The Program

The Master of Music degree program, offered by the College of Musical Arts, is designed to prepare musicians to practice their specialization in the changing environment of current American musical culture. The program encompasses six emphases: music composition, music education, ethnomusicology, music history, music performance and music theory.

Degree Programs

1. Performance:
   
   Majors may select from nine options: choral conducting, collaborative piano, jazz studies, orchestral conducting, voice, piano, piano pedagogy, instrumental and instrumental specialist. The instrumental specialist option consists of a concentration in a major instrument and at least two minor instruments within the brass, strings and woodwind areas. Considerable flexibility is permitted within an individual program to meet the special needs of students.
   
   
2. Composition:
   Degree offered: Music Composition
   
   The College of Musical Arts offers a graduate degree in music composition. Students will be asked to submit three or four original scores of their best works for review by the composition faculty. Majors receive a weekly private lesson and attend a biweekly seminar. Works are regularly performed in Student Composers' Forums. Numerous guest artists visit the campus and present lectures and give private lessons. In 1994-98, we welcomed Samuel Adler to our faculty as Visiting Distinguished Professor. His weekly seminars give our majors the experience of working with one of the nation's finest teachers and composers.1999-2002
   
   
3. Ethnomusicology:
   Degree offered: MM in Music Ethnomusicology
   
   Incoming graduate majors are required to interview and give a sample of their writing. (Two or three in depth undergraduate papers.)
   
   
4. Music History:
   Degree offered: MM in Music History
   
   The Master of Music in Music History allows students to pursue detailed work in music history and prepares them for further work in musicology. The program includes courses in performance practice, notation and genres, as well as specially designed topical seminars. These experiences are reinforced by participation in the departmental ensembles: the Afro-Caribbean Ensemble, the Balinese Gamelan, the Early Music Ensemble and the New Music Ensemble.
   
   
5. Music Theory:
   Degree offered: MM in Music Theory
   
   The Master of Music in Music Theory degree totals 34 semester hours and normally takes two years to complete. Included are seminars in research techniques, structural analysis, style analysis and 20-century analysis. Electives and independent studies allow students to pursue subjects of special interest to them. Oral examinations in aural skills, bibliography and analysis are taken in residence.
   
   
6. Music Education
   Degree offered: MM in Music Education
   
   The Department of Music Education offers a range of options for this master's degree. Students may choose a thesis option, in which a major research project in music education is the culmination of the degree, or a non-thesis option, including a comprehensive option, an instrumental option, a general music option, or a choral option. Courses in this degree program are taught by highly qualified faculty members specializing in all of these options. Students may also choose from a range of elective courses such as jazz, keyboard pedagogy, multicultural issues, and technology applications.
   

PREREQUISITES FOR GRADUATE WORK:
   
Applicants should possess an appropriate undergraduate degree, as well as potential for advanced study as evidenced by musical and intellectual abilities and achievements. In cases where an applicant is deficient in background, the departmental graduate faculty will require additional course work; for example, remedial courses in music history and music theory.

All new graduate students are required to attend the Graduate Student Enhancement Program, during which incoming students participate in seminars related to college teaching, attend departmental orientation sessions, and take music theory and music history entrance exams.

ADMISSION PROCEDURE:

Applicants seeking admission to the Master of Music program should follow the instructions outlined in the Admissions pages or go to the online application. In addition to the general admission requirements set by the Graduate College, applicants must fulfill the following departmental requirements. Applicants electing the performance or conducting options must audition for area faculty. Applicants electing music history, music theory, ethnomusicology or composition emphasis must submit examples of their work with their applications. All Music education applicants must interview with the chair of the department. Music education applicants electing Plan II must have one year of full-time teaching experience.

Contact Information:

For application information for any of the degrees listed, contact:
Robert Satterlee , Coordinator of Graduate Studies
College of Musical Arts
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403-0290
(419) 372-2182

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