Performing arts degrees shaping the modern world

The performing arts are well, alive, and thriving. The creative industries account for 3.1% of the global gross domestic product, generate annual revenues of over US$2 trillion, and are responsible for nearly 50 million jobs worldwide, data from the United Nations found. The International Labour Organisation found that the arts and entertainment sector has been growing in recent years – between 2015 and 2019, exports of cultural goods and services doubled in value. Around the world, there is greater spending more on entertainment activities, with technology and globalisation allowing artists to tap into new markets. 

These figures show us the enduring appeal and value of the performing arts. In the digital age, this transformed industry still offers many career opportunities – especially for graduates with the skills and mindset to thrive in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

The master’s programme at the College of Musical Arts encompasses ten musical fields. Source: Bowling Green State University

Bowling Green State University

At the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University, everyone belongs and can make a valuable contribution. Here, students pursue rigorous courses that turn passions into careers, collaborate with peers from other programmes, and form lasting connections along the way.

Upon stepping foot at this Ohio-based premier music facility, you will immediately feel welcomed by a vibrant community of nearly 500 students under the guidance of close to 60 distinguished, full-time faculty. You will neither be just another number nor will you work solely within your department or college. CMA students and faculty make it a point to connect with the BGSU campus and broader community through performance, education, and scholarly research.

Although BGSU is a large university, the college offers experiences that are personalised to you. The 9:1 student-to-faculty ratio makes for an intimate and focused environment where professors give tailored instructions and individualised mentorship. This applies to the college’s full range of undergraduate and graduate degree programmes.

The master’s programme encompasses 10 fields: collaborative piano, composition, conducting, ethnomusicology, jazz studies, music education, music history, performance, piano pedagogy, and vocal pedagogy. Each field features a distinctive range of experiences, each designed to provide you with the professional skills necessary for the changing environment of current American musical culture. Take the Master of Music (Performance) programme, for example. There are specialisations in Choral Conducting, Instrumental Performance, Instrumental Specialist (Strings, Woodwinds and Brass), Jazz, Orchestral Conducting, Piano and Voice Pedagogy – all of which allow you to show off your skills in live musical performances as a conductor, soloist, or as a member of large and small ensembles.

Another opportunity-filled master’s degree is the Master of Music (Composition) where you can study with an internationally renowned composition faculty as you hone your artistic and technical compositional skills. You will be immersed in all the activities of the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music and participate in the critically acclaimed New Music Festival. Besides the weekly private lessons, you will also attend bi-weekly seminars where guest artists often present lectures and workshop student compositions.

Apply to the College of Musical Arts at Bowling Green State University now.

SDSU hosts four performance venues, ranging from a 95-seater studio theatre, to a large 350-capacity theatre called The Main Stage. Source: San Diego State University / Facebook

San Diego State University

In 1993, two departments merged to form the School of Music and Dance at San Diego State University today — a performing arts college that relishes in each unique talent that steps foot onto the stage, and aims to grow them into the creative leaders of tomorrow. Here, their students don’t just stick to one discipline. They’re performers, composers, scholars, and advocates. 

Across its 15 undergraduate and graduate programmes, the school ensures every student gains the deepest understanding and appreciation of music and dance. Faculty and staff achieve this through personalised curricula and real-world performance opportunities. The latter is many and varies – thanks to two orchestras, three concert bands, jazz ensembles, athletics bands, chamber groups, and over 150 annual performances across four live venues of different capacities. There is ample room to get on stage no matter what your act is — the opera, embodying the music of a foreign culture, or a string division. 

The college and its faculty experts are present and engaged with the current sphere of performing arts in the region, which gives students even more open doors to real-world experiences with companies like San Diego Symphony, and the Southern California Arts projects. 

On or off campus, you’ll have access to advanced facilities and equipment. At its Campanile Base campus, there is a wide range of specialised spaces for rehearsals of small and large ensembles, dance studios, a Pilates reformer room, classrooms, a state-of-the-art electronic music studio and a multi-media lab. There is also an in-house, Internet2-capable Global Performance Lab that enables real-time master classes and synchronous performance feedback via specialised high-speed bandwidth – the first in the entire California State University system. Learn more about the SDSU School of Music and Dance.

Texas Tech prepares students for professional music careers like teachers, performers, conductors, and so forth. Source: Texas Tech University / Facebook

Texas Tech University

The School of Music at Texas Tech University — one of three schools in the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts — prepares students for collaborative, interdisciplinary, and innovative careers. They provide nine fields of study across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. It’s an extensive catalogue based in a big university, but each programme takes a one-to-one learning approach, with 1:1 studio courses for students and small class sizes. 

At the School of Music, students cross the intersection between music, education, research, and real-world opportunities, and tackle original composition and performance through a variety of mediums. They get to participate in a wide range of performances in music venues on and off campus, with the biggest on-campus venue being the Hemmle Recital Hall — a 500-seater concert hall now embellished with the Great Ballenger Holtkamp Organ. Nine performance ensembles like athletic bands, Latin American music, opera theatre, and the Vernacular Music Centre, which centres folk and traditional music, provide more exposure and engagement with diverse types of music.

The Master of Music in Composition builds the grounds for you to grow an extensive portfolio and professional skill set for you to forge an innovative artistic future. The curriculum intersects music on different mediums like video games, film, and animation, combining acoustic and technological compositions through cutting-edge equipment and student labs. Students get to experience live recordings, interdisciplinary collaborations, and compose music for art installations, dance, and theatre arts.

If you’re more of a performer than a composer, the Master of Music in Performance trains you through a rigorous curriculum that binds both academics and performance hours. Students are able to specialise in an instrument — jazz, keyboard, string, voice, or winds and percussion – and have to complete a required amount of recitals alongside their graduate work. They have to hold two public performances which will be assessed by the applied music faculty committee.

Learn more about the School of Music at Texas Tech University.

*Some of the institutions featured in this article are commercial partners of Study International.