11/01/2023
Graduate Studies in Music Composition at the Irving S. Gilmore School of Music at Western Michigan University – Application Deadline 2024-02-01 (please distribute)
The Western Michigan University School of Music invites applications for our Masters in Music Composition program. Our students enjoy professional performance opportunities, adaptive instruction, and training in innovative technology. We typically have assistantships available for both a composition and a technology GA. Assistantships include a stipend and support the cost of tuition required for the degree. There will be opportunities for composers, including readings with guest ensembles, through the Center for Contemporary Music, Improvisation, and Experimentation (CMIX).
Our degree program provides flexibility for students to focus on their interests, including concert music, digital audio, sound art, media scoring, or multimedia. We offer courses in Entrepreneurship, Audio for Video, Media Scoring, Sound Art, Electronic Music Performance, Songwriting, Effects Processing and Synthesis, and computer programming for audio and video projects, in addition to traditional courses such as orchestration and counterpoint. There are opportunities for collaboration, readings by visiting professional groups and School of Music large ensembles, and our student new music group.
Recent featured guests for our program include Wet Ink, Prism Quartet, International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, the Spektral Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, the Mivos Quartet, and others. We host a large number of contemporary artists as part of our weekly seminar. We have a strong composition community, and our student composer’s group organizes and presents four concerts a year, applies for grants for guest artists, and organizes other community events (including open mic nights, coffee and donut hangs, and listening parties).
Students from WMU have presented their work at numerous conferences and festivals, including SCI, SEAMUS, ICMC, HighSCORE, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Espacios Sonoros, and NYCEMF. We have robust electronic music facilities. Students from WMU have gone on to pursue further study at Princeton University, Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, Bowling Green State University, and UC San Diego, among others. In addition to traditional composition and teaching paths, graduates have received jobs at Sweetwater and other companies.
Our composition faculty consists of Richard Adams, Christopher Biggs, David Colson, Lisa Renée C***s, Keith Kothman, and Carter Rice. Composers have also studied composition with members of our renowned Jazz Studies faculty, Matthew Fries and Andrew Rathbun.
Application deadline is February 1, 2024 in order to be considered for assistantships.
For more information specific to the composition program: http://wmich.edu/composition or contact [email protected]
Application procedures are available here: https://wmich.edu/music/apply
Undergraduate: How to applyWMU Application: Submit a general application to Western Michigan University (through the Common App).
