February 2012

David Kikoski solo piano concert

Submitted by Web editor on Mon, 02/13/2012 - 2:44pm

Date:

02/14/2012 - 8:00pm

David Kikoski, jazz lecture series guest artist, presents a solo piano concert in Kenton Hall at 8 pm on Feb. 14.
Admission $10.

Q. How can I choose an elective in music outside of jazz studies?

The required six hours of elective credit need to be 5000-level courses, in music, but not a MUJS course and not a jazz studies lab or ensemble.

Options include:
MUGC 5890 Music Industry Entrepreneurship
MUET = ethnomusicology
MUET 5030 Music Cultures of the World
MUET 5050 Music of Africa
MUET 5060 African American Music
MUET 5617 African Music and Movement

World music ensembles would also count if taken at the 5000-level

MUMH = music history
there are period courses like
MUMH 5343 Western Music History, 1900-Present, that are relevant to a jazz major's interests
also
MUMH 5440 Music in the United States

also possible: MUCP composition, MUTH music theory, MUED music education
especially good one is MUED 6580 College Teaching of Music Courses (master's students can take this 6000-level course)
also: applied study outside of jazz

Q. What is on the Jazz Studies in-house writing exam?

A. For this exam, students will be asked to read an excerpt from an article on a jazz topic in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, then write in response to several prompts. The prompts will ask you to write about the author's main arguments and the evidence for the arguments, and to give your own thoughts on the arguments. The expected length will be around two single-spaced handwritten letter-size legal pad pages. The exam will last two hours. It will be graded on content and writing competence. No dictionaries or other reference tools may be used. The exam will be handwritten.

You can prepare by reading articles on jazz topics in these and other journals, many of which are available online via the UNT music library. To get to the online journals, search on the journal title using the Journal Title tab in the library catalog.

As you read the opening section of articles on jazz topics, be able to answer these questions: 1. WhaQ. What is the Jazz Studies in-house writing exam?
A. For this exam, students will be asked to read an excerpt from an article on a jazz topic in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal, then write in response to several prompts. The prompts will ask you to write about the author's main arguments and the evidence for the arguments, and to give your own thoughts on the arguments. The expected length will be around two single-spaced handwritten letter-size legal pad pages. The exam will last two hours. It will be graded on content and writing competence. No dictionaries or other reference tools may be used. The exam will be handwritten.

As you read the opening section of articles on jazz topics, be able to answer these questions: 1. What scholarly conversation (series of scholarly publications on the same topic) is this author participating in? 2. Who are the authors that the present author is reacting to? 3. What is the author's main argument? 4. What is the evidence for the author's argument? 5. How can you connect this author's argument with your knowledge and experience?

Jazz Perspectives (online)

Jazz Research Journal (online)

Journal of Jazz Studies (online)

Annual Review of Jazz Studies (hard copy in music library)

Journal of the Society for American Music (online)

Black Music Research Journal (online)

American Music (online)

Ethnomusicology (online)

Journal of the American Musicological Society (online)

Popular Music (online)

Q. How can I find Mark Tucker's article on Jazz history?

A. Mark Tucker's article on jazz history is the one I recommend to people who are preparing to take the jazz history proficiency test. The test is described here:

http://www.jazz.unt.edu/node/41

You can read the article in New Grove II (the multi-volume New Grove, not the three-volume New Grove Dictionary of Jazz).

Here's how to read that article online.

Music library catalog > Electronic resources >Q. How can I find Mark Tucker's article on Jazz history?
A. Mark Tucker's article on jazz history is the one I recommend to people who are preparing to take the jazz history proficiency test. The test is described here:

http://www.jazz.unt.edu/node/41

You can read the article in New Grove II (the multi-volume New Grove, not the three-volume New Grove Dictionary of Jazz).

Here's how to read that article online.

Music library catalog > Electronic resources >

then either

G > Grove Music Online in Oxford Music Online

O > Oxford Music Online

If you are using the site from off-campus, you'll be prompted for your EUID and password.

Search on "jazz."

It is the first item in the results list. You should see Mark Tucker and Travis Jackson listed as authors at the left.

then either

G > Grove Music Online in Oxford Music Online

O > Oxford Music Online

If you are using the site from off-campus, you'll be prompted for your EUID and password.

Search on "jazz."

It is the first item in the results list. You should see Mark Tucker and Travis Jackson listed as authors at the left.

Q. What are the course numbers for ensemble holding sections?

A. Students should register for these sections of our large ensembles. After auditions, the section will be changed to the one that corresponds to the ensemble you are in.

