Music
Boost your music composition skills collaborate with artists, refine your portfolio, and excel in your career.
Music, Music Composition Specialization, M.M.
The Master of Music degree program with a music composition concentration is an advanced course of study for musicians holding a Bachelor's degree. The program provides students the opportunity to study their art in a thriving professional music school. The curriculum is grounded in studies of music theory and musicology while the program facilitates collaborations with accomplished musicians and artists all while allowing students to develop their portfolio in order to pursue a professional position or continue into doctoral studies after graduation. A Graduate teaching assistantship opportunity may be available to qualified students.
News Briefs
Tennessee native, composer models teaching style after MTSU professors
Growing up in a suburb just outside of Nashville, David Sartor was interested in music at a young age. It was a performance by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and Chorus when he was in middle school that ultimately led him to pursue a career in music. Since completing his master's degree at MTSU, Sartor has worked on films and videos, published nearly all of his compositions through his own publishing company, Metamorphic Music, composed for several musicians, and taught at the college-level, including at MTSU. "It's a fantastic life and with all that variety, it's always interesting!" Sartor said he models his teaching style after that of some of the professors he had at MTSU. "In my academic classes, I encountered professors who were extraordinary teachers. I model much of my teaching on their excellent examples. I truly feel it is the best music department in Tennessee. If composition is your passion, you could choose no finer institution than MTSU."
Award-winning international student says MTSU helped shape him
Daniel Bondaczuk came to the United States from São Paulo, Brazil, in 2014 to pursue his master's degree in composition at MTSU. "As a foreign student, MTSU shaped the way I relate to people in probably more ways than I am aware," he said. While attending MTSU, Bondaczuk said not only did he have the opportunity to expand his palette of tools to express his musical voice, but he was also allowed to put his skills into practice. Six months into working on his degree, Bondaczuk won two composition awards. "For students considering MTSU's composition program, I only have words of encouragement: you will be challenged, but you will also be supported. Always do your best and you will have a great chance in succeeding in this very competitive world that is music. Looking back at my years at MTSU, there's no other way I would have done it." Bondaczuk has worked with mainstream artists in Brazil. He is currently a music director at a Nashville-area church and does freelance work for Christian artists and publishers.
News Briefs
Tennessee native, composer models teaching style after MTSU professors
Growing up in a suburb just outside of Nashville, David Sartor was interested in music at a young age. It was a performance by the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and Chorus when he was in middle school that ultimately led him to pursue a career in music. Since completing his master's degree at MTSU, Sartor has worked on films and videos, published nearly all of his compositions through his own publishing company, Metamorphic Music, composed for several musicians, and taught at the college-level, including at MTSU. "It's a fantastic life and with all that variety, it's always interesting!" Sartor said he models his teaching style after that of some of the professors he had at MTSU. "In my academic classes, I encountered professors who were extraordinary teachers. I model much of my teaching on their excellent examples. I truly feel it is the best music department in Tennessee. If composition is your passion, you could choose no finer institution than MTSU."
Award-winning international student says MTSU helped shape him
Daniel Bondaczuk came to the United States from São Paulo, Brazil, in 2014 to pursue his master's degree in composition at MTSU. "As a foreign student, MTSU shaped the way I relate to people in probably more ways than I am aware," he said. While attending MTSU, Bondaczuk said not only did he have the opportunity to expand his palette of tools to express his musical voice, but he was also allowed to put his skills into practice. Six months into working on his degree, Bondaczuk won two composition awards. "For students considering MTSU's composition program, I only have words of encouragement: you will be challenged, but you will also be supported. Always do your best and you will have a great chance in succeeding in this very competitive world that is music. Looking back at my years at MTSU, there's no other way I would have done it." Bondaczuk has worked with mainstream artists in Brazil. He is currently a music director at a Nashville-area church and does freelance work for Christian artists and publishers.
Alumni from the School of Music teach thousands of students every day in private studios and schools from kindergarten through university levels. MTSU graduates perform in orchestras, military ensembles, and opera companies; appear in clubs and recording studios with the famous and yet-to-be-known; compose music for Hollywood films and commercial jingles; lead professional music organizations; work in the music industry; serve as church musicians; and continually enrich the lives of others. Some continue on to enter prestigious doctoral programs. A sample of potential professional pathways for music master's students:
- Artistic director
- Band director/leader
- Choral/choir director
- Church musician/worship leader
- College professor/instructor
- Conductor
- General music teacher at elementary/middle schools
- Music educator
- Music theater director
- Musical director
- Orchestra librarian
- Studio musician
Employers of MTSU alumni include
- Bellevue Middle School
- Belmont University
- Cane Ridge High School
- Case Western Reserve University
- Chattanooga Symphony
- Cumberland University
- The Downtown Band
- Earl Klugh (Grammy winner)
- EMBRA Artists, LTD.
- Fairview Middle School
- Jeff Coffin (Grammy winner)
- Jonathan Fletcher Music
- Lipscomb University
- MEINL Percussion
- Middle Tennessee State University
- Murfreesboro City Schools
- Nashville Philharmonic Orchestra
- Nashville State Community College
- Northeast Mississippi Community College
- Old Center Elementary School, Nashville
- Onks Woodwind Specialist
- Siegel Middle School
- Trevecca Nazarene University
- University of Louisiana-Lafayette
- University of Northern Colorado
- Vine Street Christian Church, Nashville
Brochures
General Application Procedures
- Submit through the University’s Application tool (button below):
- Submit application with the appropriate fee
- Submit official transcripts of all previous college work
- Submit three letters of recommendation.
- Email directly to the program coordinator of interested area
- Additional Requirements (video links, papers, compositions, etc)
- By the February 1 deadline
- Complete a Student Application (if interested) for a Graduate Teaching Assistantship
Additional application requirements:
- Master of Music – Composition – admissions portfolio
- Please submit three to five works, either by hard copy through the mail or electronically through web links or a download service (e.g., DropBox, GoogleDrive). The portfolio should demonstrate facility expected of an entering graduate student in music composition.
- Scores are required for works involving acoustic instruments and/or voice. The scores should demonstrate an understanding of proper notational practice (including handling of dynamics, articulations, etc.) and facility with issues of form, orchestration, counterpoint, etc. The faculty look for mastery of skills that should be mastered during a bachelors program in music composition and a good sense of musicality. Live recordings of these works are highly recommended.
- A student’s application may also include fixed media (e.g., electronically generated music, musique concrete). For those works, recordings and/or videos will suffice; scores would not be required.
Please submit scores and recordings to [email protected].
Resources
- Graduate Studies Information Sheet
- To Be Admitted
- Financial Assistance
- Music History Diagnostic Exam (Not applicable for Music Education concentration)
- Music Theory Diagnostic Exam (Not applicable for Music Education concentration)
Links
- Reference Forms
- Graduate Students in Music
- Ensembles
- Facilities
- Student Utilities
- Faculty by Field of Study
- Visiting Faculty
Libraries
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