Course

At the heart of the master’s course The Sound of Innovation lies discovery and invention. You look beyond the horizon of what we already know, and question conventions by redefining the borders between disciplines and sectors. You predict and contribute to cultural, social, and economic development.

Music is the starting point but the end result can be a combination of any number of different components. You are invited to reflect on your own qualities and to expand and enhance them, adding expertise, entrepreneurship and experience, while developing a network that can help you to realise your true potential.

What will you learn at The Sound of Innovation?

The journey begins close to home: You will explore your own qualities, what drives you, what your unique creative gifts are and the role what role music can play in your professional life. The next phase involves a broader perspective: you will shape the sound of the future by to exploring new (musical) concepts and technologies.

You learn how to use your creativity and artistic vision within different sectors and hone your musical skills. You will work in a team with multiple disciplines, conduct research, draw up organizational and financial plans and learn to master new (musical) technologies.

Curriculum

The Sound of Innovation in Enschede consists of three levels, some of which you shape yourself in your own way, and some of which have already been shaped for you.

In the Innovation Lab you focus on practice-based experience, research and development. Using your own qualities and interests as a starting point, you will work together with your fellow students in developing innovative concepts and products, with a focus on:
- fostering and harnessing creativity;
- concepting and imagineering;
- project management;
- presentation and performance.
Together with the other students, you will bring new ideas to the table, explore them and find applications for them whenever possible. There is input from a team of teachers who are specialised in the various disciplines and subjects that are relevant to the Innovation Lab. The process is interactive: you help to decide if guest teachers should be invited to the lab and which themes and topics you wish to address.
In the individual route you choose your own lessons and modules. You decide what you want to focus on: it all depends on what you are working on and what you need. There are lecturers available to help and guide you with your route and your choices where necessary. You can select entire courses as well as individual lessons, optional modules, and electives from other programmes such as Music Therapy or Media Music. In your second year, you are allocated a personal budget which you can use to fund your choice of master classes, workshops, or external coaching.
In Connecting the Dots, you will meet - and work with - other master's students in music at ArtEZ. Connecting the Dots consists of a project week, various workshops and the Meet the Master course. Connecting the Dots is about exchanging, collaborating and connecting: you get a taste of (music) fields other than your own and you benefit from working with makers who, like you, are developing their own practice.
Examples from previous years of Connecting the Dots
The theme and method of the project week are determined annually by the students themselves. In 2022/23, the theme of the project week was "moving images. Inspirer and guest lecturer was composer Jacob ter Veldhuis (Jacob TV), who took the students for three days in October into his visual world of grooving, speech sample-based boombox compositions, colorful orchestral works and his reality opera THE NEWS. Students worked in groups on their own concept, coached by visual artist Donna Verheijden, composer and singer Brechtje van Dijk, improvisation specialist Jasper le Clercq and dramaturg Cecile Brommer. The project concluded with a performance at Focus Filmtheater in Arnhem.
Examples from previous years include the collaboration with the Sounds of Change organization, which took the students through their specific working methods, and a project week on the theme of Mourning, with guest teachers from music therapy, theater and design.fields other than your own and you benefit from working with makers who, like you, are developing their own practice.

Research and development

The master's course The Sound of Innovation does not include a separate course or module on artistic research and development: instead, research and development are deeply embedded within the programme, with specialist teachers to train and advise you. Throughout the curriculum of this course, you will be encouraged to ask yourself questions such as: Why do I want to develop this? If this is what I want to achieve, then what do I need? From whom? What problems need to be solved? Whatever your goals may be, doing research become an integral part of the process of realising them.

From left to right: master's students Lena Chen, Christine Chen and Matteo Traverso during Melkhal Pulse

Interdisciplinary communication

As an innovator who looks to apply musical concepts to other disciplines, you work together with experts from various fields, such as healthcare professionals, engineers, teachers or economists. During the course, you learn the vocabulary of different disciplines in order to communicate your ideas and to create interesting and fruitful crossovers and collaborations.

Master's courses in music at ArtEZ

The master’s course The Sound of Innovation is located in Enschede, where the focus is on the innovation and development of creative music solutions for various fields. ArtEZ also offers master's courses in music at two other locations. In Zwolle, the focus is on performance and curation, helping you to develop into the best possible version of yourself. The emphasis in the master’s courses in Arnhem is on performance and creation: blending experiment with expression. Whichever pathway you choose, you are encouraged to make use of the expertises of the different master's students, their know-how and the facilities at all three locations, in order to develop your own unique graduation profile within the master's in music.

Discover all the master's courses in music