The mission of the Mead Witter School of Music is:
- to provide a rich, integrated program of undergraduate and graduate education that promotes the highest levels of professional, creative, and scholarly development while challenging students to achieve their greatest potential;
- to cultivate an environment that inspires creativity, stimulates intellectual curiosity, and fosters critical thinking; and
- to serve the university community, the public, and the profession through performance, composition, scholarship, music education, outreach, and engagement.
The Mead Witter School of Music enriches students' educational experience by hosting guest artists and scholars for master classes, recitals, colloquia, seminars, and festivals. Mead Witter School of Music organizations and ensembles perform more than 350 recitals and concerts every year, making a significant contribution to the cultural life of the university and the wider Madison community.
Mead Witter School of Music views its goals and objectives as complementary to those of the University of WisconsinMadison, which include "to provide an environment in which faculty and students can discover, examine critically, preserve and transmit the knowledge, wisdom and values that will help ensure the survival of the present and future generations with improvement in the quality of life."
The University of WisconsinMadison School of Music is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), and has been an institutional member of NASM since 1966.
THe Doctor of Musical Arts degree
The DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts) and the Ph.D. are the highest degrees conferred by the Mead Witter School of Music. The DMA is granted for evidence of general proficiency and distinctive attainment in a specialized field of performance. The student's ability in independent investigation is demonstrated through a series of public recital performances and in a final project presenting original research and creative scholarship.
Every major track in the DMA program consists of course and proficiency requirements including a minor field of study outside the student's major performance specialty. In addition to this, the core of the degree program is the doctoral candidate's Doctoral Performance and Research. This is a body of performances and scholarship that is, as a whole, the candidate's significant contribution to the field of musical performance.
The DMA in music: performance is offered with concentrations in: brass; composition; guitar;percussion; piano performance; collaborative piano; piano performance and pedagogy; organ; string performance; vocal performance; opera; woodwinds; multiple woodwinds; choral conducting; orchestral conducting; wind conducting.
The DMA degree requires significant work beyond the master's degree, including the extensive independent work described above. Each major track varies slightly. See the course lists available through the Requirements tab for details. Contact the Mead Witter School of Music graduate office for complete explanations of the degrees offered at the master's or doctoral levels: [email protected].
DMA students have achieved a high level of artistry as a performing musician before beginning the program at Mead Witter School of Music. The curriculum is designed to challenge students, broaden their musical knowledge and experience, and foster their growth in accomplishing independent research as well as formulating a unique approach to musical performance. Coursework in musicology and music theory, study of pedagogy and literature, and close mentorship by a group of supportive faculty members all contribute toward deepening a DMA student's encounter with music. A minor field of study, required of all DMA students, assures breadth by ensuring work in a field of study outside the major specialty. Proficiency in a foreign language supports research in the major field.
All DMA curricula in the Mead Witter School of Music are built on a similar model: applied study in the field of major specialty, related courses in the major specialty, a variety of musicology and theory courses, a minor field of study, and proficiency in at least one foreign language. The tracks differ in details, such as the number and nature of recital performances. The core of the DMA program is doctoral performance and research, a body of work comprised of public performances (recorded and available to scholars and musicians) and a doctoral research project. The whole is the DMA candidate's contribution to the community of performers and scholars.
Each DMA student has a faculty committee, the doctoral performance and research committee. Mentoring, evaluating, and supporting the student through the degree program, this committee provides multiple perspectives on the student's performance and research.
Important information on academic policies for the DMA program is available through the Policies page. Complete information is available in the Mead Witter School of Music Graduate Handbook. Since the School of Music offers the DMA program through the aegis of the UWMadison Graduate School, all DMA students also need to be familiar with the UWMadison Graduate School's Academic Policies and Procedures. Advising is available through the major professor as well as through the director of graduate studies and the graduate office in the Mead Witter School of Music.