Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion
Major code: D735
- Assistant Professor of Percussion
- Instructor of Percussion
- Athletic Bands Percussion Coordinator
Application Deadline
To receive full consideration for admission and graduate assistantships, the application deadline is December 1. The School of Music cannot guarantee an audition, interview, admission, or graduate assistantship if application is received after the deadline.
Residency Requirement
Assistantships
There is no separate application for assistantship. Unless the applicant indicates otherwise, we assume that all applicants are interested in being considered for assistantships. Please note that assistantships are usually awarded for the Fall and Spring semesters together. We very seldom have assistantships available for anyone entering in a Spring semester. We do not award assistantships for Summer sessions.
Procedure for Applying
All interested applicants should email Dr. Connor Stevens several weeks or months in advance to express interest and begin a dialogue regarding audition procedures, repertoire, and expectations.
Submit the online application (see Graduate Admissions page) and all application materials described below. Within a day or two after completing the online application, the School of Music will acknowledge receipt of the application by email.
After submitting the online application, the applicant will work with Dr. Stevens to schedule an audition. More details about the audition can be found at the bottom of this page.
Application materials required for all graduate degrees
These items must be submitted to the online graduate application system.
- Resume
- Submitted to the online application under the Resume tab.
- Submitted to the online application under the Resume tab.
- Statement of Purpose
- Submitted to the online application under the Statement of Purpose tab
- Please compose a brief personal statement (approximately 2–3 pages of double-spaced, 12-point font text with 1-inch margins) regarding your desire to pursue a graduate degree in music. Include responses to the following prompts:
- How would you describe your professional path to this point?
- Why do you want to pursue this degree at OU?
- How do you want to grow musically, artistically, pedagogically, and/or intellectually during your graduate studies?
- What skills, expertise, and experiences do you bring to graduate study at OU?
- Describe your post-degree plans (i.e., How will you apply your newly acquired academic knowledge and expertise?).
- Three letters of reference
- Submitted to the online application under Recommendations tab
- Your three reference letters should include:
- At least one letter from: your studio professor, ensemble conductor, chamber coach, etc., or a person who has considerable knowledge about your abilities as a performer or composer.
- At least one letter from: a person who can speak to your abilities as a scholar of music.
Scholarly writing requirement
This degree requires you to submit a sample of your scholarly writing.
- Submitted to the online application under the Supporting Documents tab
- The guidelines for this writing sample are as follows:
- Should represent your best writing and researching skills.
- Preferably not more than 3 years old; should be recently revised. If you do not have a recent scholarly writing sample on hand, we ask that you compose something original.
- Adhere to a consistent method of formatting and citations (e.g., Chicago, MLA, Turabian, APA) and include a bibliography/reference list.
- A minimum of 5 pages of double-spaced, 12-point font text (not counting bibliography) with typical 1-inch margins.
- Ensure your writing sample is representative of the field. Consider presenting a complete argument supporting a clear thesis, perhaps methodological in nature for empirical research, or other format reflective of various academic areas in music.
- Please contact the Graduate Music Office (gradmusic@ou.edu) or the area chair for your program with any questions about meeting these requirements.
Audition
After submitting the online application, the applicant will work with Dr. Stevens to arrange an audition. Although live, on-campus auditions are preferred, video recordings will be allowed under special circumstances.
Applicants should be aware that a live audition must be completed before an applicant will be considered for assistantship. Further, applicants submitting recorded auditions should be aware that, if the faculty believes the recording is not an accurate representation of the applicant’s abilities, the applicant may be required to perform a live audition to remain in consideration for admission. Audio or video files or links to online recordings may be submitted to the online application under Digital Portfolio > Upload Media.
Audition Requirements
- The applicant will audition before a committee of the Graduate Faculty.
- Applicants to the DMA in Percussion should prepare 30 minutes of music.
- The repertoire should consist of music appropriate for graduate-level study and should include selections on several instruments such as: snare drum, marimba, vibraphone, timpani, multiple-percussion, orchestral excerpts, and drum set.
- The audition should illustrate the applicant’s best abilities in musicality, technique, and sound production and should represent a variety of styles.
- Memorization is required for all keyboard selections.
- Sight-reading will be required on keyboard and snare drum.
- The audition will be presented without accompaniment.
- The campus visit will include an extensive interview with the percussion faculty to discuss various aspects of the applicant’s background, goals, and musical philosophy as well as allow the applicant to ask questions of the faculty.
The applicant is encouraged to spend at least 2 days in Norman to allow time to observe lessons, meet with current students and faculty, and experience OU.
With Dr. Stevens’ approval, a current master's student at OU who plans to apply to the DMA program within twelve months of his/her planned graduation from the master's program may use his/her MM degree recital as the DMA audition if the recital meets DMA audition requirements. In order for a faculty committee to be organized to attend the recital to evaluate it for DMA application purposes, the student must inform Dr. Stevens at least two weeks before the recital.
