Learn how to enter the competitive songwriting field with the necessary compositional tools, historical context, and business acumen. You'll take private lessons in composition, develop specific skills and sensibilities, and acquire a set of tools and techniques necessary to build a career in the constantly evolving music industry.
Request InfoDegree Details
Official Degree Title
Master of Music in Music Theory and Composition with a Concentration in Songwriting
Format
Full-time or Part-time
Credits
39
Start Date
Spring
Application Deadline
Start Date
Fall
Application Deadline
While the use of music in media has never been greater, the challenge of building a career in music has become increasingly multilayered. As you prepare for a career in songwriting, you will be exposed to central aspects of the art, craft, and commerce. You'll take classes in songwriting history and criticism, song analysis, studio production techniques, the business structure of the music industry, and recording technology, and participate in the Songwriters Forum, a seminar geared toward developing the art and craft of writing popular songs. In this series of master classes, you'll write and develop your songs, receive feedback from professional songwriters, and collaborate with other lyricists and composers.
You'll have the opportunity to have your work performed by NYU performance groups and ensembles and to collaborate with performers, dancers, and actors in NYU Steinhardt's Music Technology, Jazz Studies, and Instrumental and Vocal Performance programs, as well as with other New York City musicians and artists. You'll participate in our weekly Composers Forum, where you will meet and work with world-renowned composers and performers, prepare two student showcases per semester, and attend highlights in the New York City new music concert season.
You’ll gain an essential array of compositional tools addressing melody, harmony, structure, rhyme scheme, scan, rhythmic concepts, and more, along with cultural context and history via song analysis, research, and master classes. In addition, you’ll learn the integral elements of technology, audio production, promotion, and marketing.
Questions
If you have any additional questions about our degree, please feel free to contact Phil Galdston at nyusongwriting@nyu.edu.
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