Master of Arts - Music

The Master of Arts program provides advanced study for musicians and music scholars in preparation of professional careers or doctoral study. The program in music includes a required core of studies in performance, history and theory. Emphases in various areas of music are dependent on the specific needs and objectives of each student. Within this degree, students may consider using at least 10 elective credits to emphasize.

Students emphasizing music education generally enroll in elective courses in music education, along with other areas of interest, which may include conducting, applied lessons, ensembles, and/or other music education-related courses. Students with a music education emphasis generally elect the research thesis on a music education-related topic as their capstone. This emphasis deepens students’ knowledge and skills to prepare them for expanded teaching practice in the profession or advanced doctoral study in music education.

MASTER OF ARTS IN MUSIC ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS:

• Minimum overall grade-point average required is 2.75. Minimum major grade-point average required is also 2.75.
• All graduate students in music must take written diagnostic exams in music history and theory before the end of the registration period of their first semester of study and prior to admission to regular graduate status.
• Three letters of reference are to be submitted from professional sources (i.e., former professor/mentor, private teacher, etc.).
• All students pursuing a master's degree in music must have, at the undergraduate level, music courses equivalent to those required in an appropriate undergraduate degree program at Radford University.
• All students entering the M.A. (Music) program, which requires at least two hours of graduate level applied study, must also present an entrance audition in their applied performance area for placement purposes.