Course

Music is important to people throughout society, and that is reflected in the four-year bachelor course Music in Education Zwolle.

You will develop your artistic skills as a musician in individual and group classes, developing your mastery of your own instrument or vocals. You will play together a lot in bands and ensembles and learn to compose and arrange. You will also become proficient at conducting, coaching, leading and teaching and you’ll learn to work with different target groups in society: from pupils in a school to older people taking a workshop. In order to gain practical experience, you will start your internships in the first year. A broad palette of music theory subjects will ensure that you are thoroughly prepared as a teacher.

What do you learn on the Music in Education course at ArtEZ in Zwolle?

The course curriculum of the Music in Education programme in Zwolle is practice-oriented and varied and consists of four parts in the first years of study:

Musical subjects;
Teaching methodologies (including internships within and outside the academy);
Theoretical training (subjects: arranging/writing music workshop, ear training, arranging and instrumentation, music history and cultural reflection);
Other: electives (such as accompanying on the guitar or piano), entrepreneurship classes, projects and excursions.

In every year, there is a strong focus on creative processes such as composing, arranging and improvising, designing lessons and methodical material yourself and doing research. You will also work with students from other arts disciplines and learn how to set up a music production.

In addition, classes, internships, assignments, excursions and cultural visits will prepare you to teach the subjects cultural and artistic education and general art.

The course consists of a foundation year in which you will get to know the course and the professional field, followed by an in-depth phase (second and third years) and a graduation phase (fourth year). As the course progresses, you will increasingly tailor your internships and the subjects you take to match your own interests and future plans.

During the first year, you will be introduced to teaching music lessons and the associated methods. Right from the start, you will spend about half a day per week doing an internship: after several practical classes, you will start teaching lessons yourself in year 5 of primary school: This will involve working towards a school concert, a festive event attended in some cases by parents, brothers and sisters with music and sing-along activities. From January, you will do an internship at a secondary school. Of course you’ll also spend a lot of time making music and writing your own music. That will take up about a third of your time. For the first three years of your course, you will receive tuition in your main instrument. This is the instrument you played for your admission (it could also be vocals). You will get to know different styles of music: from classical music to jazz, pop and non-Western music. In addition to your main instrument, you will also learn to play other instruments, sing in a choir and play in ensembles. Several times a year, you will perform in front of an audience, often with your fellow students, at performance evenings, presentations in projects and the annual music festival.
You will also take music theory subjects in the Music Theory workshop. As a result, you will be flexible in terms of the potential jobs available to you as a future music teacher.
In the first year you will also go on several art and culture excursions. These excursions will revolve around themes such as diversity, external orientation, creation and inclusion. The excursions go to museums in large cities such as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam or Kunstmuseum Den Haag. You will also attend performances and concerts in the major concert halls of the Netherlands.
In the first year, you can apply for the Honours Programme as a supplement to the theoretical programme of your own bachelor course.
ArtEZ Docent Muziek in Zwolle | Het tweede en derde jaar
In the second and third years, you will deepen and broaden your knowledge and skills: You will do internships in primary and secondary schools and, during the orthopedagogical music teacher project, teach music lessons to pupils with a disability, for example a deaf pupil or a pupil with an autism spectrum disorder. This will involve doing a joint internship with a student from the Music Therapy bachelor. Guest lecturers will give you an insight into the different forms of special needs education. In the third year, the emphasis of your internships will be on secondary education.
In the 'Musical Leadership' subject, you will write your own music for school ensembles, who will actually perform the arrangements or compositions under your musical direction.
You will also learn to lead choirs and ensembles. During band coaching, you will learn basic skills on drums, guitar, bass guitar and keyboard. You’ll put those skills into practice during the internships and project weeks.

Finals project Laila de Vries
In your graduation year, you can specialise in the area of your choice. For example, secondary education, PABO, orthopedagogical music teacher, community art or music theatre. You will choose a minor that suits your interests, for example extra instrumental tuition, arranging or song writing. You will do your own practical research, which will involve doing an internship and reading books and articles. This will result in the development of an end product for which you will conduct research, such as an essay or a series of articles, a series of lessons, an innovative method or setting up your own music education company.
As part of your specialisation, you will also work on your own music production with or for a target group of your choice. This music production represents the musical conclusion of your course, during which you will present yourself to others at the ArtEZ finals. A main subject lecturer will supervise you in your preparations.

Internship

What is it like to work in secondary or vocational education, in a music school, with a choir and with an orchestra? How do you support pupils in developing their musical skills? During various internships and projects, you will gain practical experience of working with different target groups, both within and outside the academy.

In the first three years, you will do an internship in a school for an average of one half day per week. The details will differ. In addition to giving classes (or a series of classes), you may prepare a concert or presentation, or work with students on a musical, for example.

As part of your preparations, you will learn to stand in front of a group and lead group activities at the academy. You’ll also learn which methods you can use when teaching. During the internship, you will be given assignments that you can try out in practice. The mentor of the internship school (usually the music teacher of the class where you are doing your internship) will discuss all the lessons you teach with you afterwards. A number of times a year, your main subject lecturer will also pay a visit to attend and supervise your work in practice.

By the fourth year, you will be able to teach practical and theory lessons, supervise students and adapt your teaching style as appropriate. You will do an internship in the senior years of a secondary school. You will also do a profile internship. Where you do so will depend on the subject of your graduation thesis and your plans for the future; possible examples include internships with startups, music venues, ensembles and art companies. There you will become acquainted with the breadth of the profession and you will also focus on the field of cultural and artistic education and general art. Of course you can also use your own network and contacts.

