Apr 02, 2025  
2024-2025 Graduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Graduate Catalog

Music History, M.M.


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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 Masters degree, students in the Ethnomusicology, Musicology, and Theory program are expected to be able to:

  • Discuss major works, people, and trends in scholarship within their discipline.
  • Classify unknown musical works in terms of style, genre, chronology, and geographic origin.
  • Evaluate and interpret music, musical performances, music’s socio-cultural and historical contexts, and existing music scholarship.
  • Formulate original research questions and select methodologies and/or analytical techniques appropriate to produce scholarship that is historically, culturally, and theoretically grounded.
  • Construct presentations that prioritize and effectively communicate key information and integrate emergent pedagogical skills.

Admission Requirements

Application Deadline is August 1 for Fall and December 1 for Spring. 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
  • Writing Sample (History applicants must submit no more than two or three in-depth undergraduate papers)

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

Curriculum Requirements


Electives (21 credits)


Other Requirements


Student must take placement examinations in Music History/Literature and Music Theory as they begin their program. Those who do not pass one or more portions are permitted to retest during the first semester of residence. If the re-test is not passed, student must take the appropriate remedial courses, depending on the exam and the score. NOTE: Remedial courses listed here may not be used to satisfy degree requirements, except in the case of MUCT 6080 and MUCT 6120.

1. Music Theory Placement Exam - Pass 1 Exam or select 1 from the following remedial courses:

2. Music History/Literature Exams - Pass 2 Exams or select 2 from the following remedial courses:

Culminating Experience (3 credits)


Each Music History is required to take a comprehensive exam.

Minimum Total Credits (30 credits)


Additional Requirements


  • Minimum of 3 credits of 6990 required for Plan I master’s students.  Maximum of 6 credits may be applied toward degree requirements. 
  • Minimum 3.0 graduate cumulative grade point average
  • Minimum of 18 credits must be at the 6000-level or higher
  • Minimum of  24 credits must be earned at BGSU
  • All requirements must be completed within six years from the end of the earliest course used to fulfill degree requirements.

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