The School of Music at West Chester University is pleased to announce a new and revised M.A. degree program in Music History. The program has been redesigned to accommodate 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 looking to strengthen their own teaching curricula are especially encouraged to apply as the program meets state requirements for a MA in Music Education. The degree also offers a focused perspective for specialization in librarianship or editorial pursuits. Any undergrad music degree (education, theory, history, performance) is an appropriate prerequisite for the program.

The master program has been updated to meet the needs of our students — more compact and easier to complete. The 33 credit requirement has been reduced to 30, and an alternate non-thesis track has been introduced which allows students, for the first time, to gain the degree without writing a thesis. Students need only complete 18 credits in music history, as well as 12 elective credits in subjects of their own choosing, drawn from the full spectrum of the university’s diverse offerings. A language examination remains in place, although students may fulfill this requirement by applying 6 of their 12 elective credits to language study.

A thesis track remains an option for those wishing to pursue more traditional research, possibly with intent of entering Ph.D. programs in musicology. Degree requirements include 15 credits in music history, 9 elective credits, a language examination, and 6 credits directed towards thesis-related research and writing. 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"The Keyboard Sonatas of Frantisek Xaver Dusek (1731-99)," Alfonso Ferrabosco, the younger (ca. 1575-1628) and his unpublished works for Lyra Viol," "Abramo ed Isacco by Josef Myslivecek (1737-81): An Italian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 Vernacular Afro-American Piano Style."

In addition to these changes to the program, the Department’s offerings have been revised to accommodate the interests and professional needs of students. 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 with intention to demonstrate the far-reaching interconnections of music 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 Sensitivity,” “The Influence of Ragtime and Jazz on European Art Music in the 1920s and 1930s,” and “Music and Minimalism: Reilly, Reich, and Glass.”

Thesis Option
• 15 credits in music history (five courses)
• 9 elective credits (may include music history)
• 6 credits for thesis-related research
• foreign language requirement
• thesis defense

Non-Thesis Option
• 18 credits in music history (five courses)
• 9 elective credits (may include music history)
• foreign language requirement
• oral 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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