The Master of Music in Music Education, Composition Specialization (MMECS) 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.

Effective Fall 2017 

Plan of Study Grid
First YearCredits
MU 510Foundations of Music Education3
MU 511Advanced Arranging for Educational Ensembles3
MU 518Post-Tonal Analytic Techniques3
MU 630Methods of Music Research3
MU 6731Composition Instruction4
 Total Credits16
Second Year
MU 512Pedagogy of Musical Creativity3
MU 673Composition Instruction2
MU 699Thesis2
Select one course from the following:3
Elementary School Music 
Junior and Senior High School Music 
Select one course from the following:3
Music of the Renaissance 
Music of the Baroque 
Music of the Classical Era 
Music of the Romantic Era 
Music of the Twentieth Century 
Select one course from the following:3
Choral Techniques, Style, and Interpretation 
Advanced Instrumental Conducting and Techniques 
 Total Credits16
 Program Total Credits:32

A minimum of 32 credits are required to complete this program.