Graduate Programs

The Tufts University Department of Music has a growing and innovative graduate program and offers a Master of Arts degree in the field. Graduate students in the Music Department have the unique opportunity to study broadly across four exciting sub-disciplines –composition, ethnomusicology, musicology, and theory-while receiving a focused training in one of them. Advanced course work and thesis research support is strong in Western classical music, African-American music, and World Music (Africa, East and Southeast Asia, and Latin America).

The goal of the master’s program is to deepen knowledge and skill in one discipline while broadening one’s grasp of research methods and intellectual paradigms in related fields. The department also emphasizes increasing familiarity with diverse musical traditions.

The program of study consists of eight courses, one of which normally includes a thesis or a composition (including an oral defense of the thesis). Students take courses outside their focus or sub-discipline and participate in performance courses such as symphony orchestra, choruses, new music, jazz, African percussion, and Japanese sankyoku. The program prepares students for doctoral study, teaching, and careers in music.

The fourteen full-time faculty members in the Department of Music are internationally recognized for their scholarship, artistic works, and teaching. Over thirty distinguished part-time and adjunct members of the faculty greatly enrich the program. Because the graduate program is kept small (about eight to ten new students in all sub-disciplines and a total of twenty active students in a typical year), graduate students work closely with faculty.

A valuable resource for graduate students, The Frederic Louis Ritter Collection of rare music books and musical scores dating from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries is housed in Special Collections in the Tufts library. The department hosts the Boston Village Gamelan, and owns the Japanese and African musical instruments used in performance courses. The new Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center provides a world-class environment for music study at Tufts University. Tufts is also part of a consortium with Brandeis, Boston College and Boston University. Graduate students may enroll in graduate courses at any of these other schools.

Tuition scholarships and teaching assistantships are awarded annually based on merit. With its inclusive curriculum and culturally diverse faculty, the department provides a comfortable environment for students from underrepresented groups to pursue their graduate studies

MORE INFORMATION ON GRADUATE STUDY

> Application Requirements
> Program Requirements
> Tuition Scholarships, Stipends
> Research Support
> Links
> Ensemble Information

Graduate Program Director –
David Locke, Associate Professor of Music, 617.627.2419 or email david.locke@tufts.edu.

For application inquires or to request further information, contact Lucille Jones at 617.627.3564 or email lucille.jones@tufts.edu.