Overview
Emory University offers the Master of Music (MM) or Master of Sacred Music (MSM) degree in both organ and choral conducting. Students who enter these programs of study are seeking to improve their craft, to deepen their understanding, and to prepare to enter the professional workplace as a church musician, teacher, or continued graduate study on the doctoral level. Full tuition scholarships are granted to all admitted students.
Academic Courses
Both the MM and MSM degrees are two-year courses of study. A wide range of courses is offered in music history, analytical techniques, choral and organ literature, pedagogy, organ construction and design, vocal pedagogy, as well as courses in congregational song and public worship.
For a detailed list of programs of study click on the following link: www.music.emory.edu/graduate/programs.html
Applied Lessons
Conducting Lessons are given three days per week with students conducting a live chamber choir of approximately 20 voices. This extraordinary amount of podium time allows both student and teacher to quickly identify strengths and weaknesses and to improve technique, musicianship and choral methods from the first class through graduation. This chamber choir is also provided to the students as the performing ensemble for the graduate recital.
Admission
Applicants must be graduates of accredited colleges or universities and will be evaluated by their TOEFL scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation, and personal audition and interview. Applicants must meet the standards for admission set by Emory University and submit recent TOEFL scores. Audition dates include the last Mondays in January and February. Applicants must audition in person and will be scheduled for interviews and a sight-reading exam.
Auditions and Interviews
Choral Auditions and Interviews
Audition and interview dates include the last Mondays in January and February. Auditions for 2013 will be held on January 28 and February 25, 2013. Applicants will be scheduled for an interview and a conducting rehearsal.
For information on audition procedure and repertoire, please contact Dr. Eric Nelson, director of choral studies.
Organ Audition/Interviews
The Organ audition/interviews occur during the morning of the last Monday in January and February. Auditions for 2013 will be held on January 28 and February 25, 2013.
Organ audition/interviews take place on the Glenn Memorial Auditorium Casavant Organ (1982, three manual electro-pneumatic) and the Cannon Chapel Holtkamp Organ (1981, two manual tracker).
In a twenty-five-minute organ audition/interview, the applicant will:
1) Perform excerpts from three works (one Baroque, one Romantic, and one contrasting piece composed after 1950)
2) Play a hymn introduction and two stanzas of a prepared hymn
3) Sight-read a second hymn
4) Answer elementary music history and theory questions
Immediately prior to the audition/interview, each applicant will receive one half-hour rehearsal time at the organ.
Organ applicants are strongly encouraged to arrive in Atlanta on Sunday, the day before the audition/interview, in order to acclimate themselves to the location of Glenn Auditorium, Cannon Chapel, and the Music Department’s Burlington Road Building.
It is necessary for organ applicants to remain after their audition/interviews for a plenary lunch with auditioning applicants, faculty and current graduate students; a campus tour; and short individual afternoon meetings with Timothy Albrecht, a faculty member in music theory, and a faculty member in music history.
Applicants should plan to depart campus after 3:00 PM. (Please be advised that during rush hour, the airport is about one hour away from Emory's campus.)
To schedule an organ audition/interview, or if you have questions, please email Lindsay Fisher or phone (404) 727-1124.
Click here for a photograph of the current organ studio.
Application information is available at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences site.
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