Course Requirements
A minimum of 48 quarter hours of graduate credit is required for the Master of Music degree. This total is divided between the basic studies required of all master’s degree students, and courses in the specialization.
Music Performance Core (16 credits)
Specializations
Brass Specialization (30 credits)
Guitar Specialization (28 credits)
Percussion Specialization (26 credits)
Piano Specialization (28 credits)
Strings Specialization (28 credits)
Voice Specialization (30 credits)
Woodwinds Specialization (30 credits)
Terminal Requirements
Two terminal requirements are required of all students:
- A written comprehensive examination, in which the students must demonstrate a satisfactory knowledge of their major field of study. The comprehensive examination may be taken at any time after 32 quarter hours of graduate credit have been earned.
- The presentation of a public recital.
While preparation of the terminal requirement in the major may take place within some course or activity for which a student is registered for credit, additional academic credit is not granted for the project itself.
Residency Requirements
All courses for the master’s degree must be taken at DePaul University. Graduate credit for courses completed at other institutions may not be applied toward the degree.
To retain full-time status, a graduate student must be registered for a minimum of six quarter hours in any term. All requirements for the degree must be completed within six calendar years from the time a student is first enrolled. For students removing deficiencies, this period will begin when all deficiencies are removed and admission to the master’s degree program has been granted.
MUS 408
ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES
(4 credits) Investigation of various analytical approaches to music syntax, structure, style and texture (including timbral and vocal or instrumental configurations) as exhibited in representative compositions from many historical periods.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.COM 405
GRADUATE ANALYTICAL STUDIES
(4 credits) The study and practice of specific analytical techniques as related to specific works from the common practice period through the present day.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.JZZ 405
JAZZ HISTORY
This course will be centered around study of the bebop period, which is the foundation of modern jazz. The swing era will be studied, which is the period immediately preceding bebop, to understand the reasons bebop came about. The substyles that developed after the bebop period are called the cool school and the hard bop periods. The reasons theses periods came about will also be discussed. With regard to these periods, significant recordings, musicians, and style development will be discussed.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.JZZ 406
JAZZ STYLE AND ANALYSIS
At the completion of this course, students will demonstrate a theoretical and aural understanding of the process of jazz improvisation, including song forms and structures, chord/scale relationships, chord notation and phrasing; transcribe, analyze, and perform select solo jazz improvisations by recorded jazz artists; have made two class presentations that will incorporate the student's performance and written analysis of select solo jazz improvisations, and a historical biography of the recorded solo artist. Open to all graduate music students.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 420
HISTORY OF THE ORATORIO
An analytical and historical study of oratorio literature from 1600 to the present.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 435
18th & 19th WIND HISTORY AND LITERATURE
(4 credits) There is a consistent historical connection between wind music of the ancient and medieval periods, and the music of today. This course will trace that historical line, focusing on the 18th & 19th Centuries. The development of repertoire as well as the functions and uses of wind music will be explored. It is the intention of this class to address the needs of people who will perform, conduct, or teach "classical" wind music as part of a career. Emphasis will be placed on original music suitable for professional concert performance.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 436
20th CENTURY WIND HISTORY AND LITERATURE
(4 credits) There is a consistent historical connection between the wind music of the ancient periods and the music of today. This course will briefly trace that connection and then focus on the development and function of wind music in the 20th century. It is the intention of this class to address the needs of people who seek to perform, conduct, or teach wind music as part of their career.
MUS 475
MEDIEVAL MUSIC
Historical survey of music from the Middle Ages: sacred and secular music as artistic, theoretical, and intellectual expression of the Middle Ages; history of musical styles to 1420; performance pratice issues
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 478
RENAISSANCE MUSIC
Historical survey of music from the Renaissance. Musical style, compositional procedures, and performance practice are studied, within the social, political and economic environment in which the composers worked.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 479
BAROQUE MUSIC
Historical survey of Baroque music and performance practice. Representative examples of both vocal and instrumental music are studied, mostly using the analytical techniques of the period, with the aim of becoming familiar with the most significant manners of composition of Baroque composers.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.
