MusicIcon: Two eighth notes.

Photo: Three young musicians formally dressed in black stand in a row playing saxaphones.

Application Deadline

  • Spring: November 15
  • Fall: June 1

Class begins

  • Spring: January 8, 2024
  • Fall: August 19, 2024

Degree Awarded

Master of Arts
in Music

WSU College

College of Arts and Sciences

Enhance Your Skills, Energize Your Career

WSU’s Master of Arts in Music program, offered completely online, is designed to provide music professionals and educators a convenient and effective way to expand their musical knowledge and develop their careers. This flexible and 100%-online degree is ideal for music educators seeking to enhance their skills and credentials while continuing to work in their teaching positions. It is also an excellent choice for aspiring music teachers and those who work—or wish to work—in the music industry as composers, arrangers, or producers. Classes are taught asynchronously to meet the needs of students enrolled in the program.

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What You’ll Learn

Whether you have yet to begin working in the music field or are a seasoned professional, this degree will advance and invigorate your career. The program starts with a core curriculum designed to teach critical and musical thinking, symbolic reasoning, communication skills, practical musical abilities, and cultural diversity. Students choose elective courses based on their interests and professional goals.

Students may choose to focus their learning experience into one of three emphases:

  • Music Education: Provides advanced studies for prospective or current music educators.
  • Composition: Prepares students to pursue careers as composers and arrangers of concert, film, and game media, to teach composition in private or classroom settings, or to pursue doctoral work in music composition.
  • Jazz: Focuses on one or more aspects of jazz, including composition, arranging, pedagogy, or history, in preparation for careers in jazz.

Choosing an emphasis is not required to complete the degree. The emphasis in music education does not lead to teacher certification in Washington state.

WSU Music Program Strengths

  • At WSU, the music faculty is a dedicated community of award-winning teachers, performers, and composers. They are nationally recognized figures in their respective fields. Faculty members have extensive and diverse professional experience as educators, composers, recording artists/engineers, and arts administrators. Many have received accolades for their excellence in teaching and creative activity.
  • Graduate students from the WSU School of Music teach at major universities, community colleges, and public schools. Students have continued their postgraduate work at other prestigious music programs around the country and have achieved success in the music industry as performers, teachers, conductors, composers, arrangers, arts administrators, and sound engineers.
Graphic: Crimson and black duotone of Brian Hall clocktower in background, with white treble clef in foreground, and white text Be a Musician. Be a Leader. Be a Coug. School of Music Washington State University.

Get Started: Application Process

If you have questions about the degree, please contact Graduate Program Coordinator Dr. Chris Dickey at chris.dickey@wsu.edu.

  • A prospective online Music MA student must have earned (or is in the process of earning) a baccalaureate degree in music from an accredited college or university.
  • The applicant must have a current or final overall GPA of at least 3.0, a current or final GPA of 3.0 in all music coursework, and a current or final GPA of at least 3.0 in both Music History and Music Theory combined, including aural skills.

Prospective students must fill out an online application that will be submitted directly to the Graduate School. The Graduate School will share this information on to the School of Music. As part of the online application, graduate student applicants supply:

  • Online Graduate School application
  • Statement of Purpose
    • This is a 3-4 paragraph statement in which you describe your personal and professional goals, musical experience, and reasons for pursuing a graduate degree at WSU.
    • If there are other aspects of your life you would like the faculty to know, this is the place to describe them.
  • Resume/CV
    • Your resume/CV should outline your educational and professional experiences.
      • Here is where you can list your performances, repertoire performed, compositions, current and former teachers, or other activities that highlight your achievements.
  • Three letters of recommendation
    • In the online Graduate School application, you will provide the names and email addresses for three references.
    • Each reference then receives a system-generated email with instructions for how to upload their letter.
  • Transcripts
    • If not attached to the online application, send them to the WSU Graduate School.

The following are examples of supplemental application materials required by the School of Music in addition to the Graduate School application. Any materials relevant to your application should be sent to Graduate Program Coordinator Dr. Chris Dickey (chris.dickey@wsu.edu) shortly after you have submitted your online Graduate School application.

  • YouTube recording links (required of all applicants, regardless of emphasis) from the past 12 months
    • All applicants must submit YouTube recordings of their performance skills to demonstrate readiness for study at the graduate level.
    • The recording should be approximately 10-15 minutes in length and visibly show you performing the music.
  • Scores
    • If applying for composition or jazz composition, applicants must submit 3-5 PDF scores (along with recordings if possible) of their compositions.
  • Teaching philosophy statement
    • If applying for music education, applicants must submit a teaching philosophy statement.
    • In approximately 1-2 pages, describe why you want to teach, what you want to teach, and how you want to teach.
      • Applicants are encouraged to cite specific examples and educational methods.

All entering graduate students are required to take diagnostic placement examinations in music theory, aural skills, and music history. These examinations are used to help evaluate a student’s readiness for graduate-level study, plan their course of study, and to identify any remedying deficiencies. Descriptions of these exams along with study guides are found on the webpage for graduate student orientation.

Program of Study—30 semester credits

All courses are available online and are taught asynchronously.

18 credits

  • MUS 560—Introduction to Graduate Studies in Music (2 credits)
    • Offered fall semesters and recommended when you begin the degree
  • MUS 553—Seminar in Music Theory (2 credits)
    • Offered fall semesters
  • MUS 550—Seminar in Analysis (2 credits)
    • Offered spring semesters
  • MUS 561—Seminar in Literature of 20th-Century Music (2 credits)
    • Offered even spring semesters
  • MUS 566—Seminar in Music History: Baroque (2 credits)
    • Offered odd fall semesters
  • MUS 597—Performance Studies for Distance Learners (4 credits)
    • This is individual private study on your instrument or voice.
    • All MA degrees regardless of emphasis require performance-based credits.
  • MUS 700/702—Thesis or Special Project (4 credits)
    • The final 2 credits must be taken in the semester in which the student takes their final examination.
    • The MUS 700/702 project, under the guidance of a faculty committee, allows students to research, compose, arrange, perform, or conduct as part of the project.

12 credits minimum. Most MA in music students complete the non-thesis option because of the flexibility it provides for completing the MUS 702 project.

  • MUS 500-level composition, jazz composition, or jazz arranging
  • MUS 500-level conducting studies (band, choir, and orchestra options)
  • MUS 596—Topics in Music (6 credits allowed)
    • This functions like an independent study with a faculty member.
    • The student and faculty member agree on projects, assignments, and a grading mechanism to receive credit for enrollment.
  • MUS 362—History of Jazz (3 credits)
  • MUS 363—Women in Music (3 credits)
  • Other online courses at the 500-level not within the School of Music but related to the student’s musical and professional goals

Please note: Teaching and Learning (T&L) courses are not available to graduate students in this program without a separate application to the WSU College of Education.

12 credits minimum

The Thesis option allows an additional 5 credits of MUS 700, which is included in the 30 required credits. The MUS 700 option includes a greater emphasis on independent research and typically culminates in a traditional thesis.

  • MUS 500-level composition, jazz composition, or jazz arranging
  • MUS 500-level conducting studies (band, choir, and orchestra options)
  • MUS 596—Topics in Music (6 credits allowed)
    • This functions like an independent study with a faculty member.
    • The student and faculty member agree on projects, assignments, and a grading mechanism to receive credit for enrollment.
  • MUS 362—History of Jazz (3 credits)
  • MUS 363—Women in Music (3 credits)
  • Other online courses at the 500-level not within the School of Music but related to the student’s musical and professional goals

Please note: Teaching and Learning (T&L) courses are not available to graduate students in this program without a separate application to the WSU College of Education.