School for Studies in Art and Culture: Music
St. Patrick's Building 423
Telephone: 613-520-5770
Fax: 613-520-3905
carleton.ca/artandculture/music
The School
Director: Bryan Gillingham
The School for Studies in Art and Culture offers a program
of study and research leading to the degree of Master of Arts
in Music and Culture. This program is designed to offer
students a thorough grounding in new, interdisciplinary
approaches to musicology. The primary objective is to offer
students a forum where new perspectives in musicology can be
explored in a critical and integrated manner. This exploration
will be grounded in the specifics of music but conducted from
within a range of theoretical approaches: including sociology,
linguistics, critical theory, feminism, cultural studies, and
ethnomusicology.
Qualifying-Year Program
Applicants without a B.Mus. or B.A. Honours degree in Music,
or a related discipline, but who have a three-year degree with
a minimum average of B+, may be admitted to a qualifying year
program. Students who complete the qualifying year requirements
with a minimum average of B+ will be considered for admission
to the Master's program.
Master of Arts
Admission Requirements
The minimum requirement for admission to the Master's
program in Music and Culture is either a B.Mus. degree or a
B.A. Honours degree in Music with a minimum B+ average.
Applicants with a B.A. Honours in a related discipline (e.g.,
Mass Communication, Women's Studies, Philosophy, or Cultural
Studies), with a minimum average of B+, will also be considered
provided the applicant can demonstrate a strong background in
some form of music. Applicants without the requisite background
in cultural/theoretical issues may be required to take a
maximum of two full credits from designated courses at the
undergraduate level in Music in addition to their normal M.A.
program requirements. There are no performance requirements for
admission to this degree program.
Program Requirements
The Master's degree in Music and Culture requires the
satisfactory completion of a total of 5.0 credits, distributed
according to one of the following two options (students are
required to choose one option over the other by March 1st of
the first year of study):
Thesis Program
- 1.5 credits required course work (MUSI 5000, MUSI 5002
and MUSI 5004)
- 1.5 credits additional course work chosen from
available elective courses
- 2.0 credits, Thesis
Research Essay Program
- 1.5 credits required course work (MUSI 5000, MUSI 5002
and MUSI 5004)
- 2.5 credits of additional course work chosen from
available elective courses
- 1.0 credit, Research Essay
Subject to the approval of the graduate supervisor, 0.5
credit may be taken outside the program in a related discipline
(such as Philosophy, Women's Studies, etc.)
Deadlines
Thesis Proposal
Full-time students normally will submit their thesis (or
research essay) topic to the thesis proposal board no later
than April 30th of the first year of registration for students
enrolled full-time, and no later than the middle of the fifth
term of registration for students enrolled part-time.
Thesis
Regulations governing requirements for the Master's thesis,
including deadlines for submission, are outlined in the General
Regulations section of this Calendar.
Language Requirements
Students are required to demonstrate a reading knowledge of
French (or another language related to their research, to be
approved by the Music and Culture graduate supervisor).
Academic Standing
A standing of B- or better must be obtained in each course
counted towards the Master's degree.
Graduate Courses
Not all of the following courses are offered in a given
year. For an up-to-date statement of course offerings and to
determine the term of offering, consult the class schedule at:
central.carleton.ca
- MUSI 5000 [0.5 credit]
- Music and Cultural Theory I: Intellectual
Histories
- Major intellectual trends relevant to cultural theory and
their application to the study of music. Topics may
include: Marxism and critical theory, anthropological and
sociological theory, philosophical aesthetics,
psychoanalysis, feminism and gender theory, post-colonial
studies, and cultural studies.
Precludes additional credit for MUSI 5001 (no longer
offered).
- MUSI 5002 [0.5 credit]
- Research Methods in Music and
Culture
- The research process, including the phases of
conceptualization, framing, and research design. Topics may
include: critiques of existing musical and cultural
methods, issues related to the application of
interdisciplinary methodologies to musical objects of
study, and the relationship of method to theory and
epistemology.
- MUSI 5004 [0.5 credit]
- Music and Cultural Theory II: Current
Debates
- Selected debates within contemporary theory and culture
and their relevance to music. The focus will be on a
limited range of debates and issues selected by the
instructor for in-depth discussion and analysis. Topics
will vary from year to year
Prerequisite: MUSI 5000 or permission of the
School.
- MUSI 5006 [0.5 credit]
- Music and Identity
- Music as a medium for the construction and maintenance
of cultural identities, including the relationship between
music and traditional cultures, geography, the nation
state, urban subcultures, gender and sexuality, race,
class, and ethnicity.