MUS 481
HISTORY OF OPERA
The course surveys the history of opera in western culture from its beginnings in the 17th century through the 20th century. The class materials cover stylistic trends and genres as demonstrated through seminal works. Each class period will contain a relevant analytical study.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 482
WORLD MUSIC CULTURES
This graduate course will provide a global musical perspective and widen the lens through which students experience music. Through lectures, listening, guest performances, and engaging discussion students will gain rich insights into new worlds of music.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 484
CLASSICAL MUSIC
Traces the development of musical style during the Classical Era through the analytical study of examples in the main musical forms such as sonata form. Reception and performance practice then and now will be addressed.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 485
ROMANTIC MUSIC
Survey of nineteenth century music through a close analysis of representative Romantic works. The course will cover the expansion of both harmonic language and form leading to their eventual breakdown and reinterpretation.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 486
MUSIC SINCE WORLD WAR II
This course surveys Western art music and related theoretical and technical issues from near the end of World War II to the present focusing on the development of new musical languages, new instruments and new methods of analysis.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 487
20TH CENTURY MUSIC BEFORE WWII
This course surveys Western art music and related theoretical and technical issues from near the end of the 19th century to World War II, focusing on the new musical languages and aesthetics developed from 1890 until 1940.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.MUS 400
MUSIC RESEARCH I
Introduction to research types and techniques; bibliography and bibliographical sources; elementary statistics; the development of writing skills; analysis of research examples.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 471
BRASS CONCEPTS
(2credits)
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Brass student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 414
THE BUSINESS OF MUSIC FROM THE PERFORMER'S PERSPECTIVE
(2 credits) Explorations of the business aspects of the performing musician. Topics will include unions, networking, free-lancing, audition preparation, taxes, and ethics. Seminar format.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 474
BRASS INSTRUMENT PERFORMANCE STYLE
(2 credits) Survey of solo and orchestral performance styles through the principal composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Analysis of new demands placed on performers in the 21st century. Study of stylistic concepts based on historical, technical, national, and aesthetic considerations.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 472
ORCHESTRAL REPERTOIRE FOR BRASS
(1 credit) Study of standard orchestral repertoire.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Brass student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 405
GRADUATE RECITAL
A full 60 minute, public recital performance of solo and/or chamber repertoire to be completed during the graduate residence. This recital is required as partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Music in Performance and for the post-Masters Certificate in Performance. COREQUISITE: Students must be registered for a total of 4 credits of applied lessons during the quarter the recital is presented.
Prerequisites:
APM 405 is a prerequisite for this class.APM 486
STRING PEDAGOGY
(2 credits) Concepts and philosophies, teaching beginners to advaning students, and coaching chamber music.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate String student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 477
GUITAR HISTORY AND LITERATURE I
(2 credits) Analytical and historical survey of the literature for plucked instruments from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. A year-long sequence of courses.
APM 478
GUITAR HISTORY AND LITERATURE II
Guitar History and Literature II. Analytical and historical survey of the literature for plucked instruments from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. A year-long sequence of courses.
Prerequisites:
APM 477 or permission of instructor is a prerequisite for this class.APM 479
GUITAR HISTORY AND LITERATURE III
Analytical and historical survey of the literature for plucked instruments from the sixteenth through the twentieth centuries. A year-long sequence of courses.
Prerequisites:
APM 478 or permission of instructor is a prerequisite for this class.APM 446
PERCUSSION PEDAGOGY
(3 credits)
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 461
PIANO LITERATURE
(2 credits) The purpose of this course is to give piano majors an in-depth look at the role that the piano has played throughout history, not only as a solo instrument but also as a crucial element of any collaborative music making.
APM 442
ACCOMPANYING CLASS
(2 credits) Role of pianist as accompanist.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Piano student or Music Performance certificate student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 429
ORCHESTRAL REPERTOIRE FOR STRINGS
(1 credit) Study of standard orchestral repertoire.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate String Performance student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 400
OPERA WORKSHOP
(2 credits) This is a results oriented course for students who have completed basic acting/performing studies and are ready to engage those skills in work to be presented for public performance.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 453
ADVANCED TECHNIQUES OF THE MUSIC STAGE
(2 credits)
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Voice Performance student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 496
VOICE PEDAGOGY
(2 credits) Study and analysis of fundamentals of vocal training, evidenced in various teaching approaches-scientific, mechanistic, empirical.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Voice graduate student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 415
ITALIAN DICTION/LANGUAGE LAB FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
This course is offered in conjunction with the first year of graduate vocal study. It focuses on the translation, pronunciation, grammatical understanding, and interpretation of Italian texts.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Voice Performance student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 416
GERMAN DICTION/LANGUAGE LAB FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
This course is offered in conjunction with the first year of graduate vocal study. It focuses on the translation, pronunciation, grammatical understanding, and interpretation of German texts.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Voice Performance student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 417
FRENCH DICTION/LANGUAGE LAB FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
This course is offered in conjunction with the first year of graduate vocal study. It focuses on the translation, pronunciation, grammatical understanding, and interpretation of French texts.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Voice Performance student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 428
ORCHESTRAL REPERTOIRE FOR WOODWINDS I: LITERATURE PERFORMANCE
(2 credits)Detailed study of significant woodwind orchestral literature, with special emphasis on improving ensemble skills. Each week will feature new repertoire to be performed and rehearsed during the class (Spring Quarter alternate years).
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.APM 433
WOODWIND ORCHESTRAL REPERTOIRE II: AUDITION PREPARATION
(2 CREDITS) an overview of orchestral ensemble skills, with special emphasis on audition preparation and experience. Students will take several auditions over the course of the quarter to improve their understanding of the audition experience. (Spring quarter, alternate years)
APM 411
WOODWIND PEDAGOGY
(2 credits) This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the important aspects of woodwind pedagogy. Students will gain the necessary tools to teach woodwind students of all ages and ability levels.
Prerequisites:
Status as a Graduate Music student is a prerequisite for this class.