Doctor of Musical Arts in Brass
Major code: D735
- Tuba and Euphonium
- Trombone
- Trumpet, Area Chair
- Horn
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
Submit the online application (see Graduate Admissions page) and all materials described below. After submitting the online application, contact the appropriate member of the brass faculty 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 and the materials described above, contact the appropriate member of the brass faculty to schedule an audition. In person auditions are preferred, but online video auditions may be accepted with special permission from the audition committee. If you will be submitting an audition video, video files or links to online video recordings may be submitted to the online application under Digital Portfolio > Upload Media. For basic acceptance into a graduate degree program, the audition requirements are the same for live or recorded auditions.
Applicants must complete a live audition to be considered for an assistantship.
With the approval of the applied teacher, 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. The recital must meet 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 all members of the brass faculty at least one week before the recital.
Audition Requirements
- The applicant shall prepare thirty minutes of music.
- The audition should feature works of contrasting style periods, chosen to
demonstrate musicianship and technical proficiency. - Sight-reading, including transposition and/or reading in different clefs (trombone
and horn) may be required. - Trumpet players are encouraged to demonstrate proficiency on Bb, C, and
piccolo trumpets - The audition will be presented without accompaniment.
- The audition may include an interview with the members of the brass faculty.
