Early Music Studio, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music offers the PhD with expert supervision in music therapy, music performance, composition, music psychology and performance science, jazz & improvisation, interactive composition, musicology and ethnomusicology. In the case of composition and music performance, the PhD thesis takes the form of a performance or co... mposition folio as well as a dissertation of 20,000-25,000 words that addresses, elucidates and contextualises the creative work of the folio. Musicology, ethnomusicology, music psychology and performance science, and music therapy PhDs take the form of a more traditional scholarly investigation leading to a thesis of approximately 80,000 words. For the disciplines of Jazz & Improvisation and Interactive Composition a PhD thesis may take the form of performance and/or corpus of creative work, plus a dissertation of 40,000 - 50,000 words which aims to address, elucidate and contextualise the work. The creative work may be in the form of performance, multimedia, CD Rom or other new media technologies and modes of presentation. Common pathways into doctoral studies at the MCM are either the prior completion of a Masters degree in Music, or an Honours degree leading into a research candidature that is converted to PhD status after one year if probationary requirements are met. Candidates are selected into the PhD after consideration of the merit of the research proposal and support material relevant to the field of research: for example, applicants for the PhD (Composition) and PhD (Interactive Composition) must submit a folio and there is an audition for applicants for the PhD (Music Performance) and PhD (Jazz & Improvisation). The PhD requires three years full-time study (six years part-time). PhD applicants are eligible to apply for the competitive APA scholarships and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music has numerous endowments that support graduate researchers for fieldwork, archival research, attendance at conferences and international travel as required by their ...Read More