The Master of Music Degree is offered in: A. Performance (audition required); B. Conducting, Instrumental or Choral (audition required); C. Composition (entrance portfolio and interview required); and D. Collaborative Piano Performance (audition required).

Prerequisites for the Master of Music Degree

1. Bachelor’s Degree, including preparation equivalent to the Undergraduate Music Major.
2. Taking the department graduate placement examinations in Theory and History prior to first enrollment. Students failing the placement exams may repeat them once or complete the appropriate review coursework—MUS 500 Music Theory Review and/or MUS 501 Music History Review—with a grade of C or better.

MM-Conducting: Students will receive two formal aural skills assessments:

1. Each prospective conducting graduate student completes an audition by means of a rehearsal with a CSUN orchestra, choir, or concert band. During this rehearsal-style audition, the respective faculty member will assess the applicant’s skill at error detection of rhythm and pitch.
2. The Graduate placement exam given to all of our entering master’s students will include an added aural skills assessment for entering conducting students only. This written assessment will include a melodic and harmonic dictation analysis.

A student identified to be lacking in aural skills will receive remedial ear-training skills training from the applied conducting instructor as a component of applied lessons. At the conclusion of the first semester of studies, the graduate student will be re-tested using the assessment methods described above.

Admission Requirements for Classified Status

All graduate students in music are accepted to the program as conditionally classified. To achieve Classified status in the graduate program, the following are required:

1. Completion of University requirements for admission to Classified Graduate status.
2. Completion of any deficiencies that were determined by the Department of Music at the time of admission.
3. Completion of 12 units of graduate study applicable to the degree with the grade point average of 3.0 or better.
4. A satisfactory result on the Graduate Record Examination (required only if the student’s undergraduate grade point average is below 3.0)

For more information about requirements for admission, graduate classification, and requirements for graduation, please consult the Graduate Studies section of this Catalog.

Course Requirements

1. Required Courses (12 units)

MUS 601 Techniques of Research and Bibliography in Music (3)
MUS 604 Seminar in Music Analysis (3)
MUS 698 Thesis, Artistic Performance, or Graduate Project (3)

One class from the following (3):

MUS 603A Seminar in Renaissance Music (3)
MUS 603B Seminar in Baroque Music (3)
MUS 603C Seminar in Classical Music (3)
MUS 603D Seminar in Romantic Music (3)
MUS 603E Seminar in 20th Century Music (3)
MUS 692 A-Z Selected Topics in Music History (3)

Area of Concentration (Minimum of 18 units)

Conducting: Orchestral

MUS 404 Symphonic Literature (2)
MUS 605 Teaching Music in Higher Education (3)
MUS 660B Individual Conducting Lessons (2,2)
MUS 682 Graduate Symphonic Orchestra (1,1,1,1)
Electives to be chosen as approved by Area Coordinator and Music Department Graduate Advisor (5)

Conducting: Band/Wind Ensemble

MUS 405 Wind Literature (2)
MUS 605 Teaching Music in Higher Education (3)
MUS 660A Individual Conducting Lessons (1,1)
MUS 660B Individual Conducting Lessons (2,2)
MUS 696A Directed Research (1)
MUS 679 Graduate Wind Ensemble (1,1,1,1)
Electives to be chosen as approved by Area Coordinator and Music Department Graduate Advisor (2)

Conducting: Choral

MUS 565 Seminar in Advanced Instrumental Conducting (2)
MUS 566 Seminar in Advanced Choral Conducting (2)
MUS 605 Teaching Music in Higher Education (3)
MUS 660B Individual Conducting Lessons (2,2)
MUS 672 Graduate Northridge Singers (1,1,1,1)
Electives to be chosen as approved by Area Coordinator and Music Department Graduate Advisor (3)

Total Units Required for the M.M. Degree: 30

Additional Degree Requirements

MM Performance majors: Students will demonstrate their progress in the area of specialization before a faculty jury at the end of each semester of enrollment in individual study.

Capstone/Culminating Experience

MUS 698 (listed in the core requirements above) includes a comprehensive examination:

Each graduate student in the department of music is required to pass a comprehensive oral examination. The comprehensive examination committee, consisting of the student’s major professor and at least one additional faculty member, will administer the examination. The examination will be created and scheduled by the student’s major professor in consultation with the Area Coordinator, and will cover the student’s major field of study.

If the examination is not attempted or passed, the student will receive an RP (report in progress) in MUS 698, and may attempt the examination again during any of the subsequent three semesters.

Students may not take the comprehensive examination more than twice. Failure of the second attempt of the comprehensive examination will result in the student’s disqualification from the graduate program.