E-mail: musicgraduate@bgsu.edu
The Master of Music degree program is designed to prepare musicians to practice their specialization in the changing environment of current American music culture. The program encompasses eleven emphases: music composition, music education, music history, ethnomusicology, music performance, collaborative piano, conducting, jazz studies, piano pedagogy, vocal pedagogy, and music theory.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the graduate degree, students in Music Composition are expected to be able to:
- Create original musical compositions reflecting the technical skills necessary to realize their ideas.
- Assess strengths and weaknesses in their own writing, and revise their work accordingly.
- Integrate new ideas into their writing and synthesize them into an original statement.
- Relate salient aspects of their own and others’ works to larger historical, formal, stylistic, cultural, and/or aesthetic contexts.
- Listen critically to and speak critically of contemporary compositions.
- Explain their ideas to performers, colleagues, and audiences.
Admission Requirements
Funding deadline is March 1. Since application reviews may begin immediately after the deadline, we recommend submitting your application and providing all required documents before the deadline.
Additional documents required:
- Three Letters of Recommendation
- Professional Resume
- Portfolio - Submit three or four original scores of their best works for review by the composition faculty through the Portfolio in the application.
Audition/Interview required:
- Domestic applicants must select an audition/Interview date under the Secondary Music Application tab
- International applicants must submit either a recorded videos/papers/scores online* OR select an audition/Interview date under the Secondary Music Application tab
*under the Portfolio section, if available in this application, or on your Application Status Page after you submit your application
International applicants are required to submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or the Pearson Test of English Academic (PTEA). Successful completion of ELS 112 will also be accepted for this requirement.
Additionally, Duolingo test scores will be accepted for applications through Summer 2025. Applicants of the Graduate College who have completed a previous degree (associate, bachelor’s master’s or doctorate) from a U.S. college/university or are from a country (click here for a complete list) in which instruction was delivered in English (and attended the university for at least two years) are exempt from providing these test scores.
Application Requirements
Admissions Categories and Grade Point Average Requirements
International Application Information
Degree Requirements
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