The Department of Music is designed to provide a sound musical education to students wishing to fulfill themselves as performers, scholars, or teachers, as well as other musical pursuits. To achieve this aim, the music program provides intensive training in mutually dependent areas as related components of a total music experience: history of music, world music, composition, theory, and performance. The Department of Music offers the degrees of:
- M.A. and Ph.D. in composition, ethnomusicology, musicology and theory;
- M.M. in choral conducting, keyboard (piano), piano accompanying, strings, voice, and woodwinds & brass;
- D.M.A. in choral conducting, keyboard (piano), strings, horn, and voice.
The Department also offers combined M.A./Ph.D. and M.M./D.M.A. programs to qualified students in the relevant disciplines.
Please check back in September for program availability for the 2026-27 Admissions cycle
If you have questions about UCSB's graduate programs in Music, please contact the Department of Music directly.
Mailing Address
Department of Music
University of California, Santa Barbara
ATTN: Carly Yartz - Music Building, Room 1316B
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-6070
(USA)
Degrees Offered
MA, MM, MA/PhD, PhD
Deadlines
Fall Only:
- January 10, 2026 (by 11:59 PM PST): Priority Deadline
- April 1, 2026 (by 11:59 PM PST): Final Deadline
Requirements
- Online application: https://www.graddiv.ucsb.edu/eapp
- Statement of Purpose, Personal History and Diversity Statement, and Resume or CV (submitted in the online application)
- In your Statement of Purpose, please address your agenda for study and research including your specific area of interest, both over the past years and projected into the future.
- Three Letters of Recommendation (submitted in the online application)
- Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended (submitted in the online application)
- English Language Exam Scores (if applicable): TOEFL Internet-Based Test (IBT) total score of 80, or IELTS Overall Band score of 7, or Duolingo English Test total score of 120, or higher
- Writing Sample for all applicants. Submit the writing sample in the online application. Please contact the Music Department graduate program office for detailed information.
- Live audition and/or pre-screen recording for those applying to MM or DMA degrees in Performance depending on emphasis. Please contact the Music Department graduate program office for detailed information. The DMA degree application requires a live audition.
- Final/Official transcripts will be required for all applicants who are admitted and have indicated their intent to enroll at UC Santa Barbara by submitting a Statement of Intent to Register (SIR). UC Santa Barbara reserves the right to require official transcripts at any time during the admissions process, and rescind any offer of admission made if discrepancies between uploaded and official transcript(s) are found.
Composition, Ethnomusicology, Musicology, Theory (MA and Ph.D.); Choral Conducting, Keyboard, Strings, Horn, Voice (MM or DMA); Woodwinds and Brass, Piano Accompanying (MM only). Optional Ph.D. emphases in European Medieval Studies, Feminist Studies, Cognitive Science, and Global Studies
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