Abstract:
Over the past two decades, wind conducting at the graduate level has become an increasingly popular focus of study. Rather than continuing their undergraduate majors of music education or performance, many graduate students are choosing to focus on their conducting skills. There exist previous dissertation studies on the study of conducting, or lack thereof, at the undergraduate level. However, there has been very little research into the emergence of graduate conducting degrees. As this field has become more common, it is important to look at the component features of these programs as well as what factors incoming graduate students should consider as they select programs for which to audition. Fifteen U.S. colleges and universities that maintain wind conducting curricula for both the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees are the subject of this study. Three main elements of graduate programs were investigated: graduate plans of study at each school; the amount of podium and performance time allotted for each conducting student; and the pedagogical approaches to the teaching of graduate conducting students. Data was collected from graduate handbooks and other resources available online from each institution's school of music website. The results of this comparative analysis provide valuable information to prospective graduate students, conducting professors, and graduate music schools by synthesizing the ideal graduate wind conducting program.
