The M.M. is designed to prepare the exceptionally gifted student for a career as a professional musician in today s highly competitive music marketplace. The D.M.A. is designed to add another dimension to the M.M. and prepare a few, select students for careers that combine professional performance with teaching in higher education. In the M.A. and Ph.D. programs, students explore a wide variety of compositional techniques in order to develop their own individual styles.
Emphasis is placed on the performance of original and contemporary student works.
Students consider such influences as the Los Angeles cultural mix and the styles and trends of the second half of the 20th century. The D.M.A. requirements include three years of private lessons and at least three terms of chamber ensembles, in addition to the New Music Forum and seminar work. Besides the M.M. seminars, students take at least two more seminars in Performance Practices of various periods, and courses in Pedagogy and Music and Technology. The New Music Forum is a unique feature of UCLA s Music Department that brings together student performers and composers and their master teachers in the creation of a new work, which is premiered on the student s recital. Language M.M. students in choral conducting and voice performance must demonstrate either by coursework at UCLA or by departmental examination a reading knowledge of German, French, or Italian.