Program Overview
This online Sacred Music program offers an education of the highest quality and broadest scope to those musicians who aspire to be leaders of their time and place. An interdenominational program, it seeks to train church musicians to a high level of competency in the traditional ways of making sacred music while also striving to engage students in new ways of achieving liturgical excellence and spiritual depth in practices that respond to the various cultural forces that continue to transform the ways in which worship is accomplished in the 21st-century.
In order to meet the needs of those musicians who may not find it feasible or expeditious to matriculate in the on-campus program offered during the academic year, this pedagogy-based track is delivered entirely online with the exception of one 3-week period during the summer of the student’s own choosing. While still broad and comprehensive in its curricular design, it offers students a chance to focus on the practical side of making music for those who wish to concentrate on either working with children and youth or adults.
Degree Offered
- Master of Music: Sacred Music Practical Pedagogy Track
Contact
Tom T. Shelton, Jr., M.M.
Associate Professor and Chairperson
Department of Choral Conducting, Music Education and Sacred Music
School of Westminster Choir College
Omega House #211
609-896-5000 x8274
tshelton@rider.edu
Program Website: Sacred Music
Associated Department: Department of Choral Studies, Music Education and Sacred Music
Related Programs
Faculty
Tom T. Shelton, Jr. • Associate Professor and Chairperson, Sacred Music, 2012. B.M., M.M., University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Vinroy Brown • Adjunct Instructor, Sacred Music, 2017. B.M., Westminster Choir College of Rider University; M.A., Regent University.
Steve Pilkington • Associate Professor, Sacred Music, and Director of Chapel, 1992. B.A., St. Olaf College; M.M., University of Illinois; Ph.D., Drew University.
Kathleen Ebling Shaw • Adjunct Instructor, Sacred Music, 1991. B.M., Westminster Choir College.
M.M. in Sacred Music: Practical Pedagogy Track Program Requirements (Online)
(30-31 credits)
Learn more about General Graduate Policies.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Major Area | ||
| SM 610 | Foundations of Music Ministry | 2 |
| SM 631 | Worship Planning/21st Cent. | 3 |
| SM 710 | Panorama of Sacred Music | 3 |
| SM 722 | Theology, Liturgy & Worship | 3 |
| Core Courses | ||
| MH 731 | Intro to Musicology | 3 |
| Theory or Music History elective | 3 | |
| Core Elective 1 | 3 | |
| Choral Festival | 2 | |
| Select one of the concentrations areas below: | 8-9 | |
| Concentration Area - Adult Choral | ||
| Vocal Techniques for Choirs | ||
| Choral Conducting I (OR Conducting Intensive Workshop - 1 week or Choral Institute at Oxford (must be accepted to conduct, not audit)) | ||
| Choral Music for Adults | ||
| Conducting Coaching 2 | ||
| Concentration Area - Children's / Youth Pedagogy | ||
| Choral Conducting I (OR Conducting Intensive Workshop - 1 week or Choral Institute at Oxford (must be accepted to conduct, not audit)) | ||
| Choral Music for Children | ||
| Choir Training For Children/Youth (OR Kodaly I (offered during the summers on campus)) | ||
| Conducting Coaching 2 | ||
| Total Credits | 30-31 | |
- 1
The core elective must be a single, 3-credit graduate-level course outside the student's major area of emphasis, and or area of applied study.
- 2
Recital or approved project will be with their Church or Community Choir. Conducting/Coaching will be via Skype.
Courses and Descriptions
SM 509 Jubilee Singers 1 Credits
This auditioned ensemble is devoted to the performance of sacred music from the African-American tradition.
SM 510 Conducting Adult Church Choirs: Pedagogy and Management 2 Credits
A practical, skill-based course devoted to the building and maintenance of church music programs serving adults.
SM 511 Sacred Music Lab 0 Credits
Series of classes that addresses a variety of experiences in Sacred Music while rotating principal themes and ideas. Student preparation of monthly worship settings will put studied concepts into practice.
SM 512 Conducting Children and Youth Church Choirs: Pedagogy and Management 2 Credits
A practical, skill-based course devoted to the building and maintenance of church music programs serving children and youth.
SM 517 Concert Handbell Choir II 1 Credits
Open to students who have had previous handbell experience. Intermediate to advanced repertoire, with opportunities for concert performance.
SM 519 Concert Handbell Choir I 1 Credits
A choir selected by audition from the most experienced and capable bell ringers among the student body at large. This ensemble utilizes advanced repertoire and techniques, aiming primarily at presenting concerts both on and off campus, including a two-week annual tour.
SM 523 Choral Music for Adults 1 Credits
This course is designed to acquaint the church choral director with repertoire suitable for use with adult choirs and adult ensembles. Representative repertoire from all periods of music will be discussed and analyzed. Rehearsal techniques will be incorporated regarding introducing the repertoire, skill-building development, and warm-ups. Focus will be on repertoire that can be used during special services throughout the liturgical church year.