Lab Band
graduate: MULB 5174.500
undergraduate (for second bachelor's students): MULB 1808.500

Jazz Singers
graduate: MULB 5174.520
undergraduate (for second bachelor's students): MULB 1820.500

Q. Why is MUJS 5450 no longer required?

A. Starting in Fall 2011, MUJS 5450, Jazz Historiography, will be deleted from the list of required courses for all tracks. In place of that, the elective hours will be increased from 3 to 6. This change was made in order to comply with National Association of Schools of Music requirements for a certain number of hours outside the major. The electives need to be 6 hours at the 5000-level in music but not in a jazz studies course, ensemble, small group, or private lesson. MUJS 5450 will not be offered in Spring 2012. if you have MUJS 5450 on your degree plan, now is the time to begin thinking of an elective to take in its place. There is a document on this site that gives some examples of electives. Much of the content of MUJS 5450 will be incorporated into my other two required M.M. courses, 5780 and 5440. If you have already taken MUJS 5450, you can continue to count it on your degree plan, and your electives total stays at 6.

Q. How do I schedule the comprehensive exam?

A. How to register for the comprehensive exam:
1. Choose your third committee member. The first two committee members are the chair/grad advisor and your applied teacher.
2. Schedule a one-hour exam time that works for everyone's schedule. It must take place before the jazz studies deadline for the M.M. comprehensive exam, which is always two weeks before the Toulouse Graduate School deadline for receiving the results of the comprehensive exam (typically in week 9 or 10 of the semester). This policy began in fall 2010. This is to allow two weeks for those students who are assigned a review assignment as a result of the exam. Students who are assigned a complete retake may not retake it sooner than two weeks after the exam, but they may retake it before the end of that semester, or later, at the discretion of the faculty committee.
3. The Toulouse Graduate School deadline is labeled "Graduate: Departments Comprehensive Exams Report / Remove Grades Of I Deadline" in the detailed academic calendar. UNT keeps changing the URL so I will not link to it here.
4. You don't need to schedule a room. Exams are held in the chair/grad advisor' office.
5. There is not a class to register for to take the comprehensive exam.
6. The comprehensive exam can only be done in a fall or spring semester.

Q. How do I fill out the degree plan form?

To do the degree plan:
1. download the form from http://music.unt.edu/advising/graduate.php
2. For Transcript deficiencies, enter all of the jazz courses that were listed in the letter you got that listed deficiencies. Next to each course, make a small notation about how you took care of it or will take care of it: passed by exam, passed by audition, taking the course, plan to take the course. In each case indicate the semester of the completed action or the future action. Abbreviate like this: F10, Sp11, Su11, etc.
3. For GPE deficiencies, put an X by the courses you were required to take, if any, after the GPE. Make a notation about the semester you will take them.
4. For the section Courses required in all tracks, plan out when you will take each one. MULB 5174 is taken twice.
5. Then go to the section for your track. Do the same thing.
6. For the comprehensive exam, put the semester you plan to finish.
7. For the date by which the degree is completed, put six years from when you started. For those who started in Fall 2010, put Fall 2016.
8. Then come by an office hour or make an appointment and we'll review it.

Q. What can I do to prepare for the aural skills part of the GPE?

A. You can use the GPE prep materials on the Blackboard system. Additionally: When you do the sight-singing on the GPE, you can use any system (solfege, numbers) or no system (singing on la), as long as it is accurate.

I think learning the interval directly, and by comparison to the major scale, instead of by comparison to familiar tunes, is quicker and better. You can do whatever works.

Each interval name has two parts: the modifier (major, minor, perfect) and the number (second, fifth). To practice the intervals directly, sing the first note on the modifier and then leap to the second note to say the number. For example: (on C) "perfect" (on G) "fifth".

For sight-singing tonal melodies, separate the task into two stages: 1. tonal indexing: identify the scale degree (with numbers or solfege syllables) of each note in the melody 2. after establishing the key in your voice, sing the melody using scale degree numbers or solfege syllables

To practice the tonal indexing step, write out a string of noteheads, with scalewise and leaping parts, like a melody, without a key signature. Then practice choosing a key signature and identifying the scale degrees. Then sing it. Then change the key and give it a new set of numbers for the new key. Then sing it. This isolates the tonal indexing skill so you are faster on that when you go to sight-sing a melody.

Q. Is it automatic that I can graduate once I have finished all of the courses on my degree plan?

A. No. You need to apply to graduate

In the semester that you plan to graduate, you need to formally apply to graduate.
It does not happen automatically.

Read about this process here:

http://tsgs.unt.edu/academics/graduation

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