Professional Development Support and Activities

Dissertation Forum

The Department has in recent years offered a Dissertation Forum. The Forum provides an informal setting where graduate students writing dissertations can share their work and receive constructive criticism from their peers. Its goals are to enhance the quality of the writing, to promote the sharing of ideas between students who are working in various fields within the Department, and to create a supportive environment that can combat the feelings of isolation inherent in the dissertation writing process. All students on dissertation are strongly encouraged to participate in this valuable activity.

Colloquia and Brown Bags

At frequent intervals during the year guests on campus are invited to give public lectures. Many of these visitors are distinguished scholars or composers. Colloquia are given in all areas of interest to the Music Department. Many follow a regular schedule, meeting Tuesday or Friday afternoons, although other times are often necessary. All graduate students are expected to attend a majority of these colloquia.
The Department also sponsors a series of less formal Brown Bag talks at noon on certain days. Faculty, graduate students, and guests are invited to participate and submit proposals to the Director of Graduate Studies.

Career Seminars

Students are encouraged to begin career planning early in their graduate study. As part of this, special seminars are arranged from time to time to prepare them for life beyond the doctoral defense. These seminars cover a wide variety of matters, including the creation of a curriculum vitae, the compilation of a dossier of letters of recommendation, applying for jobs, handling interviews and negotiations, giving conference papers, and getting work published. When funds permit, representatives from a variety of music-related careers (e.g. publishing, music administration) are invited to talk about job opportunities in their fields.

Professional Journals

The Gabe Wiener Music & Arts Library subscribes to most major journals in music. You are expected to follow them regularly, reading many of the important articles. You are expected to remain current with your discipline in this manner. Both the general examination and the proposal defense will test this knowledge.

Current Musicology

Current Musicology is a scholarly journal that has appeared semi-annually since 1965. It is managed and edited by graduate students at Columbia and is published under the aegis of the Department of Music. The oldest periodical of its kind in the world, it offers a unique opportunity for graduate students who join its staff to acquire and develop their skills in editing, writing, bibliography, translating, reviewing, and researching (not to mention business, finance, and advertising), and also to become acquainted with scholars, both in this country and abroad. All graduate students intending to continue to the Ph.D. are expected to work for the journal.

The editorship is a departmental appointment and is normally held for a two-year period by a student who has completed the M.Phil. degree.

Collegium Musicum

Collegium Musicum is a specialist music performance group. Its purpose is to explore -- by sight-reading, rehearsal, and concert -- vocal and instrumental music of a relatively unfamiliar nature: music which has perhaps been neglected and deserves revived attention. It offers opportunities for students to examine the music of their research and other interests and to actualize it in sound rather than solely to study it in score. It can thus function as a "laboratory" of musicological inquiry.
The group meets weekly and gives concerts at least once a semester. The repertory consists largely but not exclusively of early music. More recent music is sometimes included. The directorship of the Collegium Musicum is held each year by a graduate student. The group is open to members of the University beyond the confines of the Music Department. Graduate students in music are urged to participate. They will find it a rewarding and absorbing activity.