Program highlights
- Learn from world-class musicians. Graduate music composition degree courses are taught by full-time faculty – highly-esteemed, well-connected and dedicated to excellence and innovation. Celebrated guest composers are also frequently invited for performances, lectures and private lessons.
- Personalized instruction. Class sizes are intentionally small. Graduate students receive a weekly private lesson and attend a bi-weekly seminar.
- Pick your career path. You can tailor your course of study in the BGSU Master of Music degree program to best suit your goals, strengths, preferred genres, industries and roles.
- Tap into the latest tech. The College of Musical Arts – one of the best colleges for music composition – has 70 practice rooms, fully-furnished computer labs and a cutting edge Electroacoustic Studio. Bring your compositions to life with high-quality recordings and performances. Explore analog and digital audio techniques, computer music programming and experimental audio/animations. Many BGSU concerts incorporate real-time interactive performance systems, video art and multimedia.
- Seize moments to shine. Showcase your growing skills at ongoing special events, concerts, residencies and reading sessions. Student-composed works are frequently performed at national and international conferences and festivals, as well as on campus in Student Composer Forums in our 822-seat concert hall or 221-seat recital hall.
The College of Musical Arts presents 350+ public events annually and is a major cultural resource for the campus and northwest Ohio.
Admission information
Admission to the master’s in music composition degree program is competitive, requiring:
- An audition/interview
- Three letters of recommendation
- A professional resume
- 3-4 original scores of your best work
Prospective students will need to apply/interview and upload their portfolio to the Graduate College.
Career opportunities
Whether you aspire to compose for film, teach at the collegiate level or create concert music, this advanced music composition degree equips you with the skills, knowledge and connections to help you achieve your dreams.
Graduate students researching the best colleges for music composition choose BGSU for the many doors it opens to elite opportunities. Earning an M.M. music composition degree demonstrates expertise and commitment to the craft. Alumni have heightened visibility and impressive portfolios – greatly appealing to future collaborators and employers.
Career paths
- Musical director
- Music composer
- Music professor/teacher
- Music arranger/editor
- Sound designer/sound engineer
- Music producer
Quick Facts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Curriculum
Students must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA while they learn 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
Students will study music bibliography and research while acquiring practical experience in development of writing skills. (Placement exams are required for Music History/Literature and Music Theory at the start of the program.)
Limited enrollment private composition lessons are taken every semester. Elective studies include contemporary music literature, music technology, advanced structural analysis, music theory, music theory pedagogy and ethnomusicology. Non-composition electives include applied music and/or ensembles.
Capstone project
Students will complete an oral defense of the thesis composition. Performance of the thesis composition may stand in lieu of a defense.
Sample courses
- Music Technology I, II, III and IV
- 20th-Century Analysis Seminar
- Advanced Structural Analysis
- Post-Tonal Analysis
- Seminar in Music Theory
- Symphonic Literature
- Critical Approaches to Ethnomusicology
- Thesis Research/Portfolio
The Master of Music in music composition is a program in the College of Musical Arts.
Updated: 10/15/2024 12:52PM