Master of Music

Audition Dates for 2023-2024

Application and Audition/Interview Deadline: March 1

  • Saturday, January 20, 2024
    In-Person Audition Day
    (reservation deadline January 5, 2024)
  • Friday, January 26, 2024
    Virtual Audition Day
    (reservation deadline January 5, 2024)
    *virtual audition will take place in
    Eastern Standard Time.  
  • Saturday, February 17, 2024
    In-Person Audition Day
    (reservation deadline February 3, 2024)
  • Saturday, February 24, 2024
    In-Person Audition Day
    *deadline for assistantship consideration
    (reservation deadline February 3, 2024)
  • Saturday, April 13, 2024
    In Person Audition Day
    (reservation deadline March 30, 2024)

Conducting applicants: Audition dates will be emailed to you after you submit the Graduate College Application for admission.

Master of Music Degree 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 eleven fields: collaborative piano, composition, conducting, ethnomusicology, jazz studies music education, music history, music theory, performance, piano pedagogy, and vocal pedagogy.

View areas of study

Materials concerning details about the graduate program in music at Bowling Green State University may be received upon request.

Prerequisites to 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 with assistantships are required to attend the Graduate Student Orientation (GSO), during which incoming students participate in seminars related to college teaching.

All new CMA graduate students must attend the departmental orientation sessions, and take music theory and music history entrance exams. There is a study guide for the theory/history exam available online.

Admission Procedure

Applicants seeking admission to the Master of Music program should follow the instructions outlined in the Graduate College Application for Admissions. 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 may either elect a virtual audition or elect to upload a recorded audition into the application (in the portfolio section). However domestic students applying for music performance assistantships must present a virtual audition. Applicants electing music history, ethnomusicology, music theory or composition emphasis must submit examples of their work with their applications. Music education and music theory applicants are required to have an online interview

Graduate Assistantships and Scholarships

A number of graduate assistantships and scholarships are available. A list of available assistantship positions and other information is available on our assistantships and scholarships page.

Audition/interview and application deadline is March 1.

Audition Dates for 2023-2024

  • Saturday, January 20, 2024: In-Person Audition Day (reservation deadline January 5, 2024)
  • Friday, January 26, 2024: Virtual Audition Day (reservation deadline January 5, 2024)
  • Saturday, February 17, 2024: In-Person Audition Day (reservation deadline February 3, 2024)
  • Saturday, February 24, 2024: In-Person Audition Day *deadline for assistantship consideration (reservation deadline February 3, 2024)
  • Saturday,  April 13, 2024: In-Person Audition Day (reservation deadline March 30, 2024)

Applications must be submitted at least two weeks before your audition/interview date. 

Conducting applicants: Audition dates will be emailed to you after you submit the Graduate College Application.

You can find contact information for local hotels and information about parking on campus here

*Please check your spam/junk email folders for correspondence from BGSU. You will get several emails from the College of Musical Arts as well as the Graduate College in regards to auditions and your application and often our emails go directly into spam/junk folders. 

To be considered for admission to the master’s program, submit:

  • BGSU Graduate College Application
  • Scanned copies of official or unofficial transcripts from all institutions attended. Upon admission, final official or notarized copies of transcripts from all institutions where a degree was earned (showing dates when the degrees were conferred) and diplomas from international institutions must be submitted.
  • $45 domestic application fee and $75 international application fee
  • Scores from the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) are not required for any graduate programs in the College of Musical Arts.

Within the BGSU Graduate College Application, you will see the College of Musical Arts Secondary Application section, where you will provide names and contact information for principal teachers, and indicate your preferences for assistantship consideration. In the secondary application you may either select and audition day (in-person or virtual) or elect to upload a recorded audition into the application (in the portfolio section). However, domestic students applying for music performance assistantships must present an in-person or virtual audition. If  you have already selected a virtual audition date, you will be sent information about setting up the virtual audition. 

You do not need all of your application materials (see below) uploaded to submit your application. As long as the application is completely filled out you can submit the application and then go back to upload your application materials. Please submit your application as soon as possible.

Music Performance applicants may either select an in-person or virtual audition or elect to upload a recorded audition into the application (in the portfolio section). However domestic students applying for music performance assistantships must present an in-person or virtual audition. 

Music Education applicants will present an online interview and will submit the following online through the Graduate College application:

  • A 10-minute, video-taped performance on an instrument or voice.
  • A continuous 15-minute, video-taped teaching or rehearsal segment.
  • A writing sample - essay of no more than 1,000 words, reflecting on a successful or unsuccessful teaching moment experienced in a recent teaching setting. Include descriptions of the setting, your student(s), the learning goal(s), student performance, and the measure of success. Based on the outcome, outline an appropriate plan for the next lesson.

