Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover

It's possible to study the Master's degree course Music Theory as a part-time course.

The duration of study will be eight semesters in that case.

Course leading to the degree of Master of Music
Regular course length: 4 semesters

The Master’s degree in Music Theory qualifies graduates for a broad range of professional areas in which specialist knowledge of the theory of music and abilities in musical analysis, composition or teaching are required. In addition to the traditional fields of musical syntax, harmony and counterpoint, the course also includes, in its interdisciplinary approach, areas such as systematic and historical musicology, media work and practical artistic areas such as composition, conducting and arrangement, so that this broad range of competences opens up numerous careers.
Thanks to the mixture of analytical, creative, academic and practical fields of study, graduates are extraordinarily well prepared for future fields of activity in which music theory is one of the fundamental qualifications.

1. Course content and objectives
   In the principal artistic study subject a profound knowledge of style is acquired by analysis and active composition. Compositions from a variety of periods are addressed from a large number of analytical, methodological and stylistic aspects.
   In the subject area of aural training and analysis, both the training of a musical ear and also methods of aural education are subjected to consideration.
   Tuition in educational theory and methodology prepares students for a later teaching career.
   In an additional optional instrumental study subject compositions are considered from the analytical point of view and from that of practical instrumental performance.
   There are special modules focusing on practical instrumentation, arrangement, score studies and instrumentation theory as well as on score reading and notation and music production software.
   Additional own-choice subjects such as
   - historical and systematic musicology (music analysis, history of music)
   - systematic musicology (musical perception, the impact of music)
   - music education (music teaching, enrichment and outreach)
   - media and music (modern methods of producing, processing and presenting music),
   give the course a career-orientated breadth and variety and allow the student to specialise and to develop his or her own profile in the direction of modern professions in which solid training in music theory is useful, or even essential.
2. Tuition
   Forms of tuition: individual tutorials, lectures, seminars, practical musical and media exercises, placements, teaching under supervision and work on projects
3. Who is the course aimed at?
   The target group consists of students who are particularly interested in music theory with its history and its modes of thought, in approaching music analytically, in its creative and interpretational aspects such as composition and arrangement, and in the teaching of these aspects.
4. Career outlook
   Careers are possible in the following areas:
   - Teaching music theory at universities, conservatoires and academies of music
   - Artistic activities such as composition and arrangement
   - Development of multimedia presentations or learning programmes for publishing houses, record producers etc.
   - Activities in demanding music-related careers, where knowledge and abilities in music theory are among the basic qualifications (radio, music journalism, cultural sections of newspapers, music publishers).
   The Master’s degree course in Music Theory prepares its students not only for “classic” teaching activities in music theory, but additionally qualifies them for wide-ranging careers with new areas of activity and for a tertiary education job market on which particularly broad qualifications are becoming increasingly important.
   The course of studies brings together the acquisition of competence in music theory, orientation towards real practice and the establishment of an individual profile, and qualifies its graduates to work in responsible positions in a variety of music-related activities in a creative and flexible manner. In the “classic” subsequent career area of teaching at universities, academies of music and conservatoires, graduates of this Master’s degree course in Music Theory can work in a broad range of fields in a professional and interdisciplinarily orientated manner.
5. Requirements for admission
   The requirement for admission to the course is a first degree (generally a Bachelor’s degree) in a music theory subject or a music-related course of study containing music theory components accounting as a rule for 20 credit points.
   In addition, applicants must demonstrate a particular aptitude in an acceptance procedure consisting of written and oral examinations and the presentation of work of one’s own.