Conducting M.M. (Online with In-Person Summer Session)

Study online to earn your master's in conducting

CSU's Master of Music Education with a conducting specialization enables you to study online during the school year and get hands-on conducting practice during a summer session on campus. Projects are customized for your particular teaching situation, so you are able to immediately apply the techniques you learn to reinvigorate your lesson plans with gained skills and knowledge.

Connect with faculty, musicians, and other music educators in on-campus summer sessions

Perfect your podium presence working with local professional choirs, bands, and orchestras, while receiving personal faculty mentorship. The annual summer conducting seminar includes hands-on workshop sessions taught by CSU faculty as well as some of the most prestigious pedagogues from around the country.

Unique to this program, you benefit from ample practice time at the podium, which provides you with immediate feedback from faculty and the musicians you lead. The curriculum focuses on developing your:

• Score preparation
• Baton technique
• Rehearsal strategies
• Suggested repertoire

Focus on music education in a customized curriculum

Refine your conducting techniques and learn to implement music education research, foundational principles, and analysis to enhance your effectiveness as an educator.

CSU faculty understand that each teaching situation is unique. The projects assigned in this program can be tailored to your personal classroom, allowing you to practice newly learned techniques and gain insightful feedback from instructors. The online Master of Music Education curriculum offers the flexibility to study from wherever you are during the school year and the opportunity to immediately apply what you learn to your classroom.

Graduates report that the improved conducting skills they learn throughout this program increase their teaching effectiveness dramatically. In addition to an improved classroom, many school districts offer substantial raises to teachers who earn a master's degree.

Graduates are also prepared for more competitive, combined teaching positions (ex. band/orchestra or orchestra/choir) because the program offers instruction in all three areas. Upon graduation, you will be qualified for additional employment opportunities as well, such as church choir/orchestra positions or conducting community musical theater productions.

Hear what students are saying about our conducting master's degree program and how online courses and hands-on training helped them become more effective music educators.

Conducting Students

Jeremy, Katina, and J.J. share how working with professional musicians, orchestras, bands, choirs, and master conductors has helped them gain skills that are immediately applicable in their classrooms.

CSU's Online Students

Hear from students and faculty to get a sense of what it’s like to study online with CSU, and how a graduate degree can enhance your life.

Dr. James Kim

Director of Choral Activities

Dr. Rebecca Phillips

Band Conducting

Professor Wes Kenney

Orchestral Conducting

This graduate degree is delivered primarily online with three required, on-campus seminars in Fort Collins, Colorado (seminars last approximately 2.5 weeks). These on-campus seminars provide important, hands-on training that can't be obtained online.

This program gives you the flexibility to get the degree you want without a strict timeline, but still requires the same amount of work and time as an on-campus program. It is recommended that students allow nine to twelve hours per week for a three-credit course. This will vary depending on your learning and studying style.

Your interaction with the faculty and fellow students depends on the specific course. Online courses provide you with online office hours and email contact. You also collaborate on projects and exchange ideas with fellow classmates through email and discussion board postings.

Requirements

In addition to the Conducting Seminar comprised of three consecutive summer sessions worth four credits each and an on-campus graduate recital, you complete 17 graduate-level credits which can be done online or on campus. Of the total 30 credits for this degree, a minimum of 24 must be earned at CSU.

During your final semester of coursework, successful completion of oral examinations must occur before the master's degree is awarded. A final public conducting project during the third summer serves as the Master's Recital.

Curriculum

With this graduate degree, you take a variety of courses in advanced conducting, score preparation, rehearsal strategies, the Laban method for expressive conducting, curriculum development, jazz pedagogy, and historical performance and practice.

Online courses

Note: One music elective course (3 cr.) will also be chosen in consultation with your advisor

On-campus summer courses

The Summer Conducting Seminar curriculum includes topics such as:

• Advanced conducting
• Score preparation
• Rehearsal strategies
• Laban method for expressive conducting
• Historical performance practice
• Band rehearsal techniques

Note: The next Summer Conducting Seminar will take place June 30 to July 16, 2023.

For more information about registering for this year's online Seminar, please contact Adam Torres.

A maximum of six credits can be accepted from NASM-accredited universities.

As a student in CSU’s online conducting master’s program, you receive the same education, learn from the same faculty, and earn the same regionally accredited degree as students on campus. Additionally, you can expect:

• An On-Campus Summer Experience: Perfect your podium presence working with local professional choirs, bands, and orchestras, while receiving personal faculty mentorship. Unique to our program, you benefit from ample practice time at the podium, which provides you with immediate feedback from faculty and from the musicians you lead.
• A Focus on Music Education: Refine your conducting techniques and learn to implement music education research, foundational principles, and analysis to enhance your effectiveness as an educator.
• An Applicable Curriculum: We understand that each teaching situation is unique. The projects assigned in our program can be tailored to your personal classroom, allowing you to practice newly learned techniques and gain insightful feedback from instructors.
• Career Enhancement Opportunities: Our master’s program will build your skills to teach band, orchestra, and choir, and may qualify you for salary increases and combined teaching positions with school districts.

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Application Deadlines

Summer semester

February 1

1Review Admission Requirements

2 Prepare Application Materials

3 Complete Online Application

4Request Transcripts

Check Your Application Status

For International Applicants