Training Scheme for Academic Masters

First-degree Discipline

Music and Dance

First-degree Discipline Code

1302

Second-degree Discipline 

Music and Dance

Second-degree Discipline Code

130200

Applicable Degree

Academic Masters

Applicable Class

2021

The Name of School

School of Art

Music and Dance [Academic Master]-Basic Information of the Training Scheme

I. Educational Objectives:

Our goal is to educate innovative and high-level talents who are equipped with qualified political literacy, solid professional foundation, and excel in both theory and practice. Through the training programs in our university, students will be able to understand the academic tradition, research status and development trend of this discipline, and have broad academic vision, strong academic innovation and creative spirit. They will be trained to develop the ability to be engaged in scientific research in this discipline and related disciplines, and with the needed research methods. They will also be capable of undertaking work related to artistic creation, performance, theoretical research and artistic practice.

II. Fields of Research

1. Composition and Theories of Composition (including chorus conducting, solfeggio and solfeggio teaching method, electronic music composition)

2. Musicology (including western music history and Chinese traditional music)

3. Music Performance and Theory (including vocal singing and instrumental performance)

4. Dance Choreography and Theory

III. Duration

The duration for the Master program is 3 years. Those who cannot finish their studies on schedule due to special reasons can appropriately extend the study period. With the extension, the number of years in school (including suspension from school) shall not exceed 5 years.

IV. Training Process

i. Training plan: After the enrolment, postgraduates should work out a training plan within two weeks under the guidance of their supervisors, and obtain all credits according to the courses selected in the training plan.

ii. Mid-term Assessment: Subject to the Measures for Mid-term Assessment of Postgraduates in South China University of Technology.

iii. Practice: Complete the social practice (1 credit). For details, please refer to the Implementation Measures of South China University of Technology Postgraduates’ Participation in Social Practice into Training. After the social practice, students are required to submit the Social Practice Assessment Form for Postgraduates of South China University of Technology.

iv. Academic Symposium: Postgraduates should attend at least 10 symposiums (2 should cover two or more second-degree disciplines) during their studies. Every time when the students attend the symposium, they should fill in the Assessment Form for Postgraduates of South China University of Technology to Participate in Academic Meetings (Lectures). It is equivalent to attending five academic symposiums if postgraduates take part in international academic exchanges with English as the working language, and publish papers in English with South China University of Technology as the first author’s affiliation (the student him/herself as the first author or his/her supervisor as the first author and the student as the second author).

5. The requirements for graduate students to apply for graduation and obtain academic achievements are subject to the relevant notification.

V. Basic Requirements on Credits and Courses

The minimum number of credits is 38, the number of groups allowed for curriculum and elective courses is 1, the minimum number of credits for compulsory courses is 28, the minimum number of credits for elective courses is 10. As for specific courses, please refer to The Curriculum of the Training Program.

VI. Compulsory Courses

The requirements for obtaining academic achievements when applying for a Master’s degree are as follows:

Before the oral defense (at least one month in advance), the postgraduates must publish at least one academic paper related to their thesis with South China University of Technology as the first author’s affiliation, the student him/herself as the first author, or the supervisor as the first author and the student as the second author.

VII. Thesis

Graduation requirements:

i. Degree Works and Concerts (dance)

Degree works and concerts (dance) are significant in the training programs of Master students in the fields of composition and theories of composition, music performance and dance choreography, and they are also a comprehensive test of students’ music creation and performance skills. Degree works and concerts (dance) are an important step that allows master students to make artistic creation and innovation by using their knowledge. Specific requirements are as follows:

(i) Degree Works

The degree works should be novel, creative, and academic.

Master students in composition must submit three works of various types with a total performance time of not less than 30 minutes. The specific requirements are as follows:

A. Two chamber music works, including a piece of folk music or one orchestrated with national musical instruments in it.

B. One piece of musical work composed by large orchestra (at least 15 minutes).

(ii) Degree Concerts(dance)

Students should demonstrate their in-depth understanding of the works and due performance skills.

A. Master students in vocal music and instrumental music performance must hold a degree concert, and the performance should last at least 45 minutes; In terms of type, repertoire selected by the degree concert may include solo (singing), concerto, etc. In terms of style, it must contain music of various genres and periods, and at least two classic pieces created after the 20th century and one outstanding piece of modern and contemporary times.

B. Master students in chorus must hold a degree concert, and the performance shall last at least 45 minutes; the music selected for the degree concert must cover pieces of multiple genres and periods in style, and include at least two classic pieces after the 20th century and one outstanding piece of modern and contemporary works.

C. Master students in solfeggio and solfeggio teaching method must hold a degree concert, and the performance shall last no less than 45 minutes; the music chosen must cover a variety of genres and periods in style, and at least include one (part) classic work after the 20th century and one (part) excellent work in modern and contemporary times.

D. Master students in dance choreography must hold a special degree dance show, which should reflect an acceptable level of choreographing and must show a certain level of performance. The performance should last at least 45 minutes, and the types of dance plays performed must include solo dance, duet dance, trio dance and group dance; In terms of dance types, it should include at least two kinds of dance types, such as ballet, folk dance, classical dance, modern dance and contemporary dance. All plays must be independently created by the student him/herself, and he/she must participate in the performance of at least three dance works.

(iii) Degree works must be submitted from the 5th semester to the application for thesis defense, and degree concerts (dance) must be held between the 5th semester and the time they apply for thesis defense.

