Programme per year

The first year is the same for all Jazz & Pop students. Regardless of your background, you will be 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 will also participate 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. With every style, there are plenty of fellow students to form a band with.

Your main instrument remains central in the second year, but you will also choose a portion of your subjects yourself. Through these electives, and your own choices within other subjects, your preferred style and direction will become increasingly clear to you. You can consider electives such as second instrument, music technology, mental training, music education and music business. You could also take courses at other ArtEZ locations. You will put your learning into practice onstage with various band performances.

Your main instrument, band coaching, research and your graduation project form the compulsory part of your final two years of Jazz & Pop in Arnhem. In addition, there are even more electives that you may choose from than in the first half of your studies.

The bands you form with fellow students follow the same path as bands outside ArtEZ. You will rehearse, perform on stages in and outside of ArtEZ, and record demos, EPs or full albums in the studio. The programme works with various festivals and venues, so there are several performance opportunities. 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 would like to do an internship or spend a semester abroad, this will also take place in your third or fourth year.

You will complete your final work once you have passed all of your bachelor’s courses. This final 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. Composition for Film & Theatre students conclude with film, dance or theatre for which they composed the music.

The final auditions are part of the ArtEZ finals. We recommend you have a look at the ArtEZ finals website and visit the finals performances if you are considering this programme. You will get a good idea of what students are working on and what their final projects could look like.