Program Overview
College of Performing and Visual Arts
General Master's Degree Admission Requirements
View delivery options, start terms and admission requirements.
Interim Director: Melissa Malde, D.M.A.
Interim Associate Director: Carissa Reddick, Ph.D.
Location: Frasier Hall 108
Telephone: 970-351-2993
Website: arts.unco.edu/music/
Graduate Coordinator: Carissa Reddick, Ph.D.
Each new student entering a graduate program in music at the University of Northern Colorado is required to take graduate advisory examinations in Music History and writing skills, and placement examinations in Music Theory and Aural Skills, and the student’s major area. For students entering the Music Education degree, the major area will be Music Education. Graduate students who do not pass the theory placement exam must enroll in MUS 401. Graduate students who do not pass the aural skills placement exam must enroll in MUS 402. All students must either pass the theory and aural skills exam OR pass MUS 401 and/or MUS 402 with a grade of C or better before they can enroll in graduate-level theory classes or graduate from their programs.
The degree program seeks to assist graduate candidates in developing advanced professional competencies in performance, scholarly abilities, research, and pedagogical techniques for use in the profession or for instruction in higher education.
Residency, when stated in the music section of this Catalog, is interpreted to mean 9 credit hours or more per semester.
Proficiency in diction and translation of two standard foreign languages (selected from French, German and Italian) will be examined upon entry. Candidates with deficiencies will meet with their major advisor and other appropriate faculty to determine the best way to remedy those deficiencies.
Degree Requirements — 33 Credits
Required Concentration Credits — 33 credits
| MUS 509 | Electronic Music | 3 |
| MUS 600 | Introduction to Musical Scholarship | 2 |
| MUS 603 | Analytical Studies in Music | 3 |
| MUS 677 | Individual Instruction in Composition | 2 |
| MUS 699 | Thesis | 1- 6 |
| Music Performing Organization and/or Individual Performance | 2 |
| Music History | 6 |
MUS 677: Take 8 credits
MUS 699: Take 6 credits (or original composition)
Choose 1 of the following courses — 3 credits
| MUS 651 | Seminar in Music History: Late Romanticism to 1945 | 3 |
| MUS 652 | Seminar in Music History: 1945 to the Present | 3 |
Program Notes
Studies in Music History will be selected by advisement based upon candidate's needs identified through advisory examination.
Note: MUS 502 and MUS 503 may be required if advisory examinations indicate that these courses will significantly increase the strength of Master of Music candidates in Theory and Composition.
Students who are able to prove their competency in any of the required courses listed above may substitute electives chosen in consultation with the advisor.
Master of Music candidates will present a recital of their compositions written as part of their degree program.
In addition to the Music, M.M. requirements above, Theory and Composition candidates must submit examples of works composed, supported if possible by recordings.
This concentration requires that the student has completed a Bachelor’s degree in music.