, 1974) ML160 .N44 v. 10

Morgan, Robert P. Twentieth-Century Music: A History of Musical Style in Modern Europe and
America. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1991) ML197 .M675 1990

Nyman, Michael. Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond. Music in the Twentieth Century.
Second edition. (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1999) ML197
.N85

Schwartz, Elliott, and Daniel Godfrey. Music Since 1945: Issues, Materials and Literature. (New
York: Schirmer Books; Toronto: Maxwell Macmillan Canada; New York: Maxwell
Macmillan International 1993) ML197.S35 1992

Appendix C

Outline of steps to take after the doctoral contract has been completed.

1. Preparing to Advance
a. All contract work completed
b. Portfolio of all contract pieces submitted to GPC
c. Portfolio reviewed by Directing Committee, who indicate to the GPD that the
pieces are acceptable as partial fulfillment of the PhD. The advisor will also
indicate to the GPD that contract work is completed.
Department of Music Composition MA/PhD Handbook 20

2. Dissertation Prospectus
Once your Directing Committee has reviewed your composition portfolio and your
prospectus on your Dissertation Composition is written and approved by your
academic advisor, you may schedule your Preliminary Exam with your Directing
Committee.
3. The Preliminary Exam
The Preliminary Exam is approximately one hour and covers contract pieces and a
discussion of the Dissertation Prospectus. If the portfolio and Dissertation Prospectus
is approved, the Graduate Program Director will be so informed.
4. Dissertation
a. Written with the advisor
b. The GPD, in consultation with the candidate and faculty, assembles a Dissertation
Committee (three internal faculty and an external member) chosen by the
Graduate Program Director in consultation with your advisor.
c. When completed (and no less than four weeks before the scheduling of the
Dissertation Defense), the Dissertation Composition will be sent to all members of
the Dissertation Committee.

5. Dissertation Defense
The dissertation defense is normally between 90 minutes and 2 hours and is open to the
public. (For more information, see III. F. above.)