This section concerns only the Director of Graduate Studies for Musicology (there is another for Composition), and the committee with which that DGS works.

The Musicology Committee, which is chaired by the DGS, comprises faculty who regularly teach graduate courses in the areas of ethnomusicology, historical musicology, and music theory. Its purview includes all matters concerning the graduate curriculum in musicology. From time to time, it recommends changes in that curriculum to the Department's main executive body, the Faculty Council.

The DGS is an ex officio member of all musicology area committees, and serves as a liaison between these committees and the area advisors. He or she oversees the scheduling of the General Examinations, the individual components of which are conducted and graded by appointed groups of faculty. The DGS receives the results of these examinations, and communicates them in writing to all candidates, updating the Department's and GSAS's records accordingly.

It is the area committee (or a specially appointed committee) that considers and approves a student's dissertation proposal. Once approval has been given, it is the job of the DGS to appoint the members of the proposal defense committee, and to schedule that defense, and to report the outcome to GSAS.