6 Best Music Master's Degree Programs in Japan for 2024

The objectives of the course are to provide students the opportunity to learn and do research on musical art while placing a high priority on developing each student’s personality and creativity. It aims to train excellent musicians and researchers with the ability to play active roles in society by taking full advantage of their professional knowledge.

From a broad perspective, the graduate school of this university will acquire in-depth academics and skills related to music, cultivate the abilities required for research abilities and highly specialized professions in the field of music majors, and will deepen its depth. The purpose is to contribute to the development of culture.

The Music and Arts Graduate School of the Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts aims to accomplish the objectives of developing students’ outstanding professional competence in various areas of the musical arts. Based on the above, and following the founding principles of the school, outstanding practical education shall be provided to students, with particular attention paid to the technical characteristics of Okinawa’s traditional performing arts, which have been inspired by the particular history, culture, and natural environment of this archipelago.

In the field of composition research at the graduate school, we will strive to develop knowledge and abilities that can fully demonstrate individuality and creativity in the world music scene. It is also a place to deepen research on a comprehensive art genre with faculty members, focusing on the utilization of multimedia and enabling various collaborations. The environment that supports vibrant efforts in research and creative practice is becoming more fulfilling, and today, composers who are attracting attention both inside and outside the country are leaving every year.

The Graduate School of Music reorganized its master's degree programs in 2007. The former classification of specialties, that is three programs consisting of six different areas of study: Composition (Composition, Musicology), Voice, and Instrumental Music (Piano, Strings, Winds, and Percussion), were incorporated into one unified Music program. This single program aims to establish a flexible system for interdisciplinary study and education beyond the boundaries of specialization while it offers opportunities for solid specialized researches. As a result, students can pursue their interests with more flexibility. Specifically, the master's degree program at the Graduate School of Music covers seven areas of study: Composition, Musicology, Voice, Keyboard Instruments, Strings, Winds, and Percussion. Each of the areas is establishing classes in cooperation with other areas, even with the liberal arts classes and the Graduate School of Fine Arts. Such classes planned and established by more than two different areas of study are called "Project". Projects currently in operation are Composite Arts Project (Opera Project and Art Management Project, implemented in cooperation with the School of Art) and Music Project (Chamber Music Project, Orchestra Project, and Wind Orchestra Project). There are considerable latent social needs for music. In other words, they are ample opportunities to make a contribution to communities through music. The master's degree program at the Graduate School of Music intends to develop individuals who can discover and at the same time, create social needs for music through their musicianship while refining their abilities as genuine professionals. The program provides the necessary support for this purpose. As it has established the Art Management course recently, its flexible education effectively cultivates the talents and interests of individual students.

The Graduate School of Art was established in 1951 as a master’s program in Literary Arts, but has since expanded to a full-scale comprehensive graduate school of the arts that currently offers master’s programs in Literary Arts, Image Arts, Fine Art and Design, Musical Arts, and Performing Arts. While the emphasis is on education in the various departments, the School is also engaged in high-level research. The doctoral program consolidates all the arts into a single field, making possible even deeper research into the arts than at the master’s level. Apart from research and creation within each specialized field, we also encourage collaboration with adjacent fields and aim for an understanding of the arts from a broad perspective. In particular, the doctoral program lends equal weight to the theory and history of each of the arts and to studies of artistic expression, and we instruct our students to conduct balanced research between theory and expression in order to obtain a doctoral degree.