→ PhD Program
→ MM Program
→ In the BM & BME Program
→ Minor in Music Theory


PhD Program in Music Theory

The only Ph.D. program in music theory in the south-central region, LSU boasts four highly accomplished full-time music theorists on its faculty. Information about the program for prospective Ph.D. students can be found here.

Recent Recipients of the PhD in Music Theory from LSU

Dr. Horace J. Maxile
Associate Director of Research · Center for Black Music Research
Columbia College · Chicago, IL
Dissertation: Say What?: Topics, Signs, and Signification in African American Music (2001)

Dr. Aaminah Durrani
Clinical Associate Professor · Moores School of Music
University of Houston · Houston, TX
Dissertation: Chorale and Canon in Alfred Schnittke’s Fourth String Quartet (2005). Winner of the LSU Distinguished Dissertation Award.

Dr. Patrick Tuck
Assistant Professor · Department of Music
University of the Cumberlands · Williamsburg, KY
Dissertation: Brahms’s ‘Eine deutsches Requiem’: Dialectic and the Chromatic Middleground (2007).


MM Program in Music Theory

LSU’s Masters of Music in Music Theory is an excellent choice for the performer looking for a secondary credential, or as a pathway to a doctorate in music theory. Information about the program for prospective M.M. students can be found here. Recipients of the M.M. in music theory from LSU have gone on to some of the most highly rated Ph.D. programs in the country, including the Eastman School of Music, the University of Washington, Florida State University, and the University of Wisconsin.


Music Theory and Aural Skills in the BM and BME Curricula

Music theory and aural skills are an integral part of the undergraduate performance, education, and composition curricula in the LSU School of Music. Information about those programs can be found here.


The Minor in Music Theory

Graduate students in the D.M.A. program, or in the Ph.D. programs in music history, music education, or composition can select music theory as a minor area. Information about the music theory minor can be found here.