SPECIAL GRADUATE COURSES

Musicology and Music Studies
Music Education｜Solfege｜Literature in Music｜Creativity of Music and Sound

Opera

The history of the university’s music education and training of instructors dates back to the founding of the Ongaku Torishirabegakari (Music Investigation Committee) in 1879. The Tokyo Music School, which succeeded Ongaku Torishirabegakari, featured a teaching department in addition to departments focused on musical training and development. Since the school became Tokyo University of the Arts, no music education department has been offered at the undergraduate level. The current master’s degree program was established in 1969; the doctoral program was established in 1977.

The Music Education course trains scholars and practitioners capable of examining the various interactions between human beings and music from a teaching perspective. The subjects of such study are diverse, going beyond conventional school education to professional music education, children’s music education, music education for children with disabilities, and music education as social education and lifelong learning.

Master: Since the establishment of the music education chair in 1969 as a Master’s Program, the aim has been to nurture researchers and practitioners who can consistently foster compatibility between both the specialized field (music) and the field of music education. To achieve this, the following curriculum has been organized to develop the required knowledge and techniques.
The goal of research in the field of music education is to foster the pursuit of diverse connections between humans and music from an educational perspective that is not limited to music education as a part of school education. It goes beyond and covers a broad range of aspects such as specialized education in music, music education for children, music education for disabled children, social education, and lifelong learning. The curriculum is designed to respond to the needs of the students as much as possible, and within the limited framework of the seminar, the curriculum enables students to approach music education from a broad range of perspectives. In addition to writing the research thesis, the unique features of the curriculum include the study of specialized practical techniques and the promotion of research activities closely related to the practical experience through research, study classes, and lessons.

Doctor: Since the establishment of the doctoral program in 1977, the aim has been to nurture researchers in music education. To achieve this, the educational curriculum has been organized to develop the required competence. While further expanding and developing the research initiated during the Master’s Program, the curriculum enables students to pursue research that is based on their individual themes and acquire the knowledge and techniques to become high-level professionals.
Practical learning is emphasized with the objective of creating a dissertation, but the content of the specialized doctoral research and practical learning is based on the needs of the students and contemporary issues. The curriculum is designed to support students in their presentation in the university and beyond.

Master: The Master’s degree is awarded once the students have been enrolled for the period stipulated by the concerned department, have obtained more than the basic number of credits, have passed the Master’s thesis review and the examination related to music education, as well as the practical examination for musical instruments (excluding students from the Department of Musicology), and have completed the course. The Master’s Program requires students to acquire advanced techniques related to the specialization of music and a broad range of knowledge related to music education, including outstanding abilities to conduct research and practice in music education.

Doctor: The doctoral degree is awarded once the students have been enrolled for the period stipulated by the concerned department, have obtained more than the basic number of credits, have passed the doctoral dissertation review and examination related to music education within the stipulated period, and have completed the course. In the doctoral program, students are required to be active as independent researchers, and acquire the essential abilities and fundamental knowledge needed to engage in professional practices as advanced professionals.

Educational and research structure
The educational and research structure consists of two full-time instructors, three educators serving concurrently, in another position; nine part-time instructors; and two training and research assistants. Educational and research activities take place at the Ueno campus.

Curriculum (graduate education and research)
*Master’s degree program
This program focuses on research based on each student’s area of interest, as well as familiarizing each student with basic knowledge and skills in music education methods and topics. The primary characteristics of the program include students being required to develop advanced musical skills in addition to preparing research papers, and education and research being conducted through classroom study, in close cooperation with teachers.

*Doctoral program
In this program, students pursue research based on an independently selected theme, building on previous work in the master’s degree program. They also gain familiarity with the specialized knowledge and skills needed to function effectively as professionals in the field.

Other information
*International exchange and acceptance of international students
The program has welcomed graduate students from the United States, China, South Korea, Brazil, and other nations. A number of these graduates are currently active as music education researchers and practitioners in Japan and in their home countries.

*Student prospects after graduation
Most graduates are active in music training and scholarship; as instructors at universities or faculties of education, music universities, and other post-secondary institutions; or as instructors at various elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, and special needs schools. Others are working as composers, performers, and dancers.

The university in 1971 became the first in Japan to establish a solfege program in this area of instruction. Although the term solfege is said to have been introduced to Japan during the Taisho Era, which lasted from 1912 through 1926, the program started from almost nothing.

