Doctor of Philosophy [Ph.D] (Doctor of Musical Arts)

at University of Waikato

While working towards your DMA at Waikato, you'll spend half your time doing performances based on your research, and the other half putting your written thesis together. You'll perform every week, and during these performances you'll demonstrate to your supervisor what you've learned from your research. At Waikato, your DMA supervisors are leading musicians and you'll be able to use a state-of-the art performing arts venue for your practical lessons.

You'll be able to choose a research topic that interests you. Topics previously chosen by students completing a DMA include those focusing on particular composers (such as New Zealand cellist and composer Arnold Trowell and New Zealand composer John Ritchie); a particular aspect of musical composition in performance (such as J.S. Bach's use of the variation form in treating Lutheran chorales); musical education (such as the application of ICT in the music classroom: Tools and trends in the New Zealand secondary classroom from 2007-2009); specific cultural music traditions (such as Kīngitanga and Music: An examination of repertoire and composition of Māori waiata and puoro relating to the Kīngitanga (King Movement) from 1912 to 2008); and using technology in music (such as a mouse driven interface for virtual stringed instrument controller).

To enter, DMA students must have completed a MMus (Performance) with First or Second Class Honours (Division 1) or equivalent, comply with the postgraduate entry regulations of the University of Waikato, and audition successfully on an applied instrument or voice.
 

The Doctor of Musical Arts is a research degree. Candidates undertake supervised research comprising musical performance in the form of works of artistic and creative merit supported by a written research thesis of 50,000 words.
 

Entry requirements:
 

A qualification considered equivalent to a masters degree in Music with at least Second Class Honours (First Division). Candidates must also audition successfully on an applied instrument or voice.

Requirements for the Degree
 

• The degree of Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) is awarded to candidates who have successfully completed a coherent programme of performance and research in two parts as follows:
   

  • Part 1 - Performance

    • Candidates must

    • undertake supervised musical performance, and present one public recital in their first year, and

    • give two further public recitals during the course of their candidacy. The repertoire must be determined in consultation with the candidate’s supervisory panel and may include a concerto, a leading role in an opera, a chamber music recital or Māori musical arts based performance, and

    • present a seminar on their proposed research during their second year of study, and

    • present a final research-based public recital, which will be of ninety minutes duration and which demonstrates performance skills at the highest professional levels, meeting internationally recognised standards for such work. This final recital must be recorded to professional standards in audio-visual format.
       

  • Part 2 - Thesis
     

    • Candidates must undertake approved and supervised research that makes an original contribution to the field of knowledge relating to music performance and is presented in the form of a written thesis of no more than 35,000 words which,

    • critically investigates an approved topic of substance and significance relating to the candidate’s examinable programme, and

    • demonstrates expertise in the methods of research and scholarship, and

    • displays intellectual independence, and

    • makes a substantial original contribution to the research area.
       

      IELTS	6.5 overall (with no less than 6.0 in any band)
      iBT (internet based TOEFL)	90 with a score of 21 in writing
      Pearson PTE Academic	Overall score of 58 and no PTE communicative skills below 50
      University of Waikato College	Successful completion of Level 8 with a B grade average in the Certificate of Attainment in Academic English (CAAE) Programme.

       

Estimated Fees* (International):    $38,475 per year