Obtain an Online Doctoral Degree in Music Education From Boston University Right From Your Home

Obtain an Online Doctoral Degree in Music Education From Boston University Right From Your Home
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Extending Your Options

Once you have obtained a degree in music education, you have two options to choose from; one being you can use it to teach music or get started in the career specialty of your choice, or you can continue on to get your doctoral degree in Music Ed., which will give you that scholar status in the realm of music education. The choice is yours, but receiving a doctorate degree (really in any subject) is highly admired and respected by employers all over the world.

Boston University’s Doctorate of Musical Arts in Music Education (DMA) is an online music degree program of excellence and one you should strongly look into. It can provide you with an opportunity to achieve the personal goals you have set for yourself in your career as well as those you have set to make a difference in music education and research as a whole.

Program Specs

This online degree can be acquired within a 24 month period (not including dissertation/research) and consists of around 11 courses in all. The total credit hours for completion of this program adds up to 44 (excluding 4 for the dissertation and 2 for theory review course if needed).

Students are required to participate in an on-campus residency that lasts 10 days. This residency is for them to propose their dissertations and use campus resources for research.

Some of the courses required as part of the program are:

  • Introduction to Music Education Research
  • Research and Directed Study in Music Education
  • Research and Bibliography (Musicology)
  • Jazz and Popular Arranging
  • Orchestration I
  • American Music
  • African Music and Culture

Students must take the Music Theory Proficiency Exam prior to admission into the program to assess their music theory knowledge. If the standards are not met, then they are to take the Graduate Theory Review course as part of the curriculum. However, if they completed their master’s degree from BU prior to this program, then this procedure is unnecessary.

Please note that all of these courses are taught by the same prestigious faculty members who would teach an on-campus class.

Dissertation Details

One of the major requirements in a doctoral degree program is to complete a dissertation of research (this is like a thesis, only longer and more in depth).

For BU’s online doctoral degree in music education, the dissertation is considered the final course of the program, and it will take one to two years to complete in addition to the online coursework. Therefore, the total completion time of this degree can range from three to four years.

Upon completion of their coursework, students in this program are required to take a qualifying exam that upon passing, will allow them to attend the 10 day on-campus residency to prepare for their dissertation. During the residency, students will be allowed to research for their dissertation topic using on-campus research libraries and facilities, faculty meetings, and discussions with their colleagues. After finishing the residency, students will have selected a dissertation topic, gathered faculty contact information, and will have submitted their dissertation proposal. After their proposal has been approved, they can then begin work on their dissertation paper.

Costs for the Doctorate in Music Education Program

The cost for this online doctoral degree in music is $571 per credit hour plus a $70 application fee, a $50 per credit hour technology fee, and a registration fee each term of $40.

This appears to be expensive for it adds up to around $27,000, but divide that over 4 years, and it is only about $6,700 per year, which is cheaper then the cost of some Bachelor programs and you are getting a very reputable degree from a highly respected university.

Please note that tuition and fees are subject to change over time. Check out BU’s web site for the most current costs.

For more information about this online music degree program’s admission requirements, registration information, and course schedule, please visit Boston University’s School of Music.

You can be a successful leader in the field of music education and be a forerunner in the research to promote growth within it. Sign up today!

This post is part of the series: Online Music Degrees

Let’s take a look at online music degrees and where you can go to earn one from a school of music.

  1. Get a Bachelor Degree in Music Online? Really?
  2. A Quality Online Doctoral Degree in Music Education From Prestigious Boston University