The programs are designed to help students develop a command of the craft of composition. That objective is supported by studies in theory and analysis and in electro-acoustic music.
The department offers three degree programs in musicology: M.A. (normally one year), M.F.A. (normally two years), and Ph.D. (normally two or more years following the completion of M.F.A. requirements).?

The programs offer an integrated approach to the understanding of the nature, structural basis, and historical development of music. Students may elect to emphasize or concentrate in music history or in theory and analysis. In the music history program, a variety of techniques and methodologies, including style development, source studies, and historiography, are applied to different repertories and historical problems. The theory and analysis program features work in the history of theory as well as analytic work in the context of theory construction involving the evaluation of pretonal, tonal, and contemporary analytic models.