School of Music
Graduate BulletinSchool of Music
Overview
Graduate Program Overview
The Graduate Program represents the UNCSA School of Music at its most advanced levels of artistry and education. Our goal is twofold: to enable students to attain their highest musical aspirations and to meet the challenge of succeeding in a highly competitive profession. With this in mind, we have designed unique and rigorous graduate programs that build on undergraduate artistic training, providing opportunity for an individual to continue their personal musical development with a heightened focus on specialization in their chosen career path. Graduate programs at the UNCSA School of Music connect emerging artists to the music industry and refine their ability to find their place in it and foster a meaningful artistic career.
The two-year Master of Music degree’s goals and objectives are to prepare and train students for careers as professional classical musicians in the following areas of study: brass (trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba, euphonium), collaborative piano, composition, guitar performance and pedagogy, harp, orchestral conducting, organ, percussion, piano, strings (violin, viola, violoncello, double bass), voice, and woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone).
The one-year Graduate Arts Certificate provides a student who has earned a BM or BA in Music in either performance or composition the opportunity to work on the graduate level with our UNCSA Music faculty. It is available in the following concentrations: brass (trumpet, horn, trombone, tuba, euphonium), collaborative piano, composition, guitar performance and pedagogy, harp, conducting, organ, percussion, piano, strings (violin, viola, violoncello, double bass), voice, and woodwinds (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, saxophone).
The one-year Professional Artist Certificate and the Fletcher Institute Professional Artist Certificate programs represent the School of Music at its highest level of artistry and education, equivalent in artistic performance and composition skills to that of doctoral programs of study. The goals and objectives of each are to give emerging artists advanced training and experience for careers as professional musicians in the following areas of study: brass, composition, guitar performance and pedagogy, vocal performance, conducting, organ, percussion, piano, strings and woodwinds.
Certificates
Concentrations
Master of Music
Concentrations
Requirements
Graduate Program Requirements
A. Admissions Requirements
Admission to any of the graduate programs is by application and audition. Specific information about application and audition requirements, including TOEFL scores for international students, is available on the UNCSA website.
Candidates for the Master of Music degree or the Graduate Arts Certificate must have completed a Bachelor of Music or a Bachelor of Arts from an accredited conservatory, college or university (or the equivalent if the institution is located outside the United States).
Candidates for either the Professional Artist Certificate or the Fletcher Institute Professional Artist Certificate must have completed a Master of Music or a Master of Arts in the intended area of concentration from an accredited conservatory, college or university (or the equivalent if the institution is located outside the United States).
To be admissible to any graduate program in the School of Music, applicants must possess the following essential qualifications:
- Aural ability to discriminate discrete pitches;
- Visual ability sufficient to read standard notated music;
- Visual ability sufficient to recognize and interpret gestures of a conductor for concentrations requiring ensemble participation;
- Fine motor skills sufficient to play a keyboard instrument regardless of area of concentration;
- Ability to participate in group instruction.
B. Transfer Information
The School of Music accepts transfer credit from accredited graduate programs. Only courses that have received a grade of “B” or better will be considered, and transfer credit may account for up to 50 percent of the degree requirements. Transfer credit will be determined by the Associate Dean of the School of Music and be based upon evaluation of the student’s transcript and/or UNCSA School of Music placement assessments in consultation with the appropriate faculty. To receive consideration for transfer credit, a student must make a formal request in writing to the Associate Dean of the School of Music.
Evaluation
Graduate Program Evaluation
A. Proficiency Requirements
All incoming Master of Music students will be required to take theory, ear training and music history proficiency examinations. A student who does not demonstrate proficiency with the material must take and successfully complete the appropriate graduate review course(s) during their first year in the program.
B. Graduate Jury and Recital Requirements
Graduate students are required to perform for all departmental juries.
Master of Music students, with the exception of composition and voice, are required to present two full recitals. Composition students are required to present one recital, and voice students are required to present one recital and to perform at least one major opera role. Graduate Arts Certificate students concentrating in performance are required to present one full recital. In both the degree and the certificate, a student concentrating in performance satisfies the recital requirement through successful completion of both a juried recital hearing and a public performance of the same recital program. A student concentrating in composition satisfies the requirement through successful production of a recital of their own works under the guidance of their composition faculty.
C. Progression Towards Degree
The residency requirement for the Master of Music degree is one year (two consecutive semesters) as a full-time student. A full-time student is one who is enrolled for a minimum of nine graduate credits per semester. The degree of Master of Music must be completed within five years of the initial enrollment in the program.
The residency requirement for the Graduate Arts Certificate, the Professional Artist Certificate and the Fletcher Institute Professional Artist Certificate is one year (two consecutive semesters) as a full-time student. A full-time student is one who is enrolled for a minimum of nine graduate credits per term.