M.A. in Music

The Master of Arts in Music is a 32-unit graduate degree completed over 4 semesters of full-time study. It joins a shared seminar core, in analysis and post-tonal practice, the history and theory of jazz, advanced conducting, interdisciplinary collaboration, entrepreneurship in the arts, the social and ecological dimensions of music, and teaching music in higher education, with private study and ensemble work in your area of emphasis. The degree ends in a public capstone and a comprehensive examination.

Areas of emphasis

You declare one area of emphasis when you’re admitted.

• Performance (Classical or Jazz) is applied study and ensemble work on your instrument or voice, in either the classical or the jazz track, and ends in a public capstone recital.
• Choral Conducting is advanced conducting study and podium work with the Department’s choral ensembles, and ends in a capstone conducting performance.
• Composition is the creation of a body of original acoustic and electroacoustic work, and ends in a public capstone lecture on your portfolio.

The degree at a glance

The comprehensive examination is a degree requirement and carries no units.

A typical path

The standard sequence runs 8 units a semester across 4 semesters. Applied study and ensemble recur every semester, and the capstone begins in the second.

Applied lessons (MUS 661–668) are taken at the graduate Level 6, and an ensemble runs concurrently each term.

The full M.A. roadmap is in the graduate handbook, along with the FAST 4+1 and FAST 2+1 transfer roadmaps for students coming from the B.A.

Capstone and comprehensive examination

The degree ends in two culminating requirements. The capstone (MUS 693) is the public event at the end of your applied study: a recital for performers, a conducting performance for choral conducting students, or a public lecture for composers, with a written paper alongside. The comprehensive examination is oral, taken in your final semester before the area faculty and the Graduate Coordinator, and covers your area of emphasis and the seminar core.

Advancement to candidacy and graduation

You advance to candidacy once you’ve completed 2 units from MUS 601 or MUS 602, 2 units from MUS 604, MUS 605, or MUS 631, 4 units of applied music, and 2 units of ensemble, with a GPA of at least 3.0. On the standard sequence that’s the end of the first year, and advancement must be on record before your final semester.

To graduate, you complete the 32 units with a GPA of at least 3.0 and a grade of C or better in every course counted toward the degree, along with the capstone and the comprehensive examination. Units counted toward the degree must be earned within five years of its conferral.

How to apply

A bachelor’s degree in music is the usual preparation, and applications without one are read case by case. You need good academic standing at your most recent college or university.

Apply through Cal State Apply and choose the M.A. in Music. The Department asks for a CV or résumé, 2 letters of recommendation, a 2-page statement of purpose, and evidence of your abilities in your area of emphasis, all set out under M.A. in Music on the How to Apply page. Your application audition is also your applied placement, and there’s no separate placement audition.

Already in the B.A. at East Bay

Current B.A. in Music students can apply to the FAST 4+1 B.A./M.A. and complete both degrees in 5 years, with up to 11 units counting toward both. Students who entered the B.A. as transfers with the Music ADT follow the FAST 2+1 path and complete both degrees in 3 years. Music must be your only major, and second-bachelor’s students aren’t eligible.

Music education certificate

Admission to the M.A. makes you automatically eligible for the Single Subject Matter Preparation Certificate in Music, which you can complete alongside the degree. The certificate covers the coursework that prepares you to apply for the California Single Subject Teaching Credential in Music. It doesn’t confer the credential.

After the degree

Graduates continue as performers, conductors, and composers, teach privately and at the college level, and go on to doctoral study.

Scholarships and teaching appointments

Several scholarships are open to graduate students. Recipients are selected from the materials in your application, and there’s no separate scholarship application. The program also offers Graduate Teaching Associate and Instructional Student Assistant appointments.

Advising

Every graduate student works with the Graduate Coordinator to plan the sequence. Questions go to the Graduate Coordinator, Inés Thiebaut, at ines.thiebaut@csueastbay.edu.

The Department is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM).