Woodwinds

To receive full consideration for admission and graduate assistantships, submit your application by December 1. The School of Music cannot guarantee an audition, interview, admission, or graduate assistantship if the application is received after this deadline.

Residency Requirement

Per Graduate College policy 8.2.1.1, "The student must be in residence at OU for at least two consecutive 16-week semesters during the pursuit of the doctoral degree while enrolled and engaged in coursework or research activities as prescribed by the major academic unit."

Assistantships

All applicants are automatically considered for appropriate graduate assistantships. Please notify the Graduate Music Office (gradmusic@ou.edu) if you do not wish to be considered. Please note that assistantships are usually awarded for the Fall and Spring semesters together. We very seldom have assistantships available for anyone entering in a Spring semester. We do not award assistantships for Summer sessions.

Application Procedure

By the December 1 deadline, please submit the online application (see Graduate Admissions page) and all application materials described below.

The members of the woodwind faculty will review all application and prescreening materials and invite applicants to a live audition based on the strength of the preliminary recordings and submitted materials. Individuals will be contacted by email to schedule their live audition. More details on the audition can be found at the bottom of this page.

Application materials specific to this degree

The following prescreening items must be submitted through the online graduate application system by December 1:

A repertoire list of significant solo and chamber repertoire studied and performed.
- Submit using the Supporting Documents tab in the online application.
Performance videos of at least 30 minutes of music. See the audition requirements at the bottom of the page for guidelines.
- Recordings may be in audio or video format
- Submit files (and/or links to online recordings) using the Digital Portfolio > Upload Media tab in the online application.

Application materials required for all graduate degrees

These items must be submitted to the online graduate application system.

Resume
- Submitted to the online application under the Resume tab.
Statement of Purpose
- Submitted to the online application under the Statement of Purpose tab
- Please compose a brief personal statement (approximately 2–3 pages of double-spaced, 12-point font text with 1-inch margins) regarding your desire to pursue a graduate degree in music. Include responses to the following prompts:
  1. How would you describe your professional path to this point?
  2. Why do you want to pursue this degree at OU?
  3. How do you want to grow musically, artistically, pedagogically, and/or intellectually during your graduate studies?
  4. What skills, expertise, and experiences do you bring to graduate study at OU?
  5. Describe your post-degree plans (i.e., How will you apply your newly acquired academic knowledge and expertise?).
Three letters of reference
- Submitted to the online application under Recommendations tab
- Your three reference letters should include:
  - At least one letter from: your studio professor, ensemble conductor, chamber coach, etc., or a person who has considerable knowledge about your abilities as a performer or composer.
  - At least one letter from: a person who can speak to your abilities as a scholar of music.

Scholarly writing requirement

This degree requires you to submit a sample of your scholarly writing.

Submitted to the online application under the Supporting Documents tab
The guidelines for this writing sample are as follows:
1. Should represent your best writing and researching skills.
2. Preferably not more than 3 years old; should be recently revised. If you do not have a recent scholarly writing sample on hand, we ask that you compose something original.
3. Adhere to a consistent method of formatting and citations (e.g., Chicago, MLA, Turabian, APA) and include a bibliography/reference list.
4. A minimum of 5 pages of double-spaced, 12-point font text (not counting bibliography) with typical 1-inch margins.
5. Ensure your writing sample is representative of the field. Consider presenting a complete argument supporting a clear thesis, perhaps methodological in nature for empirical research, or other format reflective of various academic areas in music.
6. Please contact the Graduate Music Office (gradmusic@ou.edu) or the area chair for your program with any questions about meeting these requirements.

Audition Dates

DMA auditions will be scheduled on the following dates. See the following section for more details.

Graduate Woodwind Audition Dates
January 31, 2026
February 7, 2026 (no Bassoon auditions)
February 21, 2026

Audition Details and Requirements

Upon successful prescreening, applicants will be contacted by a member of the woodwind faculty to schedule their audition. Live auditions are preferred and will receive priority consideration for graduate assistantships. Video auditions may be accepted with special permission from the audition committee. Audition repertoire and other requirements are the same for both live and recorded auditions.

With the approval of their applied teacher, a current OU master’s student planning to apply to the DMA program within twelve months of graduation may submit their MM degree recital in lieu of a formal audition. Recital repertoire must meet the DMA audition requirements outlined below and be attended or otherwise reviewed by the audition committee.

DMA woodwind applicants should prepare approximately 30 minutes of music.
Applicants are encouraged to reach out to the primary instrument professor in advance to discuss their proposed audition repertoire.
Repertoire should consist of music appropriate for graduate level study and may include orchestral excerpts and/or etudes.
The audition should represent a broad breadth of contrasting styles.
Applicants are encouraged to include music of underrepresented composers, but this is not required.
All DMA auditions will include an interview with members of the woodwind faculty.
Live auditions will be unaccompanied.