(iv) For the application procedures and requirements of degree concerts (dance performances), please refer to the Detailed Rules for the Administration of Master's Degree Concerts in Art College.

ii. Thesis

According to the Basic Requirements for Degree Awarding compiled by the Discipline Review Group of the State Council, and the realities of music and dance disciplines in our university, we put forward specific requirements for thesis from the aspects of standards, quality and completion time.

(i)Standards

The topics of the thesis should be based on the related research of musicology, music performance and related theoretical research, composition and composition technology theory, dance choreographer and related theoretical research, etc. The thesis must analyze and sort out the theories, music works, singing (performance), music creation, dance repertoires related this discipline, and take the results as the support of argument points. The thesis must be novel in topics, clear in viewpoint, reasonable in structure, distinct in hierarchy, accurate in narration, concise in words, powerful in argument and credible in conclusion. The source of cited documents and materials must be noted, and the music scores and icons used must be in accordance with the national standards. The master thesis should be composed by the following parts: an abstract, body paragraphs, references and appendices. The abstract should be written in concise and accurate language, and demonstrate the core idea and the new insights of the thesis. In general, the body paragraphs include the background of the topic, significance of research, literature review, arguments, analysis and results of music (dance) works, etc.

(ii) Requirements on Quality

It is required that students should abide by the rules in terms of paper writing, literature citation and review, theoretical analysis, experimental data and analysis, etc. The thesis should be well structured, clearly layered, logical and readable. In addition, the use of music scores, notes and charts should meet the standards. The references should be accurate and appropriate, and the theoretical analysis system of the paper should be an in-depth one. The proof should be reasonable and the data reliable. At least one theoretical proposition is put forward or obviously improved in the basic research, and the research of music performance must be combined with the performance practice, and the expound how operable the theory they put forward can be. The body paragraphs should have 30,000-50,000 words.

(iii) Requirements on Time

Postgraduates should work out the plan for thesis writing at the beginning of the third semester, and write the opening report that should pass the review of the supervisors panel. The time of the thesis writing should last at least one year. The workflow of applying for a degree shall be implemented in accordance with The Detailed Rules for Degree Granting and Management of South China University of Technology (revised in 2019) and Regulations for Postgraduates’ Degree Application of South China University of Technology (revised in 2019).

VIII. Graduation and Conferral of Degrees

Those who have completed the required credits and passed the graduation examination will be awarded a master’s degree in art, and awarded a master’s degree certificate and graduation certificate in art upon the review and approval by the Academic Degree Evaluation Committee.

IX. Curriculum

Details of the Curriculum

Course Category

Course No.

Courses

Credits

Academic Hours

Semester

Lecturers

Category

Notes

Multiple Choices

Compulsory Courses

S0001024

Research on Theory and Practice of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

2

36

1

Guo Houjia

Compulsory

S0001026

Marxism and Social Science Methodology

1

18

2

Wu Guolin

Compulsory

S0002035

Comprehensive English

3

64

2

Tan Xiaobin

Compulsory

S0504018

Specialist Courses（major subject）

12

192

1

Compulsory

S0504037

Art Theory: Theory of Artistic Thoughts

2

32

1

Chen Gangyi

Compulsory

S0504055

Symphonic Fragments Analysis

2

32

1

Ma Bo

Compulsory

S0504056

History and Present Situation of Chinese Traditional Music Research

2

32

2

Shen Yunfang

Compulsory

S1302014

Dissertation Writing and Academic Norms

2

32

2

Shen Yunfang

Compulsory

S0504045

Solfeggio I

2

32

1

Bai Ling

Compulsory

Choose one from the two courses

S1302004

Research on the Theory and Techniques of Choreography.

2

32

2

Liu Bo

Compulsory

Elective Courses

S0002029

Practical English Writing

1

36

2

Yao Nan

Elective

S0002034

Academic Communication English

1

36

2

Cang Lanju

Elective

S0002037

British and American Culture

1

36

2

Liu Xifen

Elective

S0002038

Appreciation of English Movies

1

36

2

Chen Tao

Elective

S0504007

Chamber Music

2

32

4

Wang Feng

Elective

S0504017

Research on the Style of Chinese Works

2

32

2

Huang Yang

Elective

S0504041

Music Recording and Audio Editing

2

32

1

Ma Bo

Elective

S0504043

Solfeggio of Modern Music works

2

32

1

Bai Ling

Elective

S0504058

Chorus Literature Singing

2

32

1

Liang Jun

Elective

S0504069

Research on Contemporary Chinese Composers

2

32

2

Liu Ding

Elective

S0504070

Singing (Performance) of Modern Works

2

32

2

Wang Yue

Elective

S1302001

Research on Western Modern Music Works

2

32

2

Liu Ding

Elective

S1302002

History of Western Music

2

32

2

Zhou Jing

Elective

S1302007

Dance Criticism

2

32

2

Zhong Yixun

Elective

Elective courses

S1302008

Harmony

2

32

1

Huang Yang

Elective

S1302009

Research on Foreign Dance History

3

32

2

Huo Lei

Elective

S1302010

Research on Contemporary Chinese Dance Creation

2

32

2

Liu Bo

Elective

S1302012

An analysis of the Choreography of Dance dramas (including modern dance dramas)

2

32

2

Deng Chenxia

Elective

S1302013

Research on Chinese Modern Songs

2

32

2

Chen Gangyi

Elective

Public Elective courses

S0004101

A Study of Chinese Aesthetic Classics

2

32

1

Cao Yanling

Elective