Today, solfège is considered to be the foundation for general musical education and is required for all students of music. Studying solfège may be regarded as a lateral groundwork for music education, with each individual major comprising columns built on the groundwork. With a perennial emphasis on the importance of solfège classes for undergraduates involved in the study of any aspect of music, the program has evolved in various ways that give it an approach unique to Tokyo University of the Arts.

The concepts underlying the Solfège course involve refining the solfège skills learned by each student in the undergraduate years. The approach is broad, going beyond the ordinary scope of solfège education to encompass listening skills and rhythm sensitivity, the capacity to hear music internally, and all aspects of music theory. It also emphasizes the skills needed to have a good command of music.

The program seeks to train students to become musicians capable of understanding a diverse range of musical forms, with broad-ranging perspectives on other cultures and their own.

Master: The Master’s degree is awarded once the students have been enrolled for the stipulated period, have studied in the required subject classes and obtained the credits essential for completion, and have passed the review of the Master’s thesis. Students are evaluated on the following points for degree conferment:
(1) Students must have the ability to proactively use both theory and practice as the basic principle(s) based on deep insights and maintain the ability to think flexibly about all issues related to solfege.
(2) Students should possess the fundamental knowledge to support the study of solfege as researchers and specialists having sufficient musical sensibilities, and a comprehensive perspective including flexible intelligence, the ability to think logically, and language capabilities.

Doctor: The doctoral degree is awarded once the students have been enrolled for the stipulated period, have studied in the required subject classes and obtained the essential credits for completion, and have passed the review of their doctoral dissertation. Students are evaluated on the following points for degree conferment:
(1)Students must present outstanding research results and have the ability to contribute to the development of solfege and solfege education.
(2)Students must be capable of appropriately engaging in comprehensive educational activities from a broad perspective; they must have the ability to present their research results both within and outside the university, from an international perspective, as researchers and musicians who have acquired the advanced knowledge and research capabilities that are thought-provoking and creative.

Master: The Master’s degree is awarded once the students have been enrolled for the stipulated period, have studied in the required subject classes and obtained the credits essential for completion, and have passed the review of the Master’s thesis. Students are evaluated on the following points for degree conferment:
(1) Students must have the ability to proactively use both theory and practice as the basic principle(s) based on deep insights and maintain the ability to think flexibly about all issues related to solfege.
(2) Students should possess the fundamental knowledge to support the study of solfege as researchers and specialists having sufficient musical sensibilities, and a comprehensive perspective including flexible intelligence, the ability to think logically, and language capabilities.

Doctor: The doctoral degree is awarded once the students have been enrolled for the stipulated period, have studied in the required subject classes and obtained the essential credits for completion, and have passed the review of their doctoral dissertation. Students are evaluated on the following points for degree conferment:
(1)Students must present outstanding research results and have the ability to contribute to the development of solfege and solfege education.
(2)Students must be capable of appropriately engaging in comprehensive educational activities from a broad perspective; they must have the ability to present their research results both within and outside the university, from an international perspective, as researchers and musicians who have acquired the advanced knowledge and research capabilities that are thought-provoking and creative.

Educational and research structure
The program confers both undergraduate and graduate (master’s and doctoral degrees) degrees, and it gives heartfelt consideration to how best to enable students to develop their own individuality and personality in a way that ensures well-balanced musical abilities.

Curriculum (undergraduate education)
Undergraduate solfege classes are provided at two levels – basic and advanced – to meet differing student needs. This approach allows us to offer a more enhanced solfege program capable of instilling specialized skills, avoiding unnecessary duplication of basic content students have already learned.

The basic topic is divided into three levels: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. At the beginning level, an educational program is offered for students wishing to acquire teaching credentials. Classes of 12-17 students progress through the entire range of subjects, from beginning to advanced. While the class is based on the four foundations of listening, physical sensation (rhythm), vision (speed reading), and perception (theory), the specific nature of coursework for each of these foundations is left to the discretion of each instructor. The program applies a uniform framework whereby all students take the same final exam upon completing the course.