SM 524 Choral Music for Children 1 Credits
This course is designed to acquaint the church Choral director with repertoire suitable for use with children's and youth choirs. Representative repertoire from all periods of music will be discussed and analyzed. Rehearsal techniques will be incorporated regarding introducing the repertoire, skill-building development, and warm-ups. Focus will be on repertoire that can be used during special services throughout the liturgical church year.
SM 525 Conductors' Repertoire Ensemble 1 Credits
An auditioned chamber ensemble, offered every semester, which provides conducting podium time and coaching to all interested members. It additionally serves the conducting needs of graduate Sacred Music majors.
Prerequisite(s): CR 215 or permission of instructor.
SM 531 Colloquium in Sacred Music 2 Credits
A lecture series/colloquium intended to address a wide variety of concerns in the field of Sacred Music while rotating principal themes and ideas.
SM 541 Conducting Church Choirs:Ped & Mgt 3 Credits
A practical course devoted to the building and maintenance of church music programs serving persons of all ages.
SM 610 Foundations of Music Ministry 2 Credits
This graduate level course surveys the vocational needs, professional relationships, administrative styles, and teaching roles of the practicing church musician. In addition to an overview of professional standards, emphasis will also be placed on music engraving skills (music notation software), budgeting, recruitment, endowments and fundraising.
SM 621 Oratorio Solo Literature 3 Credits
A performance course surveying solo and ensemble portions of oratorios, masses, passions and cantatas from the early Baroque period to the present, with emphasis on approproiate performance techniques for stylistic integrity. Offered in rotation with other Sacred Music electives.
3 Credit hours.
SM 630 Conducting Coaching 1-2 Credits
Structured preparation and faculty coaching of the culminating choral recital in the graduate Sacred Music curriculum.
SM 631 Worship Planning/21st Cent. 3 Credits
Designed to facilitate the planning of worship, this practical course will be an immersion in the musical and theological materials available to those who create worship.
SM 632 Collaborative Prep for Worship 1 Credits
Through seminars, readings and common participation in chapel services, Westminster Choir College and Princeton Theological Seminary students will explore models for pastors and church musicians to prepare collaboratively for worship.
SM 635 Choir Training For Children/Youth 3 Credits
A practical course designed to teach students how to organize and direct a comprehensive music program from preschool through high school in the church setting. The course focuses on teaching excellent vocal techniques for each level as well as appropriate music skill development. Other areas of focus include: musical readiness skills; working with preschool singers; understanding the child’s voice; the changing voice; and appropriate repertoire for all ages.
SM 640 Liturgies 3 Credits
A study of the origins of liturgy, its development in the main Christian traditions, and its relation to ecclesiastical history, with particular attention given to the differing styles and traditions of liturgical music. Contemporary liturgies are viewed against this historical background.
SM 641 Hymnology 3 Credits
A study of the origins and development of Christian hymnody, with reference to the theological emphases of various periods from the beginnings to the present, aiming to arouse interest in the textual and musical content of hymns and in their effective use in worship.
SM 654 German Church Music 3 Credits
A study of church choral literature by German composers from the 16th century to the present focusing on the pre-Bach and post-Bach cantata. Class performances of selected works. Complements SM 655. Offered in rotation with other Sacred Music electives.
SM 655 Bach Cantatas 3 Credits
A study of the history, performance practices, and liturgical setting of the cantatas of J.S. Bach. Class performances of selected cantatas.
SM 690 Independent Study and Research 1-3 Credits
Students may pursue a special topic for which they have prepared through prior course work. Only one project may be scheduled in a semester. The project may involve 1-3 credit hours. Approval of the faculty sponsor, department chair, and dean required prior to the first day of the semester in which the project is to be completed. Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 required.
Prerequisite(s): graduate standing.
SM 710 Panorama of Sacred Music 3 Credits
This graduate-level course is a one-semester survey of those masterworks and significant musical movements that have shaped the evolution of Western Sacred Music. Beginning with the Old Testament, this course will move through all eras, highlighting important composers and liturgical trends, placing them in their appropriate cultural and theological contexts.
SM 712 Hist of Sacred Music I 3 Credits
Study and research into the history of Western Christian music and its most important genres beginning with the Old Testament and continuing until the death of J.S. Bach in 1750.
SM 713 Hist of Sacred Music II 3 Credits
Continuation of SM 712, beginning with the Classical Viennese Mass and continuing until today. Emphasis on the development of the American church and its worship music.
SM 722 Theology, Liturgy & Worship 3 Credits
A detailed study of the Bible. Principal thematic and narrative elements are correlated to the development of the church’s historic liturgies and the theological principles behind them.