Crossing Borders. UNAM’s Graduate Music Program

Music Education as a postgrad program is recent compared to other disciplines (see UNAM Internacional 6, pp. 16-39). Strong debates surround music today: from its social functions, to the neurobiology of music processing, as well as the new technologies that are being developed; creators, performers of many musical genres, teachers, researchers and consumers are addressing these and other musicrelated issues. The work carried out by UNAM’s graduate music program since 2004 has been a spearhead in the study and dissemination of these topics.

This article offers an overview of the work carried out in the Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Music at UNAM. In the first place, we address the place of musical education in this institution in relation to the national and international panorama. Secondly, we describe the multidisciplinary way in which musical phenomena are studied, and finally, we present some of the challenges facing this program in the future.

PROFESSIONAL FORMATION IN MUSIC AT UNAM
Ever since the very beginning of the human species, music has always been a dynamic and vital aspect in every culture. As Elliot, Bowman, and Silverman (2016, p. 4) have stated, there is plenty of archaeological evidence proving that music instruments such as drums, flutes, and rattles have existed even forty or sixty million years ago. Literature studying the origins and evolution of music supports the thesis that states that music was crucial for the survival of early humans, since musical practices promoted constructive behaviours for the sake of social interaction and group cohesion.

Both the history of music social functions and of music teaching have constantly transformed themselves through cultural, political, economic, and technological changes. The origin of the Faculty of Music (FaM) in Mexico is linked to the autonomy of the National University, achieved in 1929, the year when the National Conservatory was separated from the University (Estrada Rodríguez, Gutiérrez Gallardo, and Sastré Barragán, 2021) and a group of professors represented by Alba Herrara and Estanislao Mejía defended and defined the place for music in the university. So, on October 7, 1929, UNAM’s FaM inaugurated its courses.

This date is relevant because, in Mexico, music teaching had been heavily influenced by the European conservatory tradition, focused on technical abilities for both music creation and interpretation under this same tradition’s standards. In contrast, since its beginnings, musical education at UNAM pursues goals beyond technical learning, since our programs include scientific and humanistic knowledge. To strengthen these ideals, in 2004 the Master’s and Doctoral Program in Music was created at UNAM, representing a new step forward in the university’s commitment to the comprehensive training of music professionals. In its presentation (Programa de Maestría y Doctorado en Música, 2004, p. 6) the need to train creators, performers, teachers, and researchers capable of producing knowledge to enrich different areas of theory and practice is stated.

UNAM MASTER’S AND DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN MUSIC IN THE NATIONAL SCENE
According to data from ANUIES 2022-2023 statistical yearbook, during this period, in the specific field of arts academic formation, enrolment in Master’s programs was of 3,756 students with 1,607 new entrants and 1,565 graduates. In the same period, 784 people were enrolled in doctoral programs, 233 of whom were new entrant students and 108 were graduates.

Addressing music (one of the categories included in “specific formation area”) during the same time the Master’s level had an enrolment of 253 students, with 88 new entrants and 122 graduates. For the doctoral degree, enrolment reached 137 students, 46 new entrants and 20 graduates (see table 1).

Tabla 1. Matrícula de alumnos y egresados de posgrados en Música en México

Search categories in ANUIES 2022- 2023 yearbook	Total Enrollment	New entrant students	Graduated students
Arts Master’s degree	3,756	1,607	1,565
Arts Doctoral degree	784	233	108
Music Master’s degree	253	88	122
Music Doctoral degree	137	46	20
UNAM Master’s Music Program	45	18	59
PUNAM Doctoral Music Program	63	16	7

Prepared by the authors with information from the ANUIES 2022-2023 statistical yearbook

These data provide enough evidence of the importance of the Music Master’s and Doctoral Programs in Mexico. There are several graduate programs in Mexico, categorized by the National Universities Association (ANUIES) as belonging to specific formation areas Arts, and which are offered by more than a hundred educational institutions in the country. Within this category, the following specific fields are offered: performing arts, fine arts, graphic design (industrial, fashion, and editorial), music, multi-disciplinary and general approaches to arts, and audiovisual arts and technologies for the media. An example of multi-disciplinary or general approach to arts is Autonomous University of Aguascalientes’ Master’s degree in Art, where research priorities are Art Analysis, Production Processes, Art’s Management, and Art Teaching Processes.

In contrast, the ANUIES yearbook lists only eight institutions offering a Master’s degree in music and three with doctoral programs. UNAM stands out among these institutions because it offers the more diversified approaches to music studies. In addition, UNAM Music program has the widest enrolment of all: there are 390 graduate Music students in 2022-2023 in Mexico, of which 108 study at UNAM. While most of the graduate programs in Music at any other institution focus on musical specialities such as composition, performance, and music theory, as well as concrete research areas as is Ethnomusicology; UNAM programs address seven research fields in music studies, which together strengthen the perspectives from which music is studied and created in Mexico.

