Master of Music
Harrisonburg, USA
Master degree
DURATION
2 years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Aug 2027
TUITION FEES
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
Key Summary
About: The School of Music at JMU offers a Master of Music with concentrations in composition, conducting, music education, and performance. The programme provides advanced musical development and professional training for careers in teaching, performance, and composition. Conducting majors study literature of the medium, develop insight into musical ideas and structure of major works, and refine conducting and rehearsal skills. Related skills include musicianship, score study, pedagogy, ensemble leadership, and creative practice skills.
Career Outcomes: Graduates move into teaching, performance, composition, and conducting as soloists, ensemble players, educators, composers, rehearsal directors, and administrators, working in schools, orchestras, and freelance performance.
The School of Music offers a Master of Music degree with concentration options in composition, conducting, music education, and performance, as well as a Doctor of Musical Arts. The Master of Music program seeks to provide an opportunity for the highest level of musical development and professional training for each student, appropriate for careers in teaching, performance, and composition of music. Conducting majors will undertake a comprehensive study of the literature of their medium, develop advanced insights into the musical ideas and structure of the major works, and refine their conducting and rehearsal skills.
Performance majors will specialize in activities that develop the technical mastery and musical maturity essential to the art of making music involving their chosen instrument or voice. Student composers will immerse themselves in the techniques and aesthetics of musical creation and will become aware, through intensive examination, of the music and musical thought of all style periods, especially that of the present and immediate past. Music education students will examine the foundations and principles underlying the practices of their profession and will develop both scholarly and technical abilities essential to continuing development as effective teachers and leaders.
Degrees Offered
Master of Music (M.M.)
Concentrations
- Composition
- Conducting
- Music Education
- Music Performance
Degree Objectives
Students graduating from the M.M. program (with concentrations in Composition, Conducting, Music Education, Performance, Performance with Optional Signing Health emphasis) will be able to:
Composition
- formulates a personal creative style of composition.
- demonstrate the fundamental concepts of form, harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration.
- differentiate and apply the techniques and aesthetics of musical creation.
- apply the core principles of effective research as scholars and composers.
Conducting
- demonstrate the application of physical conducting skills and rehearsal techniques through the performance of advanced repertoire in the student’s area of specialization.
- formulate advanced insights into the artistic and formal structure of music through score study in the student’s area of specialization.
- describe the musical and formal elements of the major literature in the student’s area of specialization (vocal/choral or instrumental).
- apply the core principles of effective research as scholars and conductors.
Music Education
- communicate effectively both verbally and in writing.
- articulate, critique, and synthesize the foundations and principles of music education.
- demonstrate advanced methodologies in the student's area of specialization.
- apply the core principles of effective research as scholars and practitioners.
Music Performance
- demonstrate the application of musical and technical mastery in the student’s area of specialization (instrumental or vocal).
- identify and describe the standard solo, chamber, and ensemble repertoire in the student’s area of specialization.
- apply the core principles of effective research as scholars and performers.”
The chief source of aid for graduate study is through assistantships awarded by the school. Teaching and non-teaching graduate assistantships in music are awarded each year on a competitive basis. Specific assignments in administration, applied music, bands, music history, music education, orchestra, and theory are based on qualifications and School of Music needs. In addition to a stipend, assistantships include a tuition award.
A full graduate load is 9 credit hours per semester (18 credits per year). Master's assistantships provide 18 credit hours of tuition per year. All assistantships provide stipends to assist with living expenses. Graduate assistants are assigned 20 hours of work per week in exchange for their assistantship benefits.
See more information about graduate assistantships including current stipend amounts.