Music, Theatre and Dance

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207 Varner Hall • (248) 370-2030 • Fax (248) 370-2041  (map)
www.oakland.edu/mtd

Chair:
Jacqueline H. Wiggins
207 Varner Hall
(248) 370-2030
jwiggins@oakland.edu

Program directors:
Michael Mitchell, Music
Kerro Knox 3, Theatre
Gregory Patterson, Dance
 

Center for Applied Research
in Musical Understanding (CARMU):
Joseph Shively, Director
Deborah Blair
Jacqueline Wiggins

Accreditation

The degree programs offered by the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance are fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, the National Association of Schools of Theatre, and the National Association of Schools of Dance.

Ensemble auditions

Auditions for music and dance ensembles are held during the first few days of each semester. Auditions for other groups and theatrical productions are announced throughout the year.

Honors and awards

The Department of Music, Theatre and Dance offers honors and awards for students, alumni, and community supporters. Departmental honors are awarded for a combination of academic achievement (minimum 3.3 GPA), artistry in the major area of study, and contribution to the operations of the school. Alumni Arts Achievement Awards are presented in dance, music and theatre. The department also awards a Distinguished Community Service Award and an Outstanding Student Service Award.

The department confers a Distinguished Musicianship Award as its highest honor in music and Outstanding Student Awards to students who distinguish themselves in performance, music education, chamber music, and jazz. The Joyce Weintraub Adelson Memorial Award for Piano Ensemble honors the memory of an Oakland University piano instructor, and the Jennifer Scott Memorial Award honors the memory of an Oakland University piano student.

The department confers a variety of awards, including Outstanding Student Awards in musical theatre and theatre design and technology. The Gittlin Theatre and Gittlin Achievement Awards are scholarships offered to theatre students of promise and outstanding ability.

Outreach, partnerships and opportunities

• Center for Applied Research in Musical Understanding (CARMU)
  The mission of the Center for Applied Research in Musical Understanding (CARMU) is to:
  • transform practice in music education
  • build and advance a research-based pedagogy of teaching for musical understanding
  • support pre-K-12 music educators in Michigan, the United States, and internationally
  • demonstrate how research informs professional practice in music education
  • seek national and international eminence in applied research in musical understanding at Oakland University
  • support faculty, graduate and undergraduate research in musical understanding

•  Music Preparatory Division
  The department offers music programs to the community through the Music Preparatory Division, 302 Varner Hall, (248) 370-2034. The Prep Division offers private studio lessons in voice, piano, guitar, and all orchestral instruments for elementary and secondary school students and adults, as well as classes in music theory, early childhood music, creative music for children, and piano readiness.
  
  The Music Prep Division also provides lessons for undergraduate students who wish to study an instrument or voice but do not have enough prior experience to study for college credit.
  Lessons are available on Oakland’s main campus, at Oakland’s Anton/Frankel Center in Mt. Clemens, at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Pincus Music Education Center adjoining Orchestra Hall, and at various locations in the surrounding community.
  

• Professional development
  The department offers a full complement of courses and workshops designed for performing arts professionals. The Department of Music, Theatre and Dance offers summer workshops in a variety of special topics in both theatre and dance. For information about current offerings, go to www.oakland.edu/mtd.
  All graduate music courses and workshops offered by the Department of Music, Theatre and Dance are open to qualified professional development students. These offerings are advertised in our annual graduate brochure (available at www.oakland.edu/mtd). For eligibility to enroll, go to www.oakland.edu/grad and complete a graduate application checking the Professional Development category.

Affiliated professional organizations

• Eisenhower Dance Ensemble (in residence)
• Patterson Rhythm Pace Dance Company
• Mise en Place Dance
• Shifting Sol Dance Company
• soduo Dance Company
• Meadow Brook Theatre Ensemble

Partners in the performing arts

• Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO)
• Oakland University Cooperative Orchestral Library (OUCOL)
• Teaching for Music Understanding (TMU), in-service organization for music teachers
• Oakland Youth Orchestras (OYO)
• Terptheatre, sign language interpreting for the stage
• Epicenter Theatre Group

Professional internship opportunities

• Oakland Symphony Orchestra
• Eisenhower Dance Ensemble Apprenticeships
• Meadow Brook Theatre Ensemble Apprenticeships
• Student Teaching in Regional K-12 Schools 

Study Abroad Opportunities

• Classical theatre study in Greece
  The theatre program offers a summer program in Greece. Students take classes, rehearse classic Greek plays, perform in outdoor amphitheatres and visit archaeological sites and museums.
   