Music Composition applicants must submit scores and sound files of representative original works online through the Graduate College application. To be considered for the Toledo Symphony Composition Scholarship, composition applicants must include a previously written work for orchestra and/or a large instrumental ensemble in their application portfolio.

Ethnomusicology, History and Theory applicants must submit two or three in-depth undergraduate papers. Music Theory applicants must submit an analysis paper. All papers can be submitted online through the Graduate College application.

To be considered for an assistantship in the master’s program:

  • Submit a résumé through your Graduate College application.
  • Attend a in-person or virtual audition/interview, unless the candidate is not currently residing in the United States.

All applicants for music education assistantships must submit the following online through the Graduate College application:

  • 10-minute videotaped performance on an instrument or voice.
  • Continuous 15-minute videotaped teaching or rehearsal segment.

International Students:

  • Must earn the following on the TOEFL, Test of English as a Foreign Language: 550 on the paper-based version, 213 on the computer-based version or 80 on the internet-based version (IBT). Scores must be sent directly to the Graduate College from the testing company.
  • See International Student Services for other requirements

Approximately 40 graduate assistantships become available for master’s candidates each year. The assistantships available can be found by clicking on the links below.  Assistantship needs may change during the course of the year and, in some cases, more than one vacancy may exist for one of the listings. Students may interview for assistantships outside of their major area.

Musicology/Composition/Theory

Aural Skills, Composition, Music History, Music Technology, Music Theory, Instrumental and Choral Arranging, World Music, MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music and Non-major Offerings.

Availability and descriptions for Musicology/Composition/Theory assistantships.

Music Education

Class Piano, Choral Techniques, Cooperative School Band Assistant, Curriculum Lab, Field Experience, Classroom Techniques, Brass Techniques, Woodwind Techniques, String Methods and University Band Activities.

Availability and descriptions for Music Education assistantships.

Music Performance

Oboe, Bassoon, Clarinet, Saxophone, Trumpet, Tuba/Euphonium, French Horn, Choral Assistant, Jazz, Guitar, Studio Piano/Piano Accompanying, Flute, Trombone, Percussion, Orchestra Conducting Assistant, Violin (Graduate String Quartet), Viola (Graduate String Quartet), Cello (Graduate String Quartet), Trinity United Methodist Church and Voice.

Availability and descriptions for Music Performance assistantships.

Music Office

Music Admissions Coordinator Assistant and Public Events Office

Availability and descriptions for Music Office assistantships.

Assistantship Information

Stipend

Current first-year, nine-month contracts provide stipends from $6,000 to $10,000. In addition, with tuition scholarship the total value in 2023-24 would range from $20,410 (18 credits + lowest stipend amount) to $29,213 (24 credits + highest stipend) per year. 

Fall 2023 Appointment: August 21, 2023 

Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in music, 3.0 GPA and unconditional admission to the Graduate College. In most areas candidates must present a campus interview to be considered for an assistantship.

Deadline

To be assured of consideration, candidates should complete the application and campus interview/audition by February 24, 2024. (The Orchestral Conducting application deadline is January 5, 2024 and the Choral Conducting application deadline is February 2, 2024.)

You can indicate your assistantship preferences on the BGSU Graduate College Application.

Additional information on assistantships can be found on the Graduate Assistantships page through the Graduate College website.

Scholarship Information

All students are considered for partial to full tuition scholarships, which may be awarded in lieu of assistantship awards. No application is required for scholarship consideration.  Applicants to the Master of Music in Composition degree program will be considered for the Toledo Symphony Composition Scholarship, a prestigious $10,000 award distributed equally between the student’s first and second years of master’s study as well as the opportunity to have an orchestral work written at BGSU performed by the Toledo Symphony during the annual Toledo Symphony Reading Session. To be considered for this award, composition applicants must include a previously written work for orchestra and/or a large instrumental ensemble in their application portfolio. 

For more information please call (419) 372-2182 or email Music Graduate Studies to request information about application procedures or available assistantships and scholarships.

Assistantships Outside The College of Musical Arts

Although most graduate assistantship positions are awarded through the academic departments, on occasion the Graduate College will receive notification of GA openings in other University offices/departments. These positions will be listed on the available graduate assistantships page. Contact the individual listed or review the accompanying job description for additional information.

Keyboard

  • Class Piano Assistants: Interview with the coordinator of group piano required. An audition is also required. In the audition, students will be asked to perform three works of different styles and to demonstrate functional keyboard skills.
  • Collaborative Piano: Two solo works from different style periods by memory. Two collaborative works, one instrumental and one vocal.

Piano Performance

  • Applied lessons and/or admission as a performance major: Students will be asked to perform three works of different styles from memory.
  • For assistantship consideration: Students will be asked to perform three works of different styles, sight-reading (one vocal instrument and one instrumental accompaniment) and discussion of accompanying experience, goals, background, etc.

 

Updated: 12/01/2017 11:22PM