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Doctor of Musical Arts Degree (DMA)
Section 7.15 of the Graduate School Handbook
The doctoral degree rules presented in this document apply to students pursuing the DMA degree.
DMA Document. After admission to candidacy and in place of a dissertation, the DMA student must demonstrate competence by presenting recitals (in performance) or original works (in composition) and by writing a scholarly document. The student is responsible for ensuring that the information contained within the scholarly document is original, complete and does not include material that could be deemed as academic misconduct.
The DMA document gives evidence of the candidate’s ability to make a scholarly investigation and to present its results in a clear, concise style. It is a detailed analytical, historical and/or technical study of a coherent segment of the performance literature; or, for composers, it is a study related to composition. The DMA document must conform to Graduate School format requirements as described in the “Guidelines for Preparing Theses, Dissertations, and DMA Documents.”
DMA Committee. The DMA committee is established before the first recital or composition presentation and is subject to the rules of the Graduate Studies Committee. The DMA candidacy committee is composed of the advisor and three authorized graduate faculty members. The DMA final examination committee is composed of the advisor and two authorized graduate faculty members, as is for the PhD degree. The advisor must have an authorized P status with a DMA degree or equivalent in the student’s home program and whose major instrument is the same as that of the student. The other members of the candidacy and final examination committee must have a graduate faculty M status or an authorized P status. A graduate faculty representative will serve on the final examination committee.
Final Oral Examination. For DMA students in performance, the final oral examination is concerned primarily, but not exclusively, with the document, the major performance area, and its repertoire. For DMA students in composition, the final oral examination is concerned primarily, but not exclusively, with the DMA document, the area of composition, and music theory.
Electronic Submission of DMA Document. The DMA document must be submitted electronically through OhioLINK (Ohio Library and Information Network) by the published deadline for the semester or summer session of graduation. All DMA documents are also archived with ProQuest/UMI. Approved documents submitted via OhioLINK will need to be accepted by the Graduate School by the close of business before the Report on Final Document will be processed. The students must allow adequate time, at least a day or two, between submitting their document to OhioLINK and final review/approval by the Graduate School.