The advanced program is provided as follows: final exams on basic topics are administered twice during the year as students advance. Students who pass the exams are encouraged to take advanced elective classes. The following classes are offered:

1. Rhythm: rhythm of musical beats, precision of rhythm, breakdown of rhythm, rhythmic movement, theoretical approaches to rhythm
2. Vocal music program: learning strict musical intervals through sight singing, rhythms within language
3. Solfege course: a review of solfege basics, advanced solfege
4. Ensemble solfege: instrumental ensemble solfege, honing of rhythmic sense through listening
5. Sight playing (instruments): Sight playing as part of an instrumental ensemble
6. Sight playing (vocal ensemble): sight-reading piano-accompanied performance of works drawn from the repertoire, including art songs, opera pieces, etc., with qualified students from vocal music classes taking part
7. Harmony analysis: multifaceted harmony analysis as a follow-up to harmony analysis done in the basic class (from classical works through those from the first half of the 20th century)
8. Score reading: sight-reading piano performance of various full scores
9. Instrumental solfege: instrumental solfege, practice, and theory of note values, pitch, phrasing, etc.

Solfege education must be broad enough to respond fully to trends in musical activities in society – not just in Japan but around the world, as a fundamental musical technique. Each individual musician is required to learn a broad range of basic skills and to acquire a general musical background, including knowledge of the various types of chamber music, recitals on various instruments, orchestras without conductors, and revitalizing movements in contemporary music, all of which have emerged since the 1970s. This program covers not just solfege content suited to such trends, but broad-ranging historical knowledge in a unique approach to classical and contemporary musical solfege.

*Classical solfege
Solmization, hexachords, church mode, classical rhythms, basso continuo, tempo, dance music, rhetoric, rhythm changes, and other basic techniques and theory needed to perform classical works

*Contemporary musical solfege
Solfege, reading contemporary and graphic scores, rendition, memory, sight playing, analysis, and other basic techniques and theory for performing various contemporary works from the 20th century and later

In addition, classes offered include piano sight playing for students in the first year of the Piano Course, score reading for students in the Composition and Conducting Departments, solfege for students studying in the Traditional Japanese Music Department, and solfege for students studying in the Musical Creativity and the Environment Department.

Curriculum (graduate education and research)
Solfege classes in the master’s degree program require students to develop a sensitivity to musical works and the capacity to understand such works. In addition, the program, considered a place to put into practice the results of undergraduate solfege education, studies the nature of solfege itself and solfege education in order to train individuals capable of serving as instructors with an advanced understanding of solfege, scholars capable of interdisciplinary research, and performers capable of performing music in ways comprising both theory and practical techniques. Student goals for study and future opportunities are diverse; numerous program graduates have found success across a wide range of fields, serving as instructors at a variety of universities and secondary schools for music students, including the Kunitachi College of Music, the Toho Gakuen School of Music, the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music, and other institutions. Others have gone on to become accompanying pianists active in Japan and around the world, and opera répétiteurs.

The doctoral program broadens the fields of study of each student based on the knowledge and understanding gained in the master’s degree program, encouraging a more in-depth approach to music research based on advanced training.

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The course seeks to identify relationships between music and language through the study of musical works that feature words. Specifically, it examines the ties between music and words in genres such as opera, art song, musicals, Noh songs, kabuki, and joruri, exploring the background of each genre.

The course requires analysis of the structures of lyrics and verses based on a familiarity with poetics, prosody, rhetoric, philology, and bibliography, taking an approach based on the history of music and culture and addressing works within cultural and social contexts, looking at the framework of the texts in addition to pursuing in-depth studies of the intrinsic properties of works through the approach of analytical interpretation.

Master: 1. The curriculum includes exercises focusing on literature in music and special research in music literature designed with the aim to enable students to acquire knowledge and techniques related to their specialized domains.
2. The exercises focusing on literature in music enable specific guidance to be conducted related to the writing of the Master’s thesis.
3. To enhance communication and presentation skills related to the research, and also to enable the acquisition of knowledge and comprehension skills related to a broad range of comprehensive Musicology and Music Studies, the curriculum includes general seminars in which both the full-time faculty and students can participate.
4. The curriculum promotes the study of subjects and courses from other departments to nurture knowledge and techniques required for a Master’s thesis.

Doctor: 1. The curriculum includes specialized subjects for the doctoral research and specialized guidance in the research area for writing the doctoral dissertation. The goal is to foster researchers with specialized and advanced knowledge and techniques related to the study of literature in music and who possess a wide range of literary insights.
2. Doctoral special research concerning literature in music facilitates the presentation of research results in a manner suited to the doctoral program students.

Master: 1. The Master’s degree is awarded once students have been enrolled for the stipulated period, have studied in the subject classes established in keeping with the educational and research philosophy of the research department, have obtained the credits required for completion, and have passed the review of the Master’s thesis.
2．The result of the course completion should be the acquisition of advanced specialization and sufficient research skills, including a broad range of profound knowledge related to the specialized domain of literature in music.

