This post has gone off at a slightly different tilt to my original intentions: I started running down the rabbit hole of history and found something equally interesting to share. I ended up writing something rather factual, but through the process of doing this had formulated many questions that would form potential blog discussions in the future: what is the point of a PhD? What is good research? Do we merely share musical knowledge for its own sake?
For now, if you want to know about a bit about the history of PhDs and PhDs in music… read on!
What is a PhD?
PhDs are the highest academic levels of degree that a student can achieve. Shortened for Doctor of Philosophy, PhD is one of the most common forms of doctorate degrees. Nowadays, doctorate degrees are awarded on the basis that students contribute new, original, and significant research (italics to give emphasis to their frequencies in many existing PhD guidelines). Historically, this has not always been the case: in medieval to pre- educational- reforms Europe (before 19th Century), a ‘doctorate’ was a license to teach, no thesis or original research was required, only ‘lengthy residency requirements and examination’.[i] The protesting and demand for original research was called for by German Universities in the early 19th century, their success led to the formation of the ‘PhD’. PhD degree and equivalent awards quickly introduced in nearby territories: France in 1808, Russia in 1819, and in 1861, Yale University became the first to award three earned PhDs in North America. The UK was slow to adopt: it was only in 1917 that the current PhD degree was finally introduced.
Who were the first to complete a PhD in music?
In 1895, Thaddeus L. Bolton completed a dissertation on the subject of ‘teaching rhythm’ for a PhD at Clark University, – a PhD in pedagogy, but the subject of enquiry is music.[ii] In the same year, John Dawson also earned a PhD in pedagogy through ‘The Education value on vocal music’ at the New York University. It seemed that many of the earlier earned-PhDs in music, at least in the States, were done by music educators rather than musicologists (music historians).[iii] In the United Kingdom, the first music-related thesis as found in British Library’s Ethos [iv] is on the Indian musician Amir Khusrau, awarded to Muhammad Wahid Mirza by SOAS University of London in 1929. In 1930, the University of Edinburgh awarded W. G. Allt on the subject of ‘Organ and its music from medieval times to J.S. Bach’. The 1930s saw a bloom in PhD in Music psychology: amongst these scholars were Clara Robertson, the first woman to defend her doctoral thesis at Durham University in 1936. In the 1940s, music enquiries were found in PhD of Linguistics, Language, and Literature, such as Daniel Pickering Walker’s contribution to the understanding on French literature (University of Oxford, 1940), and Mary M. MacDermott’s on the understanding of poetry (University of Glasgow, 1941). It was only in 1950 that we see for the first time ‘Opera’ transfigured in Simon Towneley Worsthorne’s ‘Venetian opera’ (University of Oxford, 1950).
Can you get a doctorate without studying?
Apparently so! Honorary doctorate awards are distributed by universities to honour the contributions of a highly distinguished individuals in a specific field or society in general, provided that they have no prior affiliations with the academic institution.[v] However, as an award recipient, you can’t quite use the ‘Dr’ title as freely as you wish – only in the context of engagement with the awarding institution of higher education and not within the broader community.
The granting of honorary awards dates way back to the Middle Ages, even before the creation of doctorate titles in the academic context. It is said that Oxford and Cambridge have the custom of awarding honorary titles to royalties in the late 16th century.[vi] In mid-nineteenth century US, Henry Dielman and Lowell Mason were amongst the firsts to receive their honorary doctorate in music: more significantly to note, they were musicians![vii]
Afterthoughts:
Interesting, to think that inter-disciplinary is a ‘new and current’ craze when it has been around for over a century… and that scholarly studies on the Western Music traditions were almost entirely absent from the PhD scene. Though, my search engine was very much limited to UK and US… I wonder what the circumstances were like in mid-19th Century Germany and France? Perhaps another question for another day, – do leave a comment below to contribute to this discussion.
[i] ‘Doctor of Philosophy’, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_of_Philosophy#Medieval_and_early_modern_Europe, consulted on 03/08/22.
[ii] Phelps, Roger P., Sadoff, Ronald H. and Ferrara, Lawrence (2004). A Guide to Research in Music Education. Scarecrow Press; 5th ed, 14.
[iii] Comprehensive dissertation index 1861-1972 (Ann Arbour: Xerorx University Microfilms, 1973)
[iv] British Library E-Thesis Online service (ETHOS), https://ethos.bl.uk/Home.do, search filter ‘music’, consulted on 03/08/22.
[v] ‘What are honorary doctorate degrees?’ (2021). https://bestaccreditedcolleges.org/articles/what-are-honorary-doctorate-degrees.html, consulted on 03/08/22.
[vi] Buxton, L. H. Dudley and Gibson, Strickland (1935). Oxford University Ceremonies. Oxford University Press.
[vii] Phelps, R. P. (1983). The First Earned Doctorate in Music Education. The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education, 4(1), 1–6. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40214639, consulted on 03/08/22.
Joyce Tang 