Orthopedagogical Music Teacher internship project

In the second year of your course, you will do an eight-week internship for half a day per week in a school for special needs education. There you will learn to tailor music lessons to the special needs of the pupil(s). This is also an introduction to the specialisation Orthopedagogic Music Teacher/Therapist, which you can choose as a graduation option in the fourth year.

Projects

- We organise an introduction to the course for first-year students jointly with all the ArtEZ art & design, music and theatre courses in Zwolle. During this introduction week, you will get to know your class, mentor and course and work on a joint project, such as a festival at the academy or a presentation in Zwolle city centre. The introduction week is supervised by ArtEZ lecturers and guest lecturers.
Social project Every year we hold a project week with a clear focus on relevance to society. For instance, we have collaborated with AZC in Dronten, performed home concerts for informal carers in collaboration with KASKO and ZwolleDoet! and musical performances in a hospital, and we have made music for our loved ones in the HEB LIEF project.
ArtEZ Music in Eduvation | introduction week
Solos, duets, choir and ensembles: they form the basis of the annual Music Making Festival. All the students of the Music in Education course in Zwolle are put in the spotlight vocally and instrumentally at the end of each academic year. Making music, creating, collaborating and performing music go hand in hand on this course. During the Music Making Festival, the students give a presentation to demonstrate this. Different styles are featured: from classical to jazz and pop, but there is also music composed by our own students.

Zangensemble onder leiding van Rohan Poldervaart: Shiny Stockings
Once a year, students of the Music in Education course organise a work week around a theme of their choice, for example musical theatre, Latin American music, pop music, non-Western music or arranging. At the end of the week, you then present what you have been doing to each other or a wider audience. This is a good way and a musical way for new students to get to know the other years.
Work week in Zwolle
Collaborating with other disciplines has become increasingly important in education. Arts subjects are offered in schools in a coherent and sometimes integrated way within cultural and artistic education and general art. Teachers and departments of the cultural subjects are increasingly interacting with one another inside and outside schools and are coordinating their goals and working methods. Which is why in the first three years, you’ll be working with students from other teacher training courses within ArtEZ (visual arts and theatre) for a number of days every semester.

You will be looking into questions like: what are dance, theatre, music and how do the design processes within these different disciplines originate? You’ll visit exhibitions, performances and music performances together, immerse yourselves in the context, respond to current events and place what you have experienced in a historical perspective.
Winterlab is an annual one-week project in January. During Winterlab, students from different three-year degree programmes work intensively together on an issue from society for two weeks. Examples include things like: is the level of vacancy in the centre of Zwolle a problem or does it actually offer opportunities? Each team of students is assigned an issue on the Monday morning and presents some imaginary scenarios on the Friday of the following week. The Winterlab projects are supervised by guest lecturers.
ArtEZ Music in Education in Zwolle
In the fourth year, you will work on a production with or for a target group, either independently or with others. For the production, you will write and arrange music, study music and give musical direction. You will organise the production yourself and choose a location to perform it. The music production is the finale of your course, the ideal showcase to demonstrate your musicality and teaching skills. You will present your music production during the ArtEZ exam period – the ArtEZ finals.
Music production ArtEZ Docent Music in Education in Zwolle

Course supervision

A course at higher vocational level sometimes confronts you with new issues. For this reason, you will have regular conversations with an academic career advisor throughout your course at the academy of music. You will be assigned an academic career advisor in each academic year. Often these conversations will be individual, but it is also possible to discuss your studies with an academic career advisor in class or in groups. Your academic career advisor will inform you about practical matters related to the course. They will also discuss your study and planning methods. They will supervise you in 'learning to study' and give you study advice where necessary. If you experience problems during your course, you can also make an appointment with your academic career advisor yourself.

Music & Health

High demands are placed on musicians on a physical and mental level. That is why we at ArtEZ pay the necessary attention to healthy music making. We mainly do this during project days and weeks. You follow a series of lessons about healthy voice use and you learn to recognize and prevent work-related complaints.

Entrepreneurship

During the Music in Education programme, we devote a great deal of attention to developing an entrepreneurial attitude and the basic business knowledge required for working as a freelancer.

We expect all students to have an entrepreneurial attitude, which for a large part consists in taking initiative, making decisions and being results-oriented. Besides teaching music in schools, many of our graduates run their own businesses. In the third and fourth years, you will therefore attend special classes in entrepreneurship. There is a growing interest among all kinds of groups within society in getting involved in music, art and culture. On the Music in Education course in Zwolle, you will learn to recognise these trends and developments and cater to them through projects and other initiatives.

Would you like to learn more about running your own business? If so, you can choose to start your own educational enterprise within your graduation profile and conduct your own research in this area.

Facilities

The Music in Education course in Zwolle is part of the ArtEZ Academy of Music in Zwolle.

Studying in Zwolle

You can find more information about studying in Zwolle here.

Doing research outside of your regular class hours

When you study at ArtEZ, you also get acquainted with research. Think of theory classes, material research, and socially engaged research. Within your course, there is ample support and space to discover what kind of artistic researcher you are. But outside your regular class hours, there are also special initiatives, activities, and workshops where you can work on research. Especially for students who seek further depth. Curious? Then quickly read more about the (extracurricular) research activities.

Doing research outside of your regular class hours

Open day ArtEZ Academy of Music in Zwolle

Open day ArtEZ Academy of Music in Zwolle

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