Total Program: 30 Hours
Graduate Recital
The recital, for which 3 credits are earned, is required in the performance-major program and may be considered for one of the approved electives in the music education program. The recital must consist of 40-60 minutes of music based on studies in Principal Applied. Each recital must be approved in a hearing at least two weeks prior to the performance. The student and accompanist are expected to demonstrate a concert-ready level of performance on all selections, as determined by a majority vote of three or more music faculty members. The performance of the recital is evaluated by the student’s graduate faculty committee. A principal-applied voice recital must include works sung in English, French, German, and Italian.
Ensemble Requirements
Each graduate student majoring in Performance must participate in a conducted or coached ensemble for a total of 2 credit hours, usually for one credit per semester. The ensemble requirement may be satisfied by participation in any approved graduate instrumental and/or vocal ensemble. The ensemble must meet a minimum of one hour per week with a faculty member and culminate in public performance. The ensemble experience must be in the principal-applied area.
Approved Electives
All Master of Music degree programs require approved elective courses at or above the 5000 level, which must be selected in consultation with the student’s advisor and/or the Head of Graduate Studies. Students may elect to take courses related to their major area of study or other approved supportive courses.
Repeating Courses
Graduate music students may repeat a course with all grades calculated in the cumulative GPA. The course number and name must be the same as the previous course. Note: MUSC 6210 - Music History and Literature and MUSC 6184 - Seminar in Music Education may be repeated as an elective if the course has a different topic.
Application for Graduation and The Faculty Committee
The graduate music student must apply for graduation one semester prior to the proposed graduation semester. This is done through the Student Services tab within the student’s MyUWG account. The Faculty Committee consists of music faculty evaluating student comprehensive final exams.
Comprehensive Final Examination
A comprehensive final examination (CFE) is administered during the final semester of study to all candidates seeking a Master of Music degree. The examination is designed to help determine the student’s ability to synthesize a broad body of knowledge gained through graduate study. Students may be asked questions of a practical, theoretical, or historical nature as well as specific and general questions relating to the plan of study.
At least three months before the semester of graduation, the MM in music education student should talk to the Head of Graduate Studies (HGS) and their advisors about taking the CFE.
The CFE for MM in Music Education candidates consists of questions about student coursework. It is administered as a proctored, three-hour written essay examination of approximately 2000 words. If a student has chosen the thesis-track, their thesis-defense counts as their CFE and they do not need to take the proctored essay exam.
The CFE is scheduled near the beginning of each term. Approximately three months before the exam, students who have talked to the HGS will receive prompts for CFE topics. No later than two months before the exam date students should make arrangements to take the exam at UWG (in person or virtually) or at a testing center near their residence, copying in the HGS.
In preparation for the exam, students are invited to contact their instructors of record to ask any questions that might aid their preparation for the exam; they may also consult with the HGS. On the date of the exam, students will write their responses (approximately 2000 words total) and electronically submit them to the testing center by the end of the exam: students may use books and notes during the exam and should appropriately cite any information or prose borrowed from another source.
Upon receiving the candidate’s exam, three graduate faculty from the Music Program will review it and provide feedback to the candidate. Provided that the feedback is positive, a 30-minute review of the student’s exam will be scheduled with a designated music faculty member. If the exam does not meet passing criteria, the student should arrange for a rescheduled exam to be taken at least a month before the end of the term if they still wish to graduate that term. Students in the MM Music Education program may take the CFE a total of three times.
Thesis Option
Students in the Master of Music program who plan to pursue additional graduate study may wish to consider selecting the Thesis Option as part of their degree requirements. The completion of a Master’s Thesis is documentation of one’s scholarship and generally is considered to indicate expertise in a given area of study. Students pursuing the thesis option may register for 3, 6, or 9 hours of credit in MUSC 6999 - Thesis in Music , as approved electives.
Prior to selecting the Thesis Option, the student must establish his or her graduate faculty committee. The student will work with the committee to develop a thesis topic proposal and complete the thesis document under the direct guidance of the committee chairperson. It is expected that the manuscript will demonstrate high standards of scholarship. Once the topic has been chosen, a formal proposal is prepared. The proposal, when fully developed, must be approved by the candidate’s committee. During the research and writing of the thesis document, the candidate is advised to consult regularly with the major professor and the other members of the committee. Following approval of the committee, the document must be defended orally.
Graduate Assistantships
Graduate Assistantships and Graduate Research Assistantships in Music are available on a competitive basis to qualified residential graduate students. Both in-state tuition and out-of-state tuition are waived for qualified Graduate Research Assistants.
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