After graduation Ma taught for seven and one half years in the high school system, then applied for and received a full scholarship to the prestigious Regensburg Music Academy in West Germany.
畢業後，馬水龍在中學教了七年書，一直到獲得西德雷根斯堡音樂學院的獎學金才赴德，師事奧斯卡、西格蒙博士，主修理論作曲。