Innovative
Music Scholars

UCLA’s Department of Musicology is one of the most successful graduate programs in American musicology. Recent alumni of the department teach at the University of Michigan, UT Austin, UC Irvine, Michigan State, Dalhousie University, Bates College, and other schools across the nation and the world. Our intellectual community is strikingly diverse, with U.S. graduate students from all regions of the country, international students from Canada, Mexico, Holland, Bermuda, Guatemala and Korea, and visiting scholars from as far away as China and the Ukraine.

As a training-ground for the next generation of adventurous, inventive music scholars, our Ph.D. program develops students’ creative and critical voices in a wide variety of chosen subfields; provides them with rich opportunities for establishing intellectual and professional networks; and gives them pedagogical training and experience second to none. Our graduate seminars explore topics and theories from musical Nationalism to the history of improvisation, musical camp to Dufay, opéra-comique to hands-on explorations of “public musicology.” Current graduate research interests include (but are by no means limited to!) David Bowie, Soviet music theory pedagogy, early modern anglophone devotional poetry and song, proto-punk musical experimentalism, music as cultural diplomacy during the Pan American era, 17th- and 18th-century operatic adaptations of Shakespeare’s works, music in marginal cinemas (horror, slasher, etc.).

The UCLA Musicology department normally enrolls 4-5 students per year. We accept applications for the Ph.D. only (an M.A. is normally awarded to eligible students after two years). The department is committed to competitive multi-year packages of support, and at the present time can usually guarantee a minimum of one year of fellowship and three plus years of teaching assistantship to incoming students. Students normally graduate 5-6 years after matriculation.

Student Perspectives:<br />
Caitlin Vaughn Carlos
Student Perspectives:
Caitlin Vaughn Carlos

“I’ve always been interested in how people use music of the past – the historical past and their own personal past. At UCLA I got to study nostalgia and uses of the past in rock music of the early 70s, allowing me to think about music that I’ve heard my entire life (for example, “American Pie” or “Led Zeppelin IV”) in a completely new way.” Caitlin Vaughn Carlos Ph.D. ’21 | Musicology

How AI and Musicians Collaborate, a TedTalk with Judith Finell
Music creation is one of the most distinguishing features of humanity. So what does it mean that AI has entered the picture? Judith Finell, lecturer in music industry at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music offers a fresh perspective on how human creativity and artificial intelligence charts new territory in music composition.
Trailblazing Composer Anne LeBaron Honored with Concert at UCLA
Internationally-acclaimed composer and harpist Anne LeBaron marks her illustrious tenure at CalArts with a retrospective concert at UCLA’s Lani Hall, on Wednesday, February 7, at 7 PM. The program, encapsulating four decades of pioneering music, will be followed by an enlightening talkback and reception.
UCLA Musicologist’s New Book Explores the Sublime
Cesar Favila, assistant professor of Musicology, has just published his first book. Immaculate Sounds: The Musical Lives of Nuns in New Spain breaks new ground in its imaginative approach to recovering the lives of women who sang devotional music in Catholic churches. Oxford University Press has published the book in hardback. The UCLA Library has partnered with the

Graduate Opportunities

Distinguished Lecture Series
Ciro Zoppo Research Fellowship
Apr 19 Fri
3:00pm
Free
classical, lectures-symposia, talks
Encounters with Schoenberg and Stein: A Symposium
This year is Arnold Schoenberg’s 150th birthday, and the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna is coordinating and promoting events worldwide to mark the occasion. This half-day symposium is dedicated to new directions in Schoenberg scholarship that will consist of two sessions, divided by a coffee break, and followed by a reception. One session will showcase
Lani Hall
Apr 29 Mon
5:15pm
Free
talks
Distinguished Lecture Series with Teresita Lozano
Specters of Survival and Persecution: Ghost Smuggling Ballads, Hauntology, and the Undocumented Migrant Experience Many ghost stories utilize themes of apparitions and haunting to elicit terror, warning listeners to abide by moral codes. However, since 2007, a phenomenon of Mexican corrido (ballad) composition, which I define as ghost smuggling ballads, shares a collective ghost story
Ostin 110A

Explore Other Degrees

Conducting
Graduate study and training in choral, orchestral, or wind conducting
Ethnomusicology
The study of global musical traditions through performance training, research, and field work
Global Jazz Studies
Jazz performance and musicianship courses are paired with African American Studies
BA
Music Composition
Mentorship in the creation and realization of music for concerts, opera, and visual media
Music Education
Preparation for music educators leading to a BA and teaching credential in just four years
BA
Music Industry
A leadership-focused professional degree which prepares students to transform the creative, entrepreneurial, and executive structures of the music industry
Musicology
The scholarly study of the histories, cultures, and critical interpretations of music and music-making
Music Performance
Study and training towards professional performance careers in Western classical music