The Doctor of Music degree (DMus, DM, MusD or occasionally MusDoc) is a higher doctorate awarded on the basis of a substantial portfolio of compositions and/or scholarly publications on music. Like other higher doctorates, it is granted by universities in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries. Most universities restrict candidature to their own graduates or staff, which is a reversal of the practice in former times, when (unlike higher degrees in other faculties) candidates for the degree were not required to be a Master of Arts.
The Doctor of Music degree should not be confused with the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) degree, which is the standard (PhD-level) doctorate in fields such as performance (including conducting) and musical composition. (However, at least one graduate program, at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, has been issuing the Doctor of Music degree (abbreviated by this institution as "D.M.") since 1953.[1] Notably, many of the Indiana DM degrees are recorded as being in "Music Literature and Performance", rather than just "Performance" presumably differentiating them from the DMA degrees offered elsewhere. [2])
The D.Mus. is also distinct from the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in music, which is awarded in areas such as music history, music theory, and musicology.
