Music

The Master of Music option in Collaborative Piano Performance provides structured training and performance experience for pianists who want to pursue careers as collaborative artists. Applied study is a balanced exposure to both the vocal (art songs and opera arias) and instrumental (duo sonatas and concerti) collaborative repertoire.

A. Application Requirements for the Collaborative Piano Performance Option

1. Bachelor of Music degree with a major in piano, collaborative keyboard or equivalent background as determined by the keyboard area faculty.
2. Entrance audition required. See Collaborative Piano Audition Requirements.
3. 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.
4. Knowledge of IPA (international phonetic alphabets) or training in Italian, German and French languages must be evidenced by previous coursework or can be satisfied by a diction placement exam during the first week of the Fall semester. The diction requirement is a prerequisite for classified status.

B. 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.

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

C. Course Requirements

1. Required Courses (12 units)

One class from the following (3 units):

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)
MUS603J Seminar in Jazz History and Cultures (3) (Required for Jazz Concentration)
MUS 692A-Z Selected Topics in Music History (3)

2. Area of Concentration—Collaborative Piano Performance (Minimum of 19 units)

MUS 401 Opera Literature (2)
MUS 403 Vocal Literature (2)
MUS 650B Individual Lessons (2,2,2,2)
MUS 676 Collaborative Keyboard Practicum (1,1,1,1)
MUS 678A/L Graduate Piano Pedagogy Resources and Practicum and Lab (1/1)
MUS 687 Chamber Music Techniques (1)

3. Culminating Experience

MUS 698 (listed in the core requirements above) includes an oral comprehensive review:

Each graduate student in the Department of Music is required to pass an oral comprehensive review that allows the committee to evaluate their artistic abilities and research skills. The graduate project committee, consisting of the student’s major professor and at least one additional faculty member, will administer the oral comprehensive review. The oral review will be created and scheduled by the student’s major professor in consultation with the area coordinator, and it will cover the student’s major field of study.

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

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

D. Additional Degree Requirements

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.

Total Units Required for the M.M. Degree: 31

For more information about this program, please contact tali.tadmor@csun.edu.