Master of Music in Collaborative Piano

Students in the Conservatory's collaborative piano program are accomplished pianists who are passionate about working with other artists on both existing and new works. They are collaborative by nature, and appreciate diverse musical styles and aesthetics. Collaborative piano students are dedicated to delivering high-quality instruction and performance, and work tirelessly with their peers to make artistic discoveries.

The Conservatory's collaborative piano curriculum focuses on giving students as many collaborative performance opportunities as possible. Through this experience, students build a vast knowledge of instrumental and vocal repertoire and develop the expertise and confidence needed to lead musical collaborations.

Throughout the two-year program, students perform with various Conservatory singers, instrumentalists, and large and small ensembles, including pit orchestras for dance, opera, and theater productions. Additionally, students participate in weekly seminar classes that culminate in a themed studio performance in which students present pieces selected by Andrew Altenbach, Boston Conservatory's music director of opera.

Collaborative piano students will also take weekly private lessons with the school's renowned piano faculty, as well as courses designed to strengthen their musical sensibilities, including harmony, counterpoint, ear training, music history, opera studio (mainstage rehearsals, opera score reduction, scene study, and characterization), foreign languages and diction study (French, Italian, and German), theory and musicology electives, and opera coaching.

The Master of Music in Collaborative Piano requires students to complete 34 credits, consisting of the course requirements listed below. View the Sample Curriculum by Semester for additional details.

Proficiency Requirements

Upon matriculation to the Master of Music degree programs, candidates take proficiency examinations in music theory and music history. These exams are designed to identify minimum competencies in both areas reflecting a typical undergraduate preparation in music. Any deficiencies revealed by these exams must be corrected within the first year in residence through successful completion of prescribed review courses in ear training, harmony, or music history.

Major Requirements

• M-AP 0009 Applied lessons (12 credits total, 3 credits each)
• M-AP 0091 Applied Concentrate lessons (4 credits total, 1 credit each)
• M-EN 0xxx Collaborative Options (1 credit)
• M-EN 0079 Chamber Music (1 credit)
• M-EX 6001 Oral Comprehensive Exam (0 credit)
• M-LT 07xx / M-ST 779xx Repertoire Course or M-EN 0xxx Collaborative Options (1 credit)
• M-SK 0009 Recital (0 credit)
• M-SK 5001 Graduate Diction Intensive (1 credit)
• M-ST 0629 Seminar for Collaborative Pianists (4 credits total, 1 credit each)

Academics and Electives

• M-LT 5103 Writing About Music (1 credit)
• M-LT 5104 Communicating About Music (1 credit)
• M-LT 712xx Graduate seminars in Theory & Analysis and/or M-LT 713xx Music History (6 credits total, 3 credits each)
• Xxxxx General electives (1 credit total)

The Master of Music in Collaborative Piano program seeks to take an established musician with a strong foundation of skills, identify those areas of desired and required growth, and build upon them to enhance artistic potential and impact. Upon successful completion of the program, students will:

• prepare, research, and accurately perform a wide range of musical styles, genres, and repertoire with a high level of technical and musical understanding developed in applied and secondary lessons, large and small ensemble experiences, coachings, master classes, and observations, as well as through genre-specific repertoire courses, diction courses, and the focused study of music theory and music history;
• apply ear-training skills, knowledge of theoretical and harmonic analysis, as well as historical context to the study and performance of a score and their work with collaborative partners;
• express the artistry of a score with respect to its tradition and informed by its context through intensive study and analysis, modeled in the coursework affiliated with the program;
• analyze instrumental technique to overcome technical challenges, with an ability to communicate the details of that technique to others, as studied in applied and secondary lessons;
• research and perform works of underrepresented composers and appreciate the necessity of promoting those works;
• develop a specialty for work with either singers or instrumentalists through focused repertoire studies and collaboration, particularly in the second year of the program; and
• establish an artistic identity that represents their individuality, celebrating music of past and present, and serving as a champion for the future of our industry.

Graduates from this program are prepared to:

• create an operatic score to partner a conductor in staging, musical, or coaching rehearsal;
• accompany a piano rehearsal for a soloist and conductor of a symphony orchestra
• partner with a vocalist or instrumentalist in recitals, master classes, and advanced study courses;
• partner with a chamber ensemble that explores standard and contemporary literature;
• command language proficiency in Italian, French, and German, sufficient to communicate an informed rubato and accurate ensemble balance, and continue to grow towards fluency or near-fluency;
• collaborate in musical theater score preparation and pit orchestra performances and rehearsals;
• develop the art and skill of vocal coaching; and
• partner with a dance production through rehearsal and performance, with or without a conductor