Degree of Bachelor of Music (Mus.B.) A student can register as a candidate for the Mus.B.

provided that (a) he/she has kept at least seven terms as a matriculated student of the University of Cambridge and (b) has obtained honours (or has attained the honours standard) in any part of the Music Tripos. No student may, in the same term, be a candidate both for the Mus.B. examination and for any other University examination (except the examination for the Diploma or Certificate in Modern Languages). Though it is possible to take the Mus.B. in place of Part II, in practice no candidate does so, since by such action he or she would be disqualified from completing the B.A. course. The Mus.B. is normally taken as a postgraduate course, with most candidates taking the examination in the twelfth term following matriculation, though it is possible to return to take the examination after a longer interval. Please note that as Mus.B. candidates pay no College Fee, so they are not entitled to any help with finding and paying for supervision. In practice, Colleges sometimes do help Mus.B. students, but only if the student is resident and doing something useful for the College. The examination for the Mus.B. consists of two sections. The first consists of a recital of music; the second section consists of two written submissions. The first is a dissertation of not fewer than 10,000 and not more than 15,000 words in length (excluding bibliography and appendices but including footnotes), on a musical subject proposed by the candidate and approved by the Faculty Board of Music. The second is a written paper of three hours duration, in which the candidate answers questions on the background to the subject of his/her dissertation. In order to be entered for the Mus.B. examination a candidate should make contact with the Praelector and Senior Tutor of his or her College and ask to be entered for the Mus.B. examination (in exactly the same way as all other undergraduates are entered). Recital Candidates shall submit a programme of instrumental or vocal music lasting approximately ninety minutes. From this the Examiners will select a recital of at least forty minutes music which they will hear and examine. Candidates will be given three weeks notice of this selection. Each candidate shall be responsible for providing an accompanist and a page turner, where required, and shall provide an additional copy of the works for the Examiners. The recital will require thoughtful planning and preparation. The music chosen should offer variety in character, content, style and period, and be appropriate for examination in an academic context. The standard achieved should be professional, and candidates should aim for a degree of competence comparable to the equivalent postgraduate level in a conservatoire. Dissertation The dissertation should comply, in presentation, with the highest standards of academic attention to detail and objectivity. It is likely that most successful dissertations will extend in length well towards the maximum number of words permitted. In the same way that no candidate should contemplate offering a recital without having undergone concentrated instrumental/vocal tuition, so none should consider offering a dissertation without having received an equivalent level of supervision and guidance from an academic specialist in the field. Successful dissertations will have had the benefit of at least eight months full-time work and study (or its equivalent over a longer time), and are likely to have gone through a number of drafts prior to submission. The Examiners will be aware that they are not examining for the award of a degree at Masters level, but will be looking nevertheless for indications of real academic competence and genuine intellectual capacity. The candidates bibliography should indicate comprehensive awareness of the academic literature surrounding the subject, and the finished work should be self-contained and (if appropriate) be adequately supplied with music examples. The candidate will be required to sign a declaration that the dissertation is his or her own work, unaided except as may be specified in the declaration, and that it does not contain material that has already been used to any substantial extent for a comparable purpose. Three-hour written paper The purpose of the three-hour written paper is to satisfy the Examiners that the candidate has acquired not merely the knowledge requisite to write the dissertation, but also a broader contextual understanding of its subject matter. In order to meet the required standard in the written paper the candidate will need to do much more than merely re-state the content of the dissertation. Indeed, questions in the written paper are likely to be framed in such a way as to render the latter impossible.

Shared\Courses\Degree of Bachelor of Music

Procedures and examination A candidate shall send to the Chairman of Examiners, not later than the division of Michaelmas Term next preceding the examination: i) a list of the works that he or she proposes to perform; ii) the proposed subject of his or her dissertation, together with an abstract of 250 words. Candidates must obtain the approval of their proposed subjects by the Faculty Board not later than the last day of Full Michaelmas Term. Dissertations shall be submitted to the Chairman of Examiners not later than the eighth day of Full Easter Term. A candidate may be examined orally on questions arising from the recital or dissertation. A student who takes the Mus.B. examination after having been admitted to the B.A. Degree, but who has not paid a University Composition Fee for any term since completing the requirements for that degree, shall pay a fee of 60 on first taking the Mus.B. examination. Performance in the examination is not classified; candidates either pass or fail. The examiners announce pass or failure in respect of each section of the examination. To achieve the award of the degree a candidate must satisfy the Examiners in both sections. Any candidate who has satisfied the Examiners at the first attempt in only one section may offer himself/herself for re-examination in the other section alone on just one further occasion. To satisfy the Examiners a candidate must obtain, in each section, a mark of 60% or above. (The standard of marking applied is that deemed applicable to Part II of the Music Tripos, extrapolated on for the equivalent of one further year of full-time study.) A mark of distinction may be attached to the name of any candidate whose work in either section of the examination is of special merit, provided that he or she has satisfied the Examiners in both sections on the same occasion.

Shared\Courses\Degree of Bachelor of Music