Program Overview

Master of Music, Music Education—Conducting Specialization

The Master of Music (M.M.), Music Education – Conducting Specialization is an exclusive distance learning degree. The program features the annual Summer Conducting Seminar, the residency portion of the degree, with additional courses offered online during the school year.

Overview

Classes are designed for current middle school and high school choir, band, and orchestra directors who seek to further their personal knowledge and conducting skills while earning a master’s degree, completing most of their coursework in three summers.

Program Description

Students enrolled in the program will receive well-rounded experience in conducting and further specialized training for the twenty-first century music educator. The degree is designed to be completed over a span of three summers with a minimum of 30 total credits; several online and/or evening courses are required during the school year. Students have the option, therefore, of living remotely during the school year and traveling to Fort Collins for the core summer coursework.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

1. Develop the skill, intellect, and musicianship necessary among those who wish to become the next generation of leaders in the field of Music Education.
2. Develop a method of score study to help in all educational and professional settings.
3. Develop the skills necessary to lead ensembles in all three disciplines (band, orchestra, and choir) of all levels with best-practice rehearsal strategies and methodology.
4. Conduct repertoire in all three disciplines (band, orchestra, and choir) of varying difficulty levels, spanning many genres and time periods.
5. Integrate best-practice rehearsal strategies with sound conducting technique into the secondary school music classroom and/or community/professional ensemble, to inform instruction with conducting gestures.
6. Develop the ability to think abstractly, analyze complex ideas or phenomena, synthesize or generalize knowledge across disciplines and sub-disciplines, interpret and apply scholarly findings to specialized topic areas, and communicate ideas effectively in both oral and written forms.
7. Develop an awareness of substantive publications in the field of music education and the field of education as a whole.
8. Define national trends in music education that impact K-12 educational settings.
9. Describe the contemporary role that curriculum and assessment design plays in the teaching-learning process.

Admission

For information about the admissions processes to the Graduate School and School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, students interested in graduate work should refer to the Graduate and Professional Bulletin.

Course List

The following courses are required for the program:

• MU 510: Foundations of Music Education (3 credits)
• MU 518: Post-Tonal Analytic Techniques (3 credits)
• MU 527A: Conducting Seminar: Level I (4 credits)
• MU 527B: Conducting Seminar: Level 2 (4 credits)
• MU 527C: Conducting Seminar: Level 3 (4 credits)
• MU 534: Music of the Romantic Era (3 credits)
• MU 630: Methods of Music Research (3 credits)
• MU 695B: Independent Study: Conducting (2 credits)
• Electives (3 credits)
• MU 671: Graduate Recital (1 credit)

Program Requirements

A minimum of 30 credits are required to complete this program.

Summary of Procedures for the Master's and Doctoral Degrees

The following steps outline the procedures for the Master's and Doctoral degrees:

1. Application for admission (online) - Six months before first registration
2. Diagnostic examination when required - Before first registration
3. Appointment of advisor - Before first registration
4. Selection of graduate committee - Before the time of fourth regular semester registration
5. Filing of program of study (GS Form 6) - Before the time of fourth regular semester registration
6. Preliminary examination (Ph.D. and PD) - Two terms prior to final examination
7. Report of preliminary examination (GS Form 16) - (Ph.D. and PD) - Within two working days after results are known
8. Changes in committee (GS Form 9A) - When change is made
9. Application for Graduation (GS Form 25) - Refer to published deadlines from the Graduate School Website
10. Submit thesis or dissertation to committee - At least two weeks prior to the examination or at the discretion of the graduate committee
11. Final examination - Refer to published deadlines from the Graduate School Website
12. Report of final examination (GS Form 24) - Within two working days after results are known; refer to published deadlines from the Graduate School website
13. Submit a signed Thesis/Dissertation Submission Form (GS Form 30) to the Graduate School and Submit the Survey of Earned Doctorates (Ph.D. only) prior to submitting the electronic thesis/dissertation - Refer to published deadlines from the Graduate School website
14. Submit the thesis/dissertation electronically - Refer to published deadlines from the Graduate School website
15. Graduation - Ceremony information is available from the Graduate School website