Nature of the Document:

The document is a written piece, approximately 50 pages long (including bibliography), that closely relates to the lecture. It does not need to be based on original research but should exhibit effective scholarly research and writing, as indicated by the following criteria:

• It demonstrates thorough knowledge of the topic and provides sufficient depth and breadth to fulfill its purpose.
• It adheres to established scholarly procedures relevant to the topic.
• It is written in formal English prose, following accepted rules of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and sentence and paragraph structure.
• It conforms to the Graduate School’s Thesis and Dissertation Style and Policy Manual and one of the standard style manuals for scholarly writing.

Nature of the Lecture:

The student will present a public lecture about an aspect of their performance area. Please note that the lecture is intended to be a complementary event to the document rather than a public reading of the document. This lecture, lasting approximately one hour, should primarily be a verbal presentation. It may include live performances, recorded performances, and audio-visual aids, though these are not mandatory. The lecture should demonstrate effective scholarly research, organized content, and strong verbal communication skills, as indicated by the following criteria:

• The lecturer demonstrates thorough knowledge of the topic, with the lecture providing sufficient depth, breadth, and precision to fulfill its purpose.
• The lecturer shows the ability to organize and report information, analyze and evaluate it, and draw intelligent conclusions.

Nature of Oral Defense

The student will defend their lecture and document in an oral examination, demonstrating their understanding and ability to discuss their work comprehensively.

Before advancement to candidacy, the lecture-document committee is proposed by the student (in consultation with the advisor).  All committee members must be part of the Graduate Faculty (i.e., tenured or tenure-track faculty). Some exceptions apply but require prior approval from the Division of Graduate Studies.

The committee includes four members:

1. One committee chair. The student’s faculty advisor, who must be a SOMD faculty member.
2. Two core members.
   • At least one core member must be from the student's primary area within the SOMD and must be a member of the Graduate Faculty.
   • The other core member can be from the SOMD, another UO department, a non-tenure track faculty member (career-track, visiting, emeritus, etc.), a faculty member from another college or university, or a qualified practicing professional or community member. This member does not need to be a member of the Graduate Faculty but will need prior approval from the Division of Graduate Studies
3. One institutional representative. Faculty member at UO but outside of the SOMD.  

GradWeb has a faculty directory listing all faculty eligible to serve on a doctoral committee and the specific positions for which they are eligible. Students should consult with the SOMD Graduate Office to verify eligibility before asking faculty to serve. For additional information, including the service of retired and non-tenure track faculty and others, see the UO Division of Graduate Studies’ Dissertation Committee Policy.

Committee Chair
The student’s primary faculty advisor typically serves as the committee chair. The chair has the principal responsibility of advising the student through the lecture-document process. They should have sufficient time available for this work and be accessible to the student.

Core Members – at least two
Core members support the work of the committee chair but are not the primary leaders of the committee. They should have some time available for this work at various stages and be accessible to the student.

Institutional Representative
The institutional representative acts as an impartial, “outside” committee member, ensuring that all rules and standard practices governing committee procedures are followed. They may also offer substantive expertise related to the dissertation or lecture document, although this is not required.

Additional Resources

• Division of Graduate Studies – Graduate Faculty Policies & Procedures: https://graduatestudies.uoregon.edu/academics/policies/doctoral/graduate-faculty
• Division of Graduate Studies – Dissertation Committee Policy: https://graduatestudies.uoregon.edu/academics/policies/doctoral/dissertation-committee-policy

The Lecture-Document Proposal:

Before advancement to candidacy, the student’s lecture-document committee must approve the proposal. No later than one month prior to the requested date of advancement, the student must submit the proposal to the committee. The proposal will com­prise two parts:

Part One—Lecture: A description of the lecture, its title, purpose, and scope; address the issue of live performance and audio/visual aids.

Part Two—Document: A description of the document to be written. This portion of the proposal will specify the document’s working title, a statement of its purpose, the scope of the research, a preliminary review of literature, the proposed research procedure, a description of the projected relationship between the document and the lecture, and a working bibliography.

Download the official approval pages. Fill out the relative information and attach proposal pages. Signatures will be collected via DocHub.

Approval of the Proposal:

After the lecture-document com­mittee has been determined, the student must obtain the commit­tee’s unanimous written approval of the formal lecture-document proposal. To obtain approval of the proposal, the student should:

1. Distribute copies to members of the proposal committee (no later than one month prior to the requested date of advancement).
2. Convene the committee to discuss any edits and make edits as needed.
3. Once verbal approval is received from the committee, send the approved proposal (including the completed title pages) to the SOMD Graduate Office (gradmus@uoregon.edu).
   • Name the file: Last Name, First Name_DMA Program_Lec-Doc Proposal
4. The SOMD Graduate Office will send the proposal around via DocHub for the committee members’ signatures. Upon completion, the SOMD Graduate Office will send the student the final approved copy.

