This course has various initiatives to foster capable people who contribute to advanced music education research, culture, and society. We organically develop high-quality practical educational programs that enable students to work in a wide range of fields. The courses are taught by faculty members who are pianists and composers, as well as by teachers of vocal music, strings, and other musical instruments.
Students who study piano, organ, harpshichord can take a wealth of classes: Instrument Performance, which is private and rigorous lessons; Musical Analysis, which deepens students’ understanding of music through analysis; Instrument Research, where experienced professors and performers directly teach students; Chamber Music Practice, where students explore expressive power based on analysis and expand their musical horizons by understanding other instruments. There are also language classes, original text reading classes, and performance instruction by invited professors and pianists from abroad.
In their first year, students are required to perform in the Graduate Student Concert Examination, in which they plan and manage a concert independently. Combining the examination with the final performance examination in the second year, students can create a one-hour recital program. Their music research is presented as a thesis or a program note at the culmination of two years of research. Through the combination of performance lessons and lectures, students pursue music more deeply and intensely than undergraduates.
Students are involved in a wide range of activities during their master’s studies. In addition to their achievements in national and international competitions and concerts as soloists, students are also active as chamber musicians and accompanists in recent years, taking advantage of their excellent skills as soloists.
Both in Japan and abroad, graduates of the program have been recognized as “performers who can go solo or co-star” and as “teachers who can perform.”
Compared to the great demand for accompanists, only a limited number of universities offer accompaniment majors. TCM is one of the few educational institutions in Japan with a track record in piano accompanist training. Our current students come from a variety of age groups with a high percentage of them having completed their undergraduate degrees at other universities. Another characteristic of the course is that many students have worked in the world before applying to this program.
The curriculum consists of three compulsory classes: Instrument Performance, in which students take lessons from their teachers; Instrument Research, which all students in this course take; and Musical Analysis, which helps students gain a deeper understanding of pirces. These three classes provide a supportive environment for students to conduct specialized research on what they want to learn.
Although the two years of study at the graduate school are very short, students work hard during that time to master the practical program. Those who completed the program work actively in various fields such as giving numerous performances or educational support both on and off campus.
Cultivate your true individuality and self-confidence!
Graduate school is not just about acquiring knowledge and skills given to students so far, but about establishing valid and consistent theories in their specialties by setting research themes. To achieve this, students are required to have active and inquiring minds and make efforts. In the graduate school, experienced faculty members with objectivity and individuality work together with students on their research projects, providing the utmost support for students’ motivation. Specifically, students can acquire practical skills and specialized knowledge necessary for musicians in the following classes: Instrument Performance, which is private lessons; Instrument Research for string ensemble study; and Chamber Music Practice and Musical Analysis with other instruments.
In the master’s program, students receive instruction from passionate faculty members with a wealth of performance experience in Instrument Performance, which is performance lessons. In Instrument Research and Musical Analysis, students aim for more profound expression by analyzing their repertoires and studying the characters of composers, as well as the historical backgrounds (e.g. social situations, ideologies) and other fields of arts (e.g. fine arts, literature). There are also mock lesson classes, in which graduate students give lessons to undergraduate students. After the lessons, faculty members and students discuss the lessons’ strong and weak points, which has produced great results. Students also join undergraduate ensembles adn take on leadership roles, allowing them to analyze how ensembles are constructed. In Chamber Music Practice, students expand their chamber music repertoire and take a concert-style examination.
Finally, students are examined for their degree in a one-hour recital at the culmination of their studies. In addition, there are opportunities to perform in orchestras and other musical groups. Graduates of the program are active in a wide range of fields, such as orchestra members, wind band players, instructors, etc.
To nurture performers with rich musicality, chamber music ensembles organized by high-level performers are of great importance. Therefore, it is fundamentally necessary to improve the performance technique of each player to realize advanced chamber music research. In this course, students thoroughly conduct technical and musical research on their specialized instruments. In addition, they take a practical and academic approach to pieces, which is necessary for a performance, by studying the characteristics of their instruments and various others. Deepening one’s understanding of music by studying chamber music is essential for performers in any field. In this course, students freely apply to form ensembles of two to six members. Although the final examination must be taken by the same ensemble, a flexible curriculum is prepared for each group, and students are free to explore a variety of instrumental combinations in the process. In addition, students can take classes from other courses while studying in an environment suitable for their research themes.
The Vocal Music major of the Graduate School of Music is divided into two courses: Solo, and Opera.
Students in this course can settle doqn to pursue songs and religious music suitable for their musicality and voice. In addition to private lessons, they can take lessons from faculty members specializing in songs from various countries. At the graduation performance, students demonstrate the results of their studies with a program of their choice.
