Institute students are enrolled both in the Institute and in the School of Music and/or the Divinity School. Institute students must follow the curriculum of their respective schools to receive their degrees. They must also follow the curriculum of the ISM to receive the ISM Certificate and maintain their financial aid. All ISM students attend the Institute colloquium and elect courses with Institute faculty.
See the chapter Programs of Study for information about the ISM program requirements.
Degrees with Yale School of Music
Music students in the ISM are candidates for one of three degrees. See full descriptions in the School of Music bulletin.
Master of Music
The M.M. is a two-year postbaccalaureate degree in musical performance. The degree program includes intensive study of a primary discipline (e.g., keyboard, conducting, composition, voice), augmented by theoretical and historical studies. See the chapter Programs of Study for ISM expectations.
Master of Musical Arts
The Master of Musical Arts degree is a performance-oriented degree designed for students who desire further education beyond a Master of Music degree. The M.M.A. is a two-year degree program for external candidates and a one-year program for internal applicants. Internal candidates of the voice program are only rarely accepted into the M.M.A. program. Applicants must hold a Master of Music degree or its equivalent in the field in which they are planning to apply. The program provides intensive training in the student’s major field—performance, conducting, or composition—supported by studies in theoretical and historical subjects. In addition to private lessons and chamber music, students take part in relevant ensembles such as Yale Schola Cantorum. M.M.A. candidates will perform a recital in each year of study. ISM students elect one course each year taught by an ISM, Divinity School, or Department of Religious Studies faculty member.
Those who hold a D.M.A. degree or are currently enrolled in a D.M.A. program are not eligible to apply for the Master of Musical Arts program.
Doctor of Musical Arts
The Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Yale is a distinctive program comprised of a two-year residential component on campus followed by a three-year dissertation period during which candidates develop and demonstrate professional and artistic excellence. Applicants must have completed a Master of Music degree or its equivalent in the field in which they are planning to apply prior to matriculating in the program. The degree provides intensive training in the student’s major field—performance, conducting, or composition—augmented by studies in theoretical and historical subjects. Yale University confers the Doctor of Musical Arts degree on those candidates who have successfully completed four terms of residential requirements, demonstrated expertise in the major field through artistic excellence and distinguished achievements in the dissertation period, and concluded the program requirements by passing the final D.M.A. recital and oral examination. ISM students elect one course each year taught by an ISM, Divinity School, or Department of Religious Studies faculty member.
Degrees with Yale Divinity School
Divinity students in the ISM are candidates for one of three degrees. See full descriptions in the Divinity School bulletin.
Master of Divinity
The M.Div. is a three-year degree program of theological studies designed primarily, although not exclusively, to prepare students for ordination to the Christian ministry.
Master of Arts in Religion
The M.A.R. is a two-year degree program that prepares students for a variety of careers. Students in the comprehensive program may go into one of the many forms of lay ministry or service (e.g., secondary teaching, college or hospital chaplaincy, nonprofit management, religion writing), while the concentrated M.A.R. degree offers the opportunity to pursue advanced work in one of the disciplines of theological study.
Master of Sacred Theology
The S.T.M. is a one-year degree program for those who have obtained the M.Div. degree or the equivalent and wish to do concentrated research on a specific project. Typically, ISM students in this degree program focus either in liturgical studies or religion and the arts.
Joint Degrees
The School of Music and the Divinity School participate in a number of joint-degree programs with other Yale professional schools and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. All students pursuing a joint degree will be expected to fulfill the curricular requirements of the ISM, the Divinity School or the School of Music, and the graduate or professional school with which they seek to partner.
The Yale joint-degree system allows a student to earn two degrees in one year less time than would be required if the student pursued both degrees separately. Thus, a joint program between two two-year degree programs would be completed in three years; a joint program between a two-year degree program and a three-year degree program would be completed in four years; and two three-year degree programs would be completed in five years. The Institute awards financial aid only in terms the student is enrolled in School of Music or Divinity School.
For more information on joint-degree programs, consult the Divinity School and School of Music bulletins and contact the ISM director to discuss details before applying.