 Afterwards at that same school in 1951 he got his master's degree in music education.He earned a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Iowa in 1958, and was Austin Fletcher Professor of Music Emeritus at Tufts University, from 1972 to his retirement in 1990.Anderson worked at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma, as a music professor from 1958 to 1963.