Doctor: 1. The doctoral degree is awarded once the students have received research guidance that is in keeping with the philosophy and goals of the research department, have studied the required subjects, have obtained more than the standard credits required, have passed the doctoral dissertation review and the examination within the stipulated time period, and have completed the program.
2. The criteria for course completion includes the ability to conduct independent activities as researchers, and the acquisition of knowledge and skills required to engage in advanced and specialized work.

○Curriculum Policy of the Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment

Faculty: The core of the organized curriculum focuses on “projects” which are practical training classes that aim to nurture the study of adjacent disciplines in a cross-disciplinary manner. The educational courses and subject classes include subjects that enable the learning of the fundamentals of music and encourage students to focus on both theory and practice via the study of musical and acoustic works, recording and sound, acoustic psychology, performing arts, the theories of film and media, fine arts, cultural studies, and the theory of management of fine arts.

Curriculum (graduate education and research)
Requirements for the master’s degree program include practices and seminars focusing on literature in music, as well as general seminars. One of the five instructors employed by the program full-time or concurrently with other positions provides guidance to each student based on his or her research theme, in accordance with the instructor’s area of specialization. This guidance covers learning practical techniques and preparation of the master’s thesis. Required seminars are taught by the guidance instructor or by other faculty assigned by the instructor.

Together with this guidance in specific areas, a program of general seminars is required to develop a broad perspective transcending conventional disciplinary boundaries. This program serves as an opportunity for discussions on a shared theme, with all instructors and all students taking part. In this way, each student receives guidance through a structure in which all program faculty participate.

Elective subjects are intended to enable students to broaden and deepen research in multifaceted and multilayered ways: through other exercises focusing on literature in music, special research in literature in music, and special lectures on source literature (all by full-time faculty or faculty concurrently holding other positions and part-time instructors), as well as classes from other courses and fields.

The primary goal of the doctoral program is to help prepare students to acquire the skills and perspective needed to produce groundbreaking doctoral theses in this cross-disciplinary field. In pursuing their research, students meet with several faculty advisers, including a primary advisor and various secondary advisers. Enrollment is required for only two courses: a special class on an advanced topic taught by the primary advisor and a presentation of the student’s own doctoral-level research.

Other information
*Ideal student profile
This program welcomes students with a strong interest in the arts and art forms involving both music and language, regardless of experience with musical performance. Prerequisites include superior language skills for reading and understanding texts in Japanese or foreign languages and general historical knowledge, including music history, as foundations for research activity. Students are expected to build daily on their body of knowledge in preparation to become working scholars, as well as to hone analytical and writing skills.

*Student prospects after graduation
Shochiku, Ibaraki Shimbun, Ikubundo; writers and directors (including the winner of the new dramatist’s prize from the Japan Playwrights Association); scholars, instructors, and critics active in the field of music in literature; individuals employed in media and companies related to arts, particularly music and performing arts.

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? ? This program, which assumes the goal of the Department of Musical Creativity and the Environment, from which this program is derived, to “train individuals capable of contributing to the evolution of new art forms for the 21st century and to the environments in which these works will flourish,” provides instruction in more specialized knowledge and skills in fields related to music and sound, producing highly skilled professionals, including composers, producers, and recording directors and engineers known as “tonemeisters.”

Master: Educational courses and subject classes related to both the theory and practice of music and sound have been established (including creative techniques of various media, recording techniques, acoustic psychology, and acoustic space) to nurture an advanced and broad range of knowledge and abilities required for creativity, expression, and research in music and sound.

Doctor: Educational courses and subject classes have been planned to nurture high level of skills and profound knowledge required to conduct independent and creative research activities (including superior skills and knowledge related to music and sound), with individual guidance through research guidance seminars as the core.

Curriculum (graduate education and research)
After gaining a basic familiarity with musical and audio knowledge and skills, students use these to focus on advanced research themes, including the creation of a broad range of cross-disciplinary work (music and audio works incorporating video, stage art and other forms of physical expression, including those presented in other media) or use of recording technologies to create surround-sound works.

*Main educational and research themes:
Creating surround-sound audio works
Recording techniques and musical expression
Relationships between music and genres such as video and physical expression
Psychological effects of sound and music

Related academic societies: Acoustical Society of Japan, Japanese Society for Music Perception and Cognition

Other information
Students completing studies in this field are expected to be active across a wide range of fields as audio specialists involved in areas including not just audio and music production, but various other media, businesses, and research and educational institutions.

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