Theorie en keuzevakken master Jazz
Het theorieprogramma in de master bestaat uit een verplicht deel en een keuzedeel. Masterstudenten worden geacht minimaal 20 studiepunten te behalen in de twee jaar van het studieprogramma voor muziektheorie.
Verplicht zijn 'Muziektheorie' en 'Compositie - Creative Writing'. Tezamen zijn dit 10 studiepunten.
Voor het keuzedeel kan worden gekozen uit het aanbod van master-keuzevakken. In dit deel moeten minimaal 10 studiepunten worden behaald. Master-keuzevakken zijn vakken op het gebied van muziekgeschiedenis, filosofie, muziektheorie, analyse, arrangeren en compositie. De studielast is 5 of 10 studiepunten per vak.
Uitwisseling
Studenten die in het eerste semester van het tweede jaar een uitwisseling willen doen, moeten minstens 10 studiepunten hebben behaald.
Extra studiepunten
Extra behaalde studiepunten kunnen worden gebruikt voor de vrije ruimte.
Aanmelden
Alle studenten in het masterprogramma krijgen per mail een inschrijfformulier. Mocht je nog vragen hebben over de keuzevakken, kun je een mail sturen naar Barbara Bleij.
Master-keuzevakken jazz 2025-2026
Verplicht deel
Creative Jazz Writing
The Creative Jazz Writing course will help you to create your own music and will improve your composing skills. Different techniques will be discussed, and assignments will be given. However, your own work will always be the starting point. The lessons are taught individually, and in pairs on occasion.
Advanced Jazz Theory
Advanced Jazz Theory is a two-hour course on a weekly basis for all 1st-year master students. Its main topic is the analysis of jazz compositions, primarily contemporary, post-Real-Book jazz originals. The analysis focuses on tonal hierarchies, compositional strategies, and stylistic characteristics. Homework includes transcriptions and analyses of jazz recordings as well as composition assignments, most of them with specific requirements aimed at applying some of the techniques and ideas learned from the analysed material in your own work.
Keuzedeel
Composition, Analysis and Performance
| Course | Teacher | Short Description |
| Nicolas Slonimsky's 'Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns' | Jasper Blom | Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns offers an overwhelming amount of melodic vocabulary and patterns for improvisation and composition. We will work systematically through the Thesaurus, creating and playing original compositions based on Slonimsky’s intervallic approach. |
| Get on Track - New Tools for Composition and Improvisation | Harmen Fraanje | We delve into isorhythm, polymeter, and rhythmic displacement, with students actively contributing their compositions to explore these fascinating musical techniques. |
Critical Reflection: History, Analysis, Philosophy
| Course | Teacher | Short Description |
| Reading Black Music: Key Texts on African American Music and other Afro-Diasporic Genres | Walter van de Leur | You will compile and read a list of books, articles, and chapters around one or two topics of your choice, to learn about the different debates that have accompanied the history of Black music. |
| Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn | Walter van de Leur | An in-depth confrontation with the repertory, idioms, histories, and composition and arranging techniques of Ellington and Strayhorn (including original scores). |
| Super Nova: Wayne Shorter, Composer/Improviser | Barbara Bleij | This analysis course centers around the compositions of Wayne Shorter from various periods in his career. You will gain insight into Shorter’s compositional methods and inspiration for how to compose in the jazz idiom. |
| Freedom and Improvisation | Joris Roelofs | This course explores improvisation and freedom as concepts, offering a critical perspective on how they are understood today and why they are often seen as intrinsically connected. The course involves a substantial amount of reading. |
| Developing Creativity | Sander van Maas | This course will make you understand why not all artistic production can be called creative, and how this insight can improve your creative practice. You follow a series of lectures and develop your own approach by doing a research project. |
| Textural Improvisation | Amit Gur, Ida Alanen | This course explores alternative approaches to improvisation. We will explore the role of texture in improvised music, study the practices of key artists and diverse musical cultures, and apply these approaches in our own playing. |
Electives of the Classical Department open to Jazz Students
| Course | Teacher |
| As Waters Rise: Musical Storytelling | Kim Spierenburg |
| Creative Performance Lab | Arnold Marinissen, Jorge Isaac, Jaco Benckhuysen |
| Electronic Music | Jorrit Tamminga |
| Intercultural Engagements in Music Composition and Performance | Harm Langenkamp |
| Musical Texture | Amit Gur |
| Patterns of Performance: The Neuroscience of Improving Experts | Beorn Nijenhuis |
| Technological Strategies in Composing and Performing | Arnold Marinissen |
| Tuning and Temperament | Jonas Bisquert, Andrea Friggi, Jorge Isaac, Jorrit Tamminga |
Individual Credits (vrije ruimte)
Jazz students may choose the following course for individual credits (but NOT for master elective credits):
| Course | Teacher | Short Description |
| Advanced Rhythm | David de Marez Oyens et al. | The programme ‘Advanced Rhythm’ is intended for students from both the classical and jazz department, and structured in five different approaches. |