| Programme details | |
|---|---|
| Degree: | Bachelor of Arts (BA) |
| Discipline: |
Music
|
| Duration: | 36 months |
| Annual tuition (EEA) | 9,250 GBP |
| Annual tuition (non-EEA) | 12,500 GBP |
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In your first year you will study Harmony and Theory, giving you a broad knowledge of harmony and jazz notation to inform your practice. In Jazz Performance 1 you will learn the conventions of small band playing and look at approaches to practise and memorising material. Stylistic Studies 1 is "jazz boot camp", where you will develop a jazz vocabulary, as well as instrumental and aural facility by playing patterns and scales through chord sequences. Finally, in Introduction to Ethnomusicology, a module shared with other music courses, you will explore how ethnomusicology deals with diverse world music.
In your second year you will begin to develop you own voice by playing your own compositions and arrangements in Jazz Performance 2. You will be given feedback from tutors in weekly sessions as well as composition lessons and instrumental lessons with specialist instrumental staff. Jazz Repertoire is a further study of jazz standards using more complicated chord sequences. By the end of this module you will have learnt more than 30 jazz standards from memory. Harmony and Theory 2 builds on knowledge gain in your first year and Stylistic Studies 2 is an in depth study of Bebop and Hard Bop through performance and analysis.
In your final year you will study Advanced Jazz Improvisation, working on techniques relating to form, melody, harmony and rhythm. In Stylistic Studies 3 (acoustic post bop and fusions) you will explore post-bop developments in jazz, including the electric music of Miles Davis and John McLaughlin, and European jazz by musicians such as Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor. Un-American Activities, despite its slightly subversive title, is the study of Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music, taught by one of the UK's leading specialists in this field. The Jazz Major Project builds on your previous jazz performance modules and leads towards an end of year recital, with composition and instrumental lessons given alongside weekly performance classes. Students can elect to replace this module with an Independent Studies Module.