The Summer In-Person Master of Music in Music Education Degree Option at Crane
The Master of Music in Music Education degree is designed to be completed in two summers with two additional online courses taken in between the two summers. Students then complete the Capstone Seminar remotely in the fall (or spring) term following the student's second summer. The entire program is, therefore, less than two years; students beginning the program in Summer 2026 are expected to graduate in December 2027 or May 2028.
Summer courses are taught by Crane faculty. Graduate Music Admissions information can be found on the Graduate Studies in Music webpage. The summer admissions deadline is May 1, with a priority scholarship deadline of March 2.
Questions? Email us at gradmusic@potsdam.edu.
Our main summer in-person 2026 courses will run for six weeks, from Monday, June 29 - Friday, August 7, 2026. Students should take four courses from the following as noted. The information below remains tentative, and will be updated throughout the next few months.
Students take three courses which meet four days a week (Monday-Thursday) for 2 hours/day/class from Monday, June 29 through Thursday, July 30, 2026.
Both first and second year students take:
MUCE 608: Curriculum Development in the School Music Program
Instructor: Dr. Jonathan Schaller
Two Sections: MTWR 8:30am section and 11:00am section
An examination of the systematic process of program development. Focus upon the development of general goals, program objectives, and instructional objectives, as well as the design and sequence of musical experiences and materials. Final project involves the development of a program for a specific course of study; school music teachers are encouraged to gear projects toward their own specific teaching situations.
and one of the following two options (fulfills the degree's music theory requirement):
MUCT 695: Musical Expectation/Subversion
Instructor: Dr. Phil Salathe
MTWR 8:30am
Expectation is fundamental to our experience of music, yet if our expectations are always fulfilled, music becomes predictable. Subverting expectations is both a crucial compositional technique and – in the words of Mark Evan Bonds – a way in which music “calls attention to its own structural rhetoric” and reveals “the presence of the composer within the work”. In some sense, it’s how music talks about itself. In this course, we will investigate some of the expectations intrinsic to particular genres or formats, and learn analytic frameworks we can use to make sense of those expectations and their subversion. By doing so, we will sensitize ourselves to musical parameters we might have once taken for granted; build our vocabulary for describing phenomena that recur in nearly every style of music; learn new ways of analyzing music that offer worthy alternatives to familiar methods; and, perhaps, find ourselves grasping musical references, allusions, jokes, and memes that once went over our heads.
MUCT 617 Theory and Analysis of Tonal Music
Instructor: Dr. P. Wesley Roy
MTWR 11am
This course introduces students to various analytical approaches and scholarship to engage with songs from Musical Theater. We begin with a brief review of Roman numeral analysis and various compositional techniques traditionally used to signify relationships between music and text. After establishing these features as an intertextual foundation, we will examine Musical Theater repertoire to better understand issues of musical structure and compositional intent.
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First year students take:
MUCH 611: Introduction to Graduate Studies in Music
Instructor: Dr. Judy Lewis
MTWR 2:00pm
All first-year summer students take this survey of bibliographic and resource materials in music, education, and music education.
Second year students take:
MUCE 523: Advanced Issues in Music Education
Instructor: Dr. Jonathan Schaller
MTWR 2:00pm
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Both first and second year students take one performance course (over 5 days, 8am - 5pm; August 3 - 7, 2026)
MUCP 695 Exploration of Sound & Image: An Introduction to Visual Music Performance
Instructor: Dr. Christine Hoerning
This course invites students to explore the dynamic relationship between sound and image in contemporary media: including film, digital art, video art, video games, and social media. Through research-creation and performance we will examine how sound in film, art, and media amplify the intention of visual mediums through your own audio/visual works. Designed as a performance-based course, students will engage in composing, improvising, and performing original audio-visual works. Through performance and analysis, we will study the different types of way sound and music can augment the visual experience. No prior experience in music composition or video editing is required; students will be guided through foundational tools and techniques to support their creative exploration.
or
MUCP 632 Creativity & Problem Solving in Ensemble Settings
Instructor: Dr. Jonathan Schaller
In this course students will apply creative and problem-solving approaches to music teaching and learning through small ensemble work. Students will engage in daily music inquiries, analyzing and deconstructing musical problems, followed by creative projects to re-construct musical works in small ensembles. Students will utilize primary and/or secondary/tertiary instruments as well as multi-modal approaches to music making, culminating in a final “in”formance to share their work.
Summer Session I: May 26 - June 26, 2026
At this time, we do not have any online summer session I courses planned.