68 Master Programs in Music in USA for 2024

You’re ready to take a deep dive academically and artistically in this two-year Master of Music program. Longy's innovative Catalyst Curriculum pairs musical excellence with a focus on the skills you’ll need to become a professional musician: the ability to design experiences, produce projects, and engage audiences with exceptional musical encounters. Dedicated career coaching will help guide your studies and prepare you for what comes after graduation.

The School of Music offers a Master of Music degree with concentration options in composition, conducting, music education, and performance. The program seeks to provide an opportunity for the highest level of musical development and professional training for each student, appropriate for careers in teaching, performance, and composition of music. Conducting majors will undertake a comprehensive study of the literature of their medium, develop advanced insights into the musical ideas and structure of the major works, and refine their conducting and rehearsal skills.

Awaken the music inside everyone. Your knowledge, experience, and passion can inspire the next generation of artists and performers.

The Master of Music program is designed for the student who has a bachelor’s degree in music or its demonstrated equivalent and provides further education in four different areas (see below).

Students in the MA in Music have the unique opportunity to study broadly across five exciting sub-disciplines--composition, conducting, ethnomusicology, musicology, and theory--while receiving a focused training in one of them.

The Humanities Graduate Program provides post-baccalaureate students the opportunity to study the traditional humanities fields--philosophy, literature, history, music, and art--in the context of contemporary interdisciplinary topics, as well as in courses devoted to the methodology and current concerns of specific disciplines. Courses enable the critical evaluation of the visual and performing arts, as well as the ideas, cultures and individuals which have shaped our society. Program courses are designed around the theme of the city. Skills in advanced writing, research, and presentation are exercised in seminars and in a final research or creative project.

The MA in Sound Design provides students with focused studio training in sound design, digital audio workstations, and industry standard practices in creating sonic worlds for visual media. Emphasis is placed on creative sound design techniques, and editorial practices in layering sounds in synchronization with visual media.

The Vocal Performance major focuses on giving vocalists the tools to ‘get to the music’ as full partners with great instrumentalists and producers. The program is form-fitted to the passions of each student and presents them with opportunities to gain feedback from professionals in A&R, recording, film & television and live touring.

Opera Birmingham and Samford University have joined to create the Opera Birmingham Studio at Samford University. This two-year program allows singers to enroll in Samford University’s graduate vocal performance program while simultaneously receiving professional performance opportunities throughout Opera Birmingham’s season.

The University of Kentucky School of Music is internationally recognized for excellence in performance, music education and research in music. For over 100 years, the School has helped musicians prepare for careers as performers, educators, researchers, and a wide array of leadership positions both in and outside of the field of music. More than 400 students benefit from world-class teaching and the broad academic offerings of a major university. Students have abundant opportunities to participate in prestigious ensembles – from orchestras to choirs to the Wildcat Marching Band – that perform throughout the U.S. and the world.

In the School of Music, performers, educators, scholars, and creators of music collaborate to achieve the highest levels of artistry while engaging local, regional, and global communities. We provide opportunities for significant musical growth through ensembles, private study, and academic music courses, while offering cultural enrichment to the broader community. In addition, we support and collaborate with music educators and other professional musicians.

Any music school can make you a better player. Our interconnected courses are built to transform you intellectually, artistically, professionally, and individually. You’ll understand the roots of your music, freeing you to take it somewhere new. You’ll see how your training broadens your options, rather than narrowing them. You'll find your voice. And you'll enter the world with the same confidence you bring to the stage.

The program leading to the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts provides students with the highest level of professional training in the art of musical performance or the craft of musical composition. To this end, applied study in the major field is supported by extensive academic work with musicology and music theory. The Doctor of Musical Arts degree certifies that its holder is a sophisticated professional with the requisite skills and understanding to be an effective leader in his or her field.

A master's degree in music education is a graduate-level degree program that prepares students for a career as a music teacher. These degrees often focus on developing the musical knowledge of students while also giving them the tools to convey their knowledge to their own studentsThe Master of Music degree is an advanced two-year full-time course of study for students who have completed an undergraduate degree. The program is focused primarily on professional training and the refinement of musical craft.

To serve in the music ministry of Southern Baptist churches and denominational agencies or institutions, or to serve as missionaries. The curriculum of this degree requires 49 hours and includes the courses listed below. Students must have a cumulative grade point average of “B” or above in all graduate music courses in order to graduate.