Exit Strategy

At the end of last week, all the second-year graduate composers in my master's degree program received an email detailing what lies between us and graduation.  Because there is more to do than simply finishing all of our required coursework, I thought it would be worthwhile to share.

The additional requirements that I have, that is, aside from finishing classes, can be divided into two categories: (1) comprehensive exams and (2) my thesis and its defense.  Each category is detailed below.

Comprehensive Exams

The comprehensive exams ("comps") will focus on 20th-century repertoire, possibly with a few pieces from the 21st century as well.  The tests will be taken on campus over a period of several hours in one day in late April.  The study material is all contained in two lists, which were released last year: a list of pieces written between 1900 and 1950, and also a list of pieces written since 1950.  I am responsible for being able to identify any piece on either list, either aurally or visually.  This means being familiar not only with the recordings but also with the score.

While one might think that identifying music is always easier by ear than it is by looking at a score, that's not always the case.  For the comps, I think it will depend on which is more unique.  A piece with a very distinct sound (Copland's Appalachian Spring, for instance) is easily recognizable when you hear it on the radio, but at a first glance the score might not stand out as much.  On the other hand, some works will be easily identifiable because of how the score looks; the score for Mahler's Symphony No. 9, for example, will be hard to confuse with other scores (even those for large orchestra) because of his relatively sparse orchestrations and his attention to detail (most pages will be sprinkled with several German expressions indicating how various passages should be played).  More often than not, though, a given piece of music will fall somewhere in between and will have both aural and visual characteristics that make it identifiable.

(This semester many of us have been getting together to listen to and study these pieces together.  Not only is this an enjoyable experience, but it's also helpful to hear what other people have to say.  Some people know more about pieces others have never heard and can highlight important features about the music.)

The comps also have an orchestration component.  I was not aware of this before signing up for my advanced orchestration class, but now I'm even more glad to be in that class.  The orchestration component is what you might expect it to be: I will be given a piano piece and I will have to orchestrate it for a particular ensemble.  This will be a take-home assignment, likely over what's being called an "extended weekend."

The Thesis

If I wish to graduate in May--and I believe I do--my thesis will have to be turned in between April 1 and April 15.  Luckily, this window is a couple weeks after spring break, leaving time to edit what will hopefully be one of the most productive weeks I've ever had.  But there's still over a month until spring break begins, so it would be even better to not need such a productive week.  This past weekend I began work on the second movement of my thesis (Symphony No. 1), so the ball is certainly rolling.  We'll see if it needs to be kicked a little.

The defense of my thesis will then be scheduled at some time mutually convenient for all involved, likely in late April or early May.  I'm not exactly sure what defending my thesis will entail, but I imagine it won't be all that different from a thesis defense in an unrelated field.  In my case, I'm guessing I will be asked questions about my process and artistic decisions at the very least.  We'll see...

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