Master of Music, Music Education - Composition Specialization

Colorado State University

The Master of Music in Music Education, Composition Specialization is intended as a professional degree with specialized training towards composing music for educational ensembles and incorporating composition, improvisation, and music theory into K-12 music classrooms. Students enrolled in the program will produce original compositions for educational ensembles and have them performed publicly by student ensembles. The degree option in music education with a specialization is composition is designed to provide music educators with the ability to apply compositional and arranging skills and the pedagogy of the creative process to the classroom in K-12 settings. This provides an option for a master’s degree in music education for students with an interest in composition, arranging, and the pedagogy of the creative process as opposed to the more traditional CSU graduate music education offerings of conducting, Kodály, instrumental, and choral. Students take advanced coursework in scoring and arranging for educational ensembles, curriculum development for composition in K-12 classrooms, music theory and history, and applied composition lessons. Students in the program will have multiple opportunities to have their works performed and recorded by local student ensembles. This hybrid program is open to students with bachelor’s degrees in either music education or composition and equips students to pursue a career in the field of educational composition.

College of Liberal Arts