This course provides an optimal environment for operatic studies through an intensive curriculum with a small number of selected students. The most distinctive feature of the program is Opera Performance in the second year. Each student chooses an opera from which they create an excerpted program and perform it. Each student is assigned faculty members consisting of a conductor, a director, a vocalist, and a repetiteur, and receives extensive instruction in acting and music.
Casting auditions are held at the beginning of the academic year (not necessarily every year). There is also a class that students in both courses can take (Opera Seminar), in which they study and practice operas from Europe and Japan to perform on stage as a preview. The Vocal Music major of the Graduate School of Music offers various avenues of study according to individual musicality and interests, thus meeting the needs of highly motivated students.
In this course, students aim to improve their overall ability to compose by deciding on a project that becomes the foundation of their unique creation and by having the autonomy to actively conduct and present their research.
The course offers practical seminar-style classes and private lessons taught by faculty members who have knowledge of various genres. One of the unique features of the college is a system that allows students to freely select a faculty member each year for their private lessons.
From the 2018 academic year, the course is divided into two areas of research: Artistic Research, which centers on existing contemporary music, and Applied Research, which practically deals with various media.
In Artistic Research, students nurture their social skills and internationality through exchange and training with international performing groups and educational institutions. Also, they can gain access to a wider range of opportunities to present their works and further discover their potential.
Meanwhile, Applied Research aims to nurture talented individuals who can respond immediately to the diverse needs of society.
In the graduate school, students not only learn advanced and functional conducting techniques and a wide range of knowledge about music but also enhance their comprehensive human skills. This course places emphasis on acquiring a high level of insight and culture, and building good relationships with diverse people. In addition, students gain the ability purse what is truly necessary for them as a conductor while questioning the raison d’être of a conductor and facing themselves. After completing the master’s program, we expect our students to be capable conductors in a wide range of fields.
This course goes beyond the existing framework of music teacher training. Students research the relationship between music, society, and people, bearing in mind various music education opportunities and activities. The faculty members specialize not only in music education, but also in a wide range of other fields, such as cultural policy, ethnomusicology, psychology, and sociology. In this interdisciplinary research environment, students can spend two years deciding on a theme and delving into their research while inspiring each other. In addition to academic research, students can also take elective performance classes and private lessons to improve their performance skills.
Students’ specialties and research topics are diverse. Some enter the program to compile their professional experiences as music teachers into a thesis, while others are international students conducting comparative research on music education and culture in Japan and their home countries. After completing the program, students make the most of their individuality while playing active roles in society as teachers, and in music publishers, music halls, etc.
Musicology is a field that researches and discusses music academically. Students in this course come from a wide range of backgrounds, such as those who majored in performance as undergraduates, and those who graduated from other universities. In today’s information-oriented world, research on a wide variety of topics is possible. Furthermore, an increasing number of students conduct fieldwork in Japan and abroad for material collection and research, while based at the college conducting considerable research activities.
Regardless of their research themes, the abilities to research, discuss, write, and make presentations acquired in the course are useful in various fields. Those who write excellent master’s theses are given the opportunity to present the abstracts at the Musicological Society of Japan after completing the program. Alumni of the program found employments in research institutes, libraries (they obtained the librarian certification during the master’s program), publishing companies, cultural institutions, and general businesses. It is also possible for students to devote themselves to their studies by proceeding to the doctoral program.
Why not study musicology and become a bridge between music and society?
In this course, students aim to acquire advanced music reading skills that enable them to understand, comprehend, and interpret music extensively for their performance and research. Following are the specific contents: the acquisition of solfege skills centered on sight-singing, transposition, score reading, etc.; mastery of harmony and counterpoint; multifaceted, practical analysis of musical pieces; and a study of the evolution of styles of music. In addition to further developing the performance skills in their specialties, students write a thesis and create a solfege assignment. The course nurtures individuals who can engage in diverse musical activities in various social settings.
In addition to mastery of the effective use of computers in the field of music, students research teaching materials by creating solfege lesson videos for streaming. These online contents are part of future-oriented educational research.
Those who completed the course work as teachers and instructors at music and general high schools, as well as at music colleges and affiliated music schools.
This course is a research field that explores traditional music cultures nurtured by diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Students aim to create and disseminate a new musical culture from the perspective of the cultural diversity of modern society.
Students study traditional music from various regions of the world, including Japan. By mutually learning each other’s specialized areas of research, they create a new musical culture.
Students can choose the direction of their master’s research from below:
A wide variety of classes are provided for students to freely combine theory and performance classes that match the contents and direction of their master’s research.