• Traditional music and dance in Ghana
  The world music program offers students an opportunity to study traditional music and dance of Ghana at the Dagara Music and Arts Center in Medie, Ghana, a suburb of the capital city, Accra.
   

Michigan Teacher Certification Requirements

Professional teacher certification

To meet the professional (formerly continuing) certification requirements of the state of Michigan, candidates must already hold initial certification as a Michigan music teacher and must:

• complete three years of experience in their certificate area
• complete 18 credits of coursework in an approved, planned program
• show evidence of having completed at least 3 credits of coursework in methods of teaching reading. To meet the reading requirement, coursework taken as part of the undergraduate degree will apply. Students who have not taken a reading methods course may take RDG 538, Guiding Reading-Learning in Content Subjects.

Candidates for professional certification are urged to complete their 18 credits as part of a master’s degree. This choice offers maximum flexibility. As an alternative, students may choose non-degree planned programs. Oakland University will accept up to 9 credits from another institution toward certification requirements upon adviser approval.

Those teachers who wish to renew a lapsed provisional certificate may be recommended to the state of Michigan upon successful completion of 10 credits of coursework within their planned program.

Upon successful completion of coursework (3.0 for graduate courses; 2.0 for undergraduate), students must apply for certificate renewal or professional certification through the Teacher Education Advising Office, 363 Pawley Hall. The Michigan Department of Education charges for all certifications and renewals. A copy of the fee structure is available through the Teacher Education Advising Office, 364 Pawley Hall, (248) 370-4182.

Those teachers who wish to renew a lapsed continuing or permanent certificate and do not possess a master’s degree must complete 6 credits at the graduate or undergraduate level. These credits do not have to be in a planned program. On completion, the student must apply for validation directly to the Michigan Department of Education, Teacher Certification, Box 30008, Lansing, MI, 48909.

Professional certificate renewal

Teachers who earn a professional certificate (through the process described above) are required to renew that certificate every five years on the basis of 6 credits of academic credit earned from an approved teacher preparation institution or the equivalent in State Board approved teacher development programs or activities that will award credits obtained as State Board Continuing Education Units (SB-CEUs). Continuing certificates issued before July 1, 1992 remain valid as long as the holder serves in an educational capacity 100 days within a five-year period.

Initial certification as a music teacher

Students who hold a bachelor’s degree and wish to obtain initial music teacher certification must enroll in a second undergraduate degree program in music education. Contact the College of Arts and Sciences Advising Office for information on qualifications and admission. Students wishing to enroll in a music teacher certification program must audition for the music program faculty. For details, see the Undergraduate Catalog or www.oakland.edu/mtd.

Programs

• Doctor of Philosophy in Music Education

• Master of Music in Conducting
• Master of Music in Instrumental Performance
• Master of Music in Music Education
• Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy
• Master of Music in Piano Performance
• Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy
• Master of Music in Vocal Performance

• Graduate Certificate in Conducting
• Graduate Certificate in Instrumental Performance
• Graduate Certificate in Music Education
• Graduate Certificate in Piano Pedagogy
• Graduate Certificate in Piano Performance
• Graduate Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy
• Graduate Certificate in Vocal Performance

• Post-Master’s Graduate Certificate in Conducting
• Post-Master’s Graduate Certificate in Instrumental Performance
• Post-Master’s Graduate Certificate in Music Education
• Post-Master’s Graduate Certificate in Piano Pedagogy
• Post-Master’s Graduate Certificate in Piano Performance
• Post-Master’s Graduate Certificate in Vocal Pedagogy
• Post-Master’s Graduate Certificate in Vocal Performance

• Performer’s Certificate in Piano

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