The DocMus doctoral school focuses on doctoral education for music performance research. It was founded in 2011 when the doctoral education for church music and composition and music theory were joined into the DocMus Department, which was founded in 1999. DocMus doctoral school hosts approximately 100 students. Two thirds of the students are enrolled in the arts study programme while the remaining one third are enrolled in education focusing on research and development.
The DocMus doctoral school’s doctoral education and research focus mainly on music performance, composition, music theory, and church music. Artistic doctoral studies for orchestral instruments, keyboard instruments, and vocal music take place mainly at DocMus. Doctoral education projects typically focus on the interaction between artistic activities and research.
Music performance and its research
The doctoral school’s artistic activity engages Western art music ranging from the antique to the contemporary. Education and guidance are arranged to support and encourage independent thinking and profiling.
Research focusing on music performance centres around musician research, the history of performance practices, the history of performance, and empirical performance research. It also focuses on instrument pedagogy and research on musical institutes. Other areas of research include music semiology, post-tonal music theory, music philosophy, music history, and a psychodynamic view concerning music, creativity, and their phenomena.
Composition and music theory
The doctoral education of composition and music theory focuses on questions regarding composition and music theory. Students enrolled in composition training will receive guidance for both independent artistic achievement and collaborative projects featuring diverse participants. Students enrolled in doctoral music theory studies will gain the advantage of Sibelius Academy’s music research, which includes music analysis, Sibelius research, and research on music history.
Church music
The doctoral education for church music focuses on religious service music and other questions of ecclesiastical music. Subjects of research include liturgical notation from the Middle Ages and the Reformation. Contemporary ecclesiastical music and hymns are a subject of research as well. A future development will also bring about artistic doctoral education in which the student will perform his/her demonstration of proficiency in a liturgical context.
