Graduate Programs

Chamber Music: M.C.M.

The University of Delaware offers the Master of Chamber Music degree for gifted musicians seeking advanced study in collaborative performance within the chamber music setting. Based upon the needs of the current dynamic artistic climate, this degree provides students personalized performance opportunities that train chamber musicians for careers in the 21st-century. The flexible, modern curriculum balances enhanced study on students’ primary instruments and collaborative performance with specialized instruction in entrepreneurship, recording and multimedia, arranging, marketing, and social engagement. At the core of the degree lie the Chamber Music Collective and a student-designed Capstone Project, which are designed so that students can apply the musical and professional skills that they learn to their own craft in real time. Together, these courses allow students to lay the foundation from which their careers can be launched. Students are thus encouraged to meld their academic and performance experiences with their specific career goals.

The Master of Chamber Music provides a new degree option for students in UD School of Music’s longstanding, rigorous graduate program. Whereas the existing Master of Music (with concentrations in Performance, Conducting, Composition, and Teaching) focuses on providing instruction for musicians as they enter the professional world in their chosen concentration, this new degree focuses on preparing students for careers in collaborative chamber music performance in a rapidly changing musical landscape. Chamber music, which is defined as music performed by small, unconducted groups of musicians, typically ranging from 2 -10 players, requires a unique set of skills that integrate instrumental performance and entrepreneurship. Lacking the structural supports enjoyed by large performing organizations (orchestras, opera houses, wind ensembles and bands), chamber musicians must manage their programming and marketing campaigns, familiarize themselves with multiple media and emerging technologies, and establish innovative community partnerships. Chamber music thus requires its practitioners to engage in creative ideation, problem solving, and business approaches while simultaneously continuing to hone their performance skills.