Master of Music (M.M.)

The Master of Music degree (M.M.) offers exceptional advanced training for performers, educators, composers, and scholars. As a Master’s student in the Dana School of Music (DSM), you’ll receive individualized instruction that focuses on your professional development and unique career goals. You’ll work with our internationally recognized faculty to develop advanced competencies and have opportunities to diversify your portfolio with elective courses and specializations across other areas that are relevant to your field. Our M.M. degree will further your success, no matter where your aspirations lie.

DSM offers M.M. programs in Performance, Education (100% web-based), Composition, and Jazz Studies. Performance and Jazz Studies degrees include four semesters of studio instruction on either an instrument or voice. The intensive applied curriculum provides students with skills they will use throughout their professional careers and culminates in a public solo recital. The M.M. in Composition and Education (a fully online program) culminate in original compositions and a capstone project, respectively.

 

Performance Opportunities Abound

 

 

 

 

Graduate Assistantships

Graduate merit-based awards include graduate assistantships and fellowships and are highly competitive. These positions cover tuition costs and provide a cash stipend and enable students to gain invaluable experience teaching or performing other duties within their department. You’ll find more information about these and other graduate financial aid programs on the YSU Graduate College website or by calling 330-941-3091.

 

Take the First Steps Toward a M.M. in DSM

To learn more about our programs and DSM admissions processes or to schedule a visit to campus, contact Cliffe College Program Coordinator of Admissions and Recruitment at sawaltman@ysu.edu or 330-941-2346. Explore the opportunities!

 

Areas of STudy

• Online Music Education

  The fully online M.M. in Music Education enables music educators from across the country to continue teaching while they earn a Master’s degree. The program may be completed within 3 semesters, including summers, or as the student’s schedule allows. Skills honed throughout the degree may be applied to either the immediate improvement of practical skills or further graduate work

• Music Composition

  The M.M. in Composition offers advanced individualized instruction that focuses on the professional development and unique career goals of each student. Students work closely with the Composition faculty to develop skills they will use throughout their professional careers and that support their development as artists and have the opportunity to take courses that ensure they are prepared for the variety of media in which contemporary composers work (e.g., concert stage, film, musical theatre, video games, advertising, internet, arranging). They have numerous chances to have their music performed, compose for the school’s marquee ensembles, and premiere their works in venues throughout the region. Our degree helps students define future professional goals and equips them with versatile skills for a successful career.

• Jazz Studies

  Before entering the program, you will audition on your principal instrument, submit evidence of compositional and arranging activity, show your ability with scholarly writing and interview. Once you begin the program, courses will be a combination of jazz studies, research, music theory, music history, ensembles and a thesis project.

  Curriculum

• Music Performance

  The M.M. in Music Performance offers exceptional opportunities for solo and collaborative performance, scholarship, and pedagogy and also provides avenues for students to diversify their studies. World-class faculty provide advanced training that supports our students’ development as artists and teachers. Our degree helps students define future goals and equips them with diverse expertise (JOE - or experiences) as contemporary artists prepared for successful careers in multiple contexts. Programs of focus include Brass, Conducting, Percussion, Piano, Strings, Voice, and Woodwinds.