Master of Music in Conducting: Instrumental

Major Study: Master of Music in Conducting

General. The Conducting major is a two-year curriculum with rigorous demands. Only candidates possessing a strong background and broad combination of skills should audition. Students who wish to apply for the instrumental or choral conducting program must identify themselves to the conducting department faculty during the freshman year. Students are required to audition for admission to the degree program at the end of the junior year. The audition will include conducting a self-recruited and a self-prepared ensemble, an interview with the conducting committee, and a diagnostic examination which will consist of sight singing, aural skills, score reading and score playing at the keyboard, knowledge of historical style periods, and theoretical analysis.

Prerequisites. Students applying for the instrumental or choral conducting program must have satisfied the following prerequisites for admission:

At the time students are auditioned for the conducting major, they must be

currently enrolled in good academic standing as an Oberlin student,
maintaining a minimum of a 3.0 GPA, and
successfully completing three years of any of the following undergraduate degree programs at the Oberlin Conservatory: performance, music education, composition, electronic and computer music, or music history.

It is understood that students will probably have to extend the bachelor’s degree program so that both degrees will be completed at the end of five years.

Non-Course Requirement. Graduate Listening Exam. The faculty of the Division of Vocal Studies and the Division of Conducting and Ensembles will construct and administer a listening exam each year to be taken by the fifth-year Master of Music degree students of the Division. The faculty will choose pieces from a Common Listening List and a list compiled by the faculty of the Division. At least 50 percent (or 15 examples) will be chosen from the Common List.

Copies of the listening lists and tapes of the materials will be available in the Library. The exam will be offered twice each year (November and April). The exam may be retaken until successfully passed. Any student failing the exam will be given a written appraisal of the areas of weakness that led to the failure. The exam must be passed before the Degree will be granted.

Comprehensive Examination. A comprehensive final examination, both written and oral, is required in the final month of study. The examination will be administered by a committee convened by the student with the consent of his or her advisor.