The University of Missouri, the state's flagship school, dates back to 1839 and makes its home in the town of Columbia in the middle of the state. The university has a number of different schools within its system, one of which is the MU School of Music. Students in this department can participate in a number of undergraduate and graduate programs, earning a bachelor's degree in the arts, music or sciences as well as a variety of master's degrees and PhDs. While many of the programs, such as Vocal Performance, Piano Performance and even Composition, involve developing skill as a musician, others, such as Music Theory and Music K-12, simply focus on the study of music and music education.
Washington University, founded in St. Louis in 1853, has garnered a reputation as an elite American institution consistently ranking in the top 20 on the U.S. News & World Report annual list of top colleges. While the private school is labeled as a "research" college, the school's music department teaches performance as well as music study. The school offers a bachelor's degree as well as a master's in performance, music history and theory as well as in keyboard skills and musicology. Washington University encourages outside music internships, most notably with the local Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
While not quite as well known nationally as Washington University, and not nearly as large as Missouri University, Truman State, founded in Kirksville in 1867, is one of the top-ranked public schools in Missouri and includes a music department that is fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. The liberal arts school, which until 1996 was known as Northeast Missouri State University, provides mostly performance-based degrees in such areas as brass, choral, percussion and piano, while still offering several music study focuses, such as theory and musicology. The graduate program allows students the opportunity to earn masters' degrees in both performance and music education.
Although established in 1871, this public school went through a variety of similar names before finally deciding on Central Missouri State University in 2006. Offering a general four-year education in the general arts and humanities fields, the music department provides varying degrees for both undergraduate and graduate students. The undergrads have the option of a performance-based degree, which includes music production, a music education degree or a music degree as part of a general liberal arts emphasis; this allows for a minor in other fields. The graduate program at Central Missouri State now offers a master's in music education with an emphasis on conducting.