- MUSI 5007 [0.5 credit]
- Music and Visual Culture
- The relationships between musical and visual cultural,
including traditional arts, fine art painting, film,
television, and digital gaming and interactive media, and
the ways in which meanings are dependent upon the various
connections between them.
- MUSI 5008 [0.5 credit]
- Technologies of Music
- The role that technologies, including musical
instruments, notation, sound recording, and digital media,
play in the concepts and practices associated with music.
Topics include: technology as material culture, technology
and musical practices, and the increasing importance of
technology in contemporary music and culture.
- MUSI 5009 [0.5 credit]
- Music, Meaning and Representation
- Theories of meaning and representation as applied to
music. Major source traditions and critiques to be
considered include: semiotics and structuralism, analytic
philosophy, formalism, cognitive theory, and
post-structuralism.
- MUSI 5010 [0.5 credit]
- History of Genres
- Theories of genre, including theories derived from
literary theory and film studies, and their application to
the history of music. Topics may include relationships
between genre and musical style, production and reception,
social contexts, markets, and the legitimization and
organization of knowledge.
- MUSI 5011 [0.5 credit]
- Music and Social Institutions
- Historical relationships between music and society,
including that of Western art music to sacred and secular
institutions; the rise of the cultural industries (sound
recording, radio and film); the relationship of science,
the arts, and the academy; and state policies of arts
funding and multiculturalism.
- MUSI 5012 [0.5 credit]
- Repertoires, Genres and Canons
- A study of the organizational and hierarchical
principles whose role is to differentiate, categorize, and
legitimize music making within specific historical and
social conditions. Topics may include musical canons and
their relationship to issues of class, nationalism, taste
cultures, and the development of musicology itself.
- MUSI 5013 [0.5 credit]
- Music and Performance
- Music as a form of social practice rooted in traditions
of performance. The variable, multimodal character of music
as understood through theories of performance and gesture
drawn from the histories and literatures of music, theatre,
and dance (in art, popular, and non-Western forms).
- MUSI 5014 [0.5 credit]
- History of Canadian Music: Notated and
Liturgical Music
- Selected aspects of notated Canadian music from 1600 to
the present; liturgical music; social and economic
conditions of Canadian musical life; regional studies;
individual composers and performers.
Precludes additional credit for MUSI 5100 (no longer
offered).
- MUSI 5015 [0.5 credit]
- Ethnomusicology of Canadian
Traditions
- Issues of anthropological, sociological, and analytical
significance are examined in the context of selected
developments in folklore and ethnomusicological research on
English- and French-language Canadian traditions. Also
offered at the undergraduate level, with different
requirements, as MUSI 4103, for which additional credit is
precluded.
Precludes additional credit for MUSI 5101 (no longer
offered).
- MUSI 5016 [0.5 credit]
- Music of Canada's First Peoples
- The context and significance of musical expressions for
representative Nations in each of the Canadian geographical
regions, Maritime, Eastern Nomadic, Eastern Sedentary,
Plains, Western Subarctic, Plateau, Northwest Coast, and
Arctic, from pre-Contact to the present. Also offered at
the undergraduate level, with different requirements, as
MUSI 4104, for which additional credit is precluded.
Precludes additional credit for MUSI 5102 (no longer
offered).
- MUSI 5200 [0.5 credit]
- Special Topics in Music and Cultural
Theory
- Selected topics focusing on aspects of music and
cultural theory not available in regular program offerings.
Topic will vary from year to year.
- MUSI 5201 [0.5 credit]
- Special Topics in Music Genres
- Selected topics focusing on specific genres of music not
available in regular program offerings.
Topic will vary from year to year.
- MUSI 5300 [0.5 credit]
- Practicum in Music
- Practical experience in music-specific projects such as
music recording, librarianship, concert management,
research, multimedia creation, etc., at local institutions.
A maximum of 1.0 credit of practicum may be used in
fulfilment of M.A. requirements.
Prerequisite: permission of the School.
- MUSI 5900 [0.5 credit]
- Directed Readings and Research
- Tutorials designed to permit students to pursue research
on topics in music and culture chosen in consultation with
a member of the faculty. A maximum of 1.0 credit of
directed studies may be used in fulfilment of M.A.
requirements.
Prerequisite: permission of the School.
- MUSI 5908 [1.0 credit]
- Research Essay
- MUSI 5909 [2.0 credits]
- M.A. Thesis
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