After advancement to candidacy, a minimum of six credits of MUS 601 Research must be taken (a minimum of three graduate credits for two consecutive terms) while preparing the lecture and supporting document.

To register for Research credits each term, fill out the Individualized Study Request Form. These requests should be made in the term preceding the intended term of registration.

The lecture & oral defense are public events. They must be formally scheduled with the SOMD Graduate Office no later than one month prior to the lecture and defense date. 

There must be at least two terms between the Division of Graduate Studies’ formal appointment of the doctoral committee and the defense. The lecture & defense must take place in-person, with all members of the committee physically present, unless otherwise approved by the ADGS. Without prior ADGS approval, the lecture &defense may not take place during summer session.

1. Once the advisor is satisfied that the lecture document is ready for the lecture and defense, and no fewer than four weeks before the proposed date, the candidate must obtain provisional agreement from doctoral committee members that they will be available on a specified day and time for the public lecture & oral defense. Consult the SOMD Room Schedule to ensure that the space is available. Typically, the defense is scheduled immediately following the lecture.
   • There is a mandatory SOMD recital fee for all public lectures. All public lectures  will be audio recorded at a minimum. Audio recording can be facilitated in all rooms.
   • If video and live-streaming support is desired through the SOMD Production Office, students must reserve space in Beall Hall, Tykeson Rehearsal Space (Berwick Hall), or Frohnmayer Music Building Room 190/163/173/178, as these are the only spaces equipped with video and live-streaming capabilities. For those interested in video recording and live-streaming, additional costs apply.
     • Current fee rates can be found in the Other Charges, Fees, and Fines for Services, Facilities, Operations, and Programs fee schedule, here.
2. Upon verbal approval from your committee members, the candidate must request their Lecture & Oral Defense Scheduling form from the SOMD Graduate Office (gradmus@uoregon.edu). The form will be sent via DocHub. Upon completion of the form, the space will be booked for the student and a confirmation will be sent to the student. 
   • The public lecture & defense must take place in a public space such as an SOMD classroom or conference room. Public lectures & defenses may not be held in faculty offices.
3. Complete the “Oral Defense” section on GradWeb no later than one month prior to the lecture/defense date. 
   • This generates an email to all committee members asking them to confirm their attendance. Once all the committee members have confirmed their attendance, the Division of Graduate Studies will officially notify the commit­tee of the date, time, and place of the oral defense.
   • Students should review the UO Division of Graduate Studies Doctoral Degree Deadlines carefully. There are specific deadlines by which students must complete their defense in a given term.
4. Candi­dates must submit a Information and Arrangements Form to the Productions Office to ensure all recording needs are met. Submitting the Information and Arrangements form must happen no later than two weeks prior to the proposed lecture date. For archival purposes, the recordings will remain with the SOMD.
   • For inclusion in the SOMD online calendar, the candidate should submit their event information to the UO Events Calendar.

Important note: The Public Lecture & Oral Defense space reservations are scheduled through the SOMD Graduate Office. The Oral Defense MUST also be scheduled through the UO Division of Graduate Studies.

After the committee has examined the dissertation and asked the candi­date all necessary questions, the members of the committee will make one of the following decisions:

• Approve the lecture-document by unanimous vote. In the event of a split vote the Vice Provost for Graduate Studies—after consulting with the candidate, the committee, and the Music ADGS—determines the review procedure.
• Approve the dissertation by unanimous vote pending appropriate revisions in the lecture-document, to be verified by the advisor.
• Have the candidate make appropriate revisions and resubmit the lecture-document to the committee.

If any committee member has serious reservations about the acceptabil­ity of the finished lecture-document, they should raise the issue with the chair of the committee prior to the scheduled defense. If it is prob­able that the document will not be approved as stated in one of the options above [(a), (b), or (c)], the meeting is to be canceled with at least 24 hours’ notice given to the SOMD Graduate Office and all partici­pants. (The SOMD Graduate Office informs the Division of Graduate Studies.) An interim meeting, in which the committee’s concerns are address­ed, will then be scheduled, and the candidate will be given appropriate advice regarding completion of the document.

Completed and approved lecture-documents must be submitted online to UO Scholars’ Bank no later than 2 weeks after the defense. Once the committee approves the final draft, complete the online submission form and follow the instructions for uploading the project onto Scholars’ Bank (for details, see their website). After uploading the project to Scholar’s Bank, the candidate must forward their upload confirmation to the SOMD Graduate Office.