Jazz BA Honours

Bachelor's degree

In London

Price on request

Description

  • Type

    Bachelor's degree

  • Location

    London

  • Duration

    3 Years

  • Start date

    October

How is the BA Jazz degree taught?
One-to-one instrumental lessons, musicianship skills sessions and performance and composition classes will hone your musical abilities. You will attend workshops, lectures, seminars and tutorials, where you will learn about composing both original and pastiche music, study and analyse different works and styles of music, take part in discussions and give presentations. You will perform both individually and in a group. You will supplement all this with your own independent study and practice.
Assessment
You will be assessed in a variety of ways, through both coursework and tests. Live performances, your own compositions, analytical and critical essays and presentations will all contribute to your mark. There will also be practical musicianship assessments, performance and skills tests, written harmony tests and a viva voce assessment for one element. Some of the projects and performances will be done in groups.
You will receive feedback on your work from other students as well as your tutor.

Facilities

Location

Start date

London
See map
The Burroughs, NW4 4BT

Start date

OctoberEnrolment now open

About this course

Qualifications
96 UCAS points
Applicants need to demonstrate instrumental and aural ability naming/singing/hearing different intervals, harmonic knowledge, and experience of performing jazz, as well as some keyboard ability, sight reading and sight singing ability.

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This centre's achievements

2018
2017

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This centre has featured on Emagister for 13 years

Subjects

  • Voice
  • IT
  • Works
  • Improvisation
  • Composition
  • Performance
  • Jazz
  • Project
  • Music
  • Musical
  • Harmony
  • Rhythm
  • Ethnomusicology
  • Independent project
  • Stylistic
  • Notation
  • Repertoire

Course programme

Course content

What will you study on the BA Jazz? Year 1

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.

Year 2

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.

Year 3

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.

Modules

Year 1

Introduction to Ethnomusicology (30 Credits) - Compulsory

The module aims to give an introduction to ethnomusicology, surveying its history, methods, and methodologies, illustrating how ethnomusicology deals with music from around the world including classical, popular and traditional. You are also introduced to a range of skills required for the study and practice of non-Western music through a series of mini-courses on specific musical cultures. Exploring ethnomusicology and the music of non-Western cultures will allow you to develop your understanding not only of the systems and traditions of these types of music, but also of the context of Western music in the world.

Jazz Harmony and Theory 1 (30 credits) - Compulsory

This module aims to give you a broad harmonic knowledge to inform your practice, as well as the practical application of this knowledge and the conventions of jazz notation. For example, four-part realisation of song book harmony e.g. I Remember You and the formal design of common chord sequences such as the II V I and its variations. Through the analysis of standard jazz repertoire, you will examine form and gain an understanding of chord/scale relationships. Practical application is actively encouraged in the weekly lecture/workshop.

Jazz Performance 1 (30 credits) - Compulsory

This module aims to prepare you for further study in jazz performance by giving them a grounding in the conventions of jazz performance through repertoire such as Autumn Leaves, Take the A Train, major and minor blues , simple arrangements, aural analysis and providing broad knowledge of common practice.

Stylistic Studies 1 (30 credits) - Compulsory

This module aims to lay a firm foundation for the further study of jazz through a range of specific musical skills, with a focus on the execution of melodic patterns relating to harmonic sequences, sight reading skills and rhythmic fluency, and an understanding of musical analysis. These analytical skills are then used to examine paraphrase, motivic and formulaic improvisation.

Year 2

Jazz Harmony and Theory 2 (30 credits) - Compulsory

Jazz Performance 2 (30 credits) - Compulsory

Building on the broad knowledge base gained in the Jazz Performance 1 module, this module aims to develop your command of specialised performance skills. You will also learn about researching, adapting and arranging material for jazz ensembles and this will prepare you for further jazz performance study.

Jazz Repertoire (30 credits) - Compulsory

Building on the broad knowledge base gained in the module Jazz Performance 1, this module is more specialist in its demands. An ability to learn more complicated sequences as blocks of harmony and demonstrate a practical understanding of the harmony of jazz standards through improvisation. Repertoire at this level such as Green Dolphin Street, Body and Soul, will demand an increased level of sophistication and understanding, and will prepare you for further jazz performance modules.

Stylistic Studies 2 (30 credits) - Compulsory

This module aims to use skills and knowledge gained in previous modules for study of later styles of jazz. It enables you to develop your knowledge of the styles and techniques of small group bop and hard bop, an awareness of the roles of instruments in these styles and their inter-relationships, and understanding of the concepts of extended motivic and formulaic improvisation through processes of analysis and pastiche composition. You will also develop your notation and aural skills.

Year 3

Advanced Jazz Improvisation (30 credits) - Compulsory

Building on the knowledge gained in the series of Stylistic Studies modules studied in Year 1 and 2, this module aims to provide you with a deeper understanding of the conventions and practice of improvisation in Jazz, to extend your practical improvisation skills and aural awareness, and to provide techniques for the development of musical ideas through improvisation.

Stylistic Studies 3 (30 credits) - Compulsory

This module is a study of 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. Through analysis, transcription and critical evaluation of key works, you will examine the broadening of the modern jazz palette as some elements of various cultures rock, Indian classical music, folk music and Western classical music have been absorbed. This module will also give you an understanding of more advanced developments in harmony slash chords and rhythmic concepts.

Un-American Activities (30 credits) - Compulsory

This module aims to use skills and knowledge gained in Years 1 and 2 for study of the interactions between jazz and Afro-Cuban styles, and jazz and Brazilian styles. It enables you to develop your knowledge of some of the styles and techniques of Afro-Cuban and Brazilian music, an awareness of their interaction with jazz, and understanding of the concepts of the resulting styles through aural analysis and pastiche composition. You will also develop your idiomatic notation and aural skills.

Year 3 optional modules - choose one module from the following:

Independent Project (30 credits) - Optional

This module develops further knowledge, understanding and skills in an area of study that particularly interests you, whether arising from previous learning or enabling you to pursue an interest not other otherwise catered for in taught modules. Because of the diversity of Independent Projects, the specific aims will vary according to the nature of the project and will be defined by you in your proposal, subject to the approval of the Module Leader.

Jazz Major Project (30 credits) - Optional

Building on the knowledge base gained in the Jazz Performance 2 module, this module aims to consolidate and extend the specialised performance skills already established. You are expected to apply these creative skills and to accept responsibility for researching and developing your performance material. This is done in combination with learning about jazz composition for small ