Curriculum

The first year is the same for all Jazz & Pop students. Regardless of your background, you are introduced to many different styles. This broad development takes shape through:
 

- Principal study
- Bands (including five different styles, improvisation technique and studio experience)
- Piano at your own level
- Music production
- Education
- Music theory
- Workshops and masterclasses by (inter)nationally known musicians

Alongside these subjects, you also take part in several projects. This first year gives you everything you need to make an informed choice about how you want to specialise later in your studies. In every style there are plenty of fellow students to form a band with.

Your principal study remains central in the second year, but you also choose part of your subjects yourself. Through these electives — and your own choices within other subjects — your preferred style and direction become increasingly clear. Think of electives such as second instrument, music technology, mental training, music education and music business. You can also take courses at other ArtEZ locations. You put your learning into practice on stage through various bands.

Your principal study, band coaching, research and your graduation project form the compulsory part of your final two years in the bachelor’s programme Jazz & Pop in Arnhem. In addition, there are even more electives than in the first half of your studies.

The bands you form with fellow students follow the same path as bands outside ArtEZ. You rehearse, perform on stages within and beyond ArtEZ, and record demos, EPs or full albums in the studio. The programme works with various festivals and venues, so there are many opportunities to play. The business side of being in a band is also part of the curriculum: management, marketing, networking, rights and fundraising are among the topics you not only learn about but also apply directly in your bands.

If you do an internship or spend a semester abroad, this also takes place in the third or fourth year.

You complete your final work once you have passed all bachelor’s courses. This concluding concert or project is entirely devised and produced by you, and matches the graduation profile you have chosen. It might be a pop concert or a jazz programme, but final auditions have also featured heavy metal, salsa, big band jazz and singer-songwriters. Students of Composition for Film & Theatre conclude with film, dance or theatre for which they composed the music.

The final auditions are part of ArtEZ finals. Take a look at the website and visit the presentations if you are considering this programme. You’ll see what students are working on and what their final projects look like.