DIFFERENT VIEWS ON MUSIC STUDIES AT UNAM
According to the document Líneas de generación y/o aplicación del conocimiento del posgrado en Música (Generative and Applied Knowledge lines at UNAM’s Music Graduate Program, UNAM n. d.):
Speaking about Music cognition:
Some of the research lines in this field are the mapping of brain functions related to musical activity, and the neurocognitive models of musical listening and performance. Music composition:
Some of its research lines are sound production
and its relationship with the creative process,
musical poetics, and interdisciplinary processes of
musical creation.

Music education is “dedicated to the study and
creation of knowledge about the necessary skills,
processes, and methodologies for learning music
in the general professional training areas and in
its sociocultural context” (Posgrado UNAM n.d.).
Some research lines in this area are music didactics
and learning strategies, the philosophy of music
education, and the development of musical skills.

Ethnomusicology
Some of its research lines are Music and Orality (speech), Music and Rituality, and Dialogical

Ethnomusicology.

Musical interpretation consists in the “study, analysis and recreation of musical pieces, based on research of style paradigms, and social, cultural, historical, and musical contexts (Posgrado UNAM, n. d.). The main research lines look at the performer and contemporary music creation, performance theory applied to interpretation, and theory and methodology of interpretation.

Musicology studies “Music theoretical foundations; those of the musical experience in itself, and of its social and historical manifestations, as well as Music’s relations with other arts” (Posgrado UNAM, n. d.). Its main research lines are gender studies in music, Novo-Hispanic music studies, musical iconography, and musical nationalisms in Mexico.

Music technology encloses “the study and development of technological tools, practical applications of scientific knowledge to the processes of musical creation, interpretation, research and representation of musical and sound information” (posgrado UNAM, n. d.). Its main research lines are the acoustics of musical instruments, acoustics itself, and music technology.

It is important to state that these diverse perspectives not only provide multidisciplinary ways to study music but have also fostered the study and recognition of multiple traditional practices and their dynamism with music while avoiding binary conceptions about the value of different and diverse musical expressions, for example: popular music and academic music.

The multidisciplinary nature of this graduate program and its accessibility represent a unique opportunity to receive professionals from diverse regions and profiles to create Music knowledge. This graduate program has strengthened the bond between musical activities at UNAM and the international panorama: since 2020, 39 foreign students have enrolled in the program. Besides, seminars are constantly given by expert researchers from different regions of Mexico and the world. These meetings contribute not only to develop of UNAM’s academic community, but also to promote, disseminate, and share to the rest of the world Mexican musical work and practices. An example in this area are UNAM’s graduate students in different congresses, internships, and international exchanges to countries such as Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Spain, Argentina and Colombia. Many students from all around the world have also contributed with studies on musical practices in their countries, made at UNAM. All these elements enrich music knowledge in this program.

THE PROGRAM’S CHALLENGES TODAY
To address this plurality, UNAM’s Master’s and Doctoral Program in Music is supported by three university institutions: the FaM, the Institute of Anthropological Research, and the Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology. The seven fields offered by the program require the collaboration of many academics with different backgrounds and perspectives, i.e., graduate programs at UNAM have a structure in which tutors and professors come from the entities that support them. This naturally satisfies some disciplinary needs, in particular those of interpretation, composition, ethnomusicology, and music technology. The rest of the fields incorporate academics from entities outside UNAM or from abroad. Some fields might be affected, especially music cognition, facing little engagement and some difficulty in accessing specialized research equipment. Although this situation represents a challenge, it has also allowed the promotion of creative solutions, the inclusion of students and tutors with very diverse academic backgrounds, and interinstitutional connections.

A consequence of this is that it becomes difficult to consolidate research lines representative of the program. There is consensus in the field of music iconography as a relevant research area, but other fields have not been able to generate projects or theses under solid lines. Anyway, this situation represents an area of opportunity to promote the advancement of knowledge about music at UNAM.

The goal to achieve greater articulation with other academic levels at the FaM is another challenge for the program. Undergraduate alumni, specifically, tend to have little research experience (a generalized situation in Mexico), so “building bridges” is needed for students starting from this level to know and understand the value of graduate academic training in the music field. It is also necessary to increase efforts to disseminate the program’s contributions.

Like any other academic program, Master’s and Doctoral Program in Music faces the need to increase its percentage of graduated students. Many efforts have been made recently so that the students who had not completed their graduation process can resume and complete them. As a result, the number of graduates in recent years has increased.

FINAL THOUGHTS
UNAM’s Graduate Program in Music is a national reference for music training of professionals who contribute to music development in Mexico. In addition to UNAM itself, graduates work in renowned institutions such as Tecnológico de Monterrey, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Instituto Tecnológico de Orizaba, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Universidad Panamericana, Universidade Federal do Ceará, in Brazil, among others.

Thanks to academic meetings with researchers from all around the world, the work developed in this program contributes to the international projection of knowledge generated at UNAM. This is an important issue since Mexican cultural values can be promoted through research and music. Mexico is a very diverse country, as it can be listened in different musical practices. Activities of the Master’s and Doctoral Program in Music at UNAM add to our international projection from research in music. Both humanistic commitments and social responsibility UNAM has with Mexico and the world is shown through this program. We are truly convinced that the future of musical practices in Mexico and the world will be strongly influenced by the work of students involved in this program.

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