Program Overview

Music Theory Master's

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Program Details

• Program type: Master of Arts (M.A.)
• Major: Music Theory
• Format: On Campus
• Estimated time to complete: 2-3 years
• Credit Hours: 36

Program Description

The graduate programs in music theory offer comprehensive professional training in one of the nation’s largest colleges of music. Advanced classroom and online instruction in theory and analysis along with one-on-one advising and a multitude of teaching opportunities prepares students for careers as scholars and professors.

Why Earn a Degree in Music Theory?

You'll be taught by faculty members who've garnered national and international recognition for their research. Our comprehensive curriculum exposes you to:

• Analytical techniques covering the entire history of Western music practice.
• Applied studies in contrapuntal composition.
• History of music theory with direct study of treatises.
• Music theory pedagogy with on-site involvement in class instruction.
• Special focus seminars on music and psychoanalysis, semiotics, transformational theory, post-tonal theory and others.

Marketable Skills

• Instruction of musical skills
• Music copying and transcribing
• Public event management assistance
• Book/journal editing
• Advanced data collection and analysis

Music Theory Master's Highlights

• UNT is home to the Center of Schenkerian Studies, which boasts a rich collection of unpublished papers and analyses by Schenkerians ripe for discovery and research.
• The entire division continues to evolve with growing interest in various fields, most recently in Czech and Central European music, jazz theory and pop-music analysis, to name a few.
• International study abroad programs can provide you with an array of learning experiences. We collaborate with institutions and scholars in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America for these opportunities.
• The Graduate Association of Musicologists und Theorists (GAMuT) is an active group of graduate students who organize an annual academic conference, publish Harmonia and host regular professional development meetings, faculty and student research presentations and social gatherings.
• Positions as teaching fellows and teaching assistants are available and allow you to gain hands-on experience. Teaching fellows usually teach two classes a week, while teaching assistants contribute to a class taught by a professor through technical management or lab-teaching and review.

What Can You Do With A Degree in Music Theory?

Many of our graduates have successful careers as professors or lecturers at colleges and universities in Texas, the U.S. and abroad. Others work with music publishers or in large research libraries.

Music Theory Master's Courses You Could Take

• World Music Analysis (3 hrs)
• Music Cultures of the World (3 hrs)
• Pedagogy of Theory (3 hrs)
• Advanced Schenkerian Analysis (3 hrs)
• Analytical Techniques for Popular Music (3 hrs)