(Piano or Organ)

The Advanced Performers Certificate is intended for students who demonstrate the potential to establish a career as a performing artist. Accordingly, the goals of this non-degree program are more narrowly focused than traditional graduate performance degrees. The requirements for the Advanced Performers Certificate Program are designed for students who have demonstrated the ability to perform advanced repertoire and whose artistic communication and technical mastery of major repertoire for the instrument are unusually strong.

Admission Requirements

It is expected that the student applying for admission to the program will have completed a Bachelor of Music degree or its equivalent from a recognized institution. Those applying for admission to the Advanced Performers Certificate Program must follow the procedures and regulations of other students applying for acceptance to the Graduate Division of the School of Music. (GRE not required.)

Upon recommendation of the faculty of the Keyboard Division, a student may be accepted to the Advanced Performers Certificate Program. Admission will require a live audition before a committee that will include at least four members of the Keyboard Division faculty appointed by the Director of Keyboard Studies and the Graduate Program Director in Music. The option of a video performance may be approved when distance to the audition would be a hardship. When the audition is by video, the student must present a live audition before a designated faculty committee during the first semester of residence in order to be fully accepted into the program.

The audition will require sixty minutes of solo repertoire representing the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries and will include at least two major works and two virtuoso etudes from the literature. The audition committee may choose from the repertoire prepared.

Students who have been admitted to the Advanced Performers Certificate Program will be advised on course content by the Graduate Program Director in Music in consultation with the major teacher and the Director of Keyboard Studies.

Language Requirement

All international students whose first language is not English must achieve a TOEFL score of 550 (213 computer based or 80 Internet based), an IELTS score of 6.5, or a Duolingo score of 125 to be admitted to the Advanced Performers Certificate Program.

Assessment of Progress in the Program

Students will be required to maintain a 3.0 GPA to remain in the program. Recitals must receive a grade of A- to be passed. A committee consisting of four Keyboard Division faculty, one faculty member from another applied division, and the Graduate Program Director in Music will grade the required recitals.

A probationary semester will be granted when a student’s GPA falls below the required GPA. Students placed on probationary status will be evaluated yearly by the Dean of the School of Music, the major teacher involved, and any members of the Keyboard Division faculty assigned by the Dean.

Residency Requirements

All course requirements for the Advanced Performers Certificate Program must be completed in residence at Baylor University. The student may complete the credit requirements in four regular Fall-Spring semesters or may distribute the semester hours over four regular Fall-Spring semesters and two summer terms. The minimum time allowed to complete the requirements is two years and the maximum is three years.

Requirements for the Advanced Performers Certificate

Course List

Code	Title	Hours
Course Requirements
Applied Major
Select 20 semester hours		20
MUEN 5136	Advanced Performers Certificate Collaborative Keyboard (includes two full-length collaborative recitals)	4
Music Courses
Select literature, pedagogy, music history or music theory courses appropriate to the area and for which the student is qualified.		6
MUS 5170	Graduate Recital	1
Total Hours		31

Additional courses not included in the program curriculum may be added upon consultation with the Graduate Program Director in Music, the major teacher, and the Director of Keyboard Studies. Added courses will not be counted toward the requirement.