Master of Arts in Wind Conducting

Earn your MA in wind conducting

The MA in wind conducting requires 38 semester hours, a minimum of 24 graduate credits must be earned at the University of Iowa

How to apply to the program

Applicants should contact Mark Heidel immediately upon deciding to apply to the graduate wind conducting program.

Applicants will be assigned a wind band composition to analyze.
Applicants are required to submit a video of a rehearsal and/or performance (frontal view).
Finalists will have a Zoom interview/conducting lesson with faculty.

View full requirements and apply

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Requirements and program planning

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Introduction to Graduate Study in Music (MUS:5300), 2 semester hours

Review of Undergraduate Theory (MUS:5200): Required of all graduate students who do not pass the advisory examination in music theory. It must be taken before completing 6 semester hours from the following list of theory courses. This course does not count toward graduate degree requirements.

Students exempt from MUS:5200 through the advisory examination in music theory must complete 6 semester hours from the following:

Counterpoint Before 1600 (MUS:4200), 3 semester hours
Counterpoint After 1600 (MUS:4201), 3 semester hours
Jazz Theory (MUS:4730), 3 semester hours
Tonal Analysis (MUS:5235), 3 semester hours
Non-Tonal Analysis (MUS:5236), 3 semester hours
Analysis of Popular Music (MUS:5237), 3 semester hours
Special Topics in Theory and Analysis (MUS:5240), 3 semester hours
History of Ideas in Music (MUS:6210), 3 semester hours
Theoretical Approaches to Music (MUS:6211), 3 semester hours
Theory Pedagogy (MUS:6215), 3 semester hours
Advanced Tonal Theory and Analysis (MUS:6250), 3 semester hours
Advanced Non-Tonal Theory and Analysis (MUS:6251), 3 semester hours
Advanced Theory and Analysis of Popular Music (MUS:6252), 3 semester hours

Select from the music history courses in the following list. Only one 4000-level course (taken at the University of Iowa or equivalent transferred in from another institution) may count toward the 6 semester hours required:

Music and Gender (MUS:4320), 3 semester hours
Medieval and Renaissance Music (MUS:4325), 3 semester hours
Baroque Music (MUS:4330), 3 semester hours
18th-Century Music (MUS:4335), 3 semester hours
19th-Century Music (MUS:4340), 3 semester hours
20th-Century Music (MUS:4345), 3 semester hours
Advanced Jazz History (MUS:4350), 3 semester hours
American Music (MUS:4355), 3 semester hours
Jazz Matters (MUS:4360), 3 semester hours
Studies in Film and Music (MUS:4610), 3 semester hours
Teaching Music, History, and Culture (MUS:6305), 3 semester hours
Topics in Musicology (MUS:6310), 3 semester hours
Historical Approaches to Music (MUS:6312), 3 semester hours
Topics in Ethnomusicology (MUS:6314), 3 semester hours
Foundations of Ethnomusicology (MUS:6315), 3 semester hours
Renaissance Music Notations (MUS:6326), 3 semester hours
Music Editing (MUS:6375), 3 semester hours

Major Ensemble (four semesters required), 1 semester hour each

20 semester hours of these courses are required.

Advanced Wind Conducting (MUS:6589), four semesters required, 2 semesters hours each
Seminar in Advanced Band Literature/Band History (MUS:6590), four semesters required, 2 semester hours each
MA Recital (MUS:6900), two required, 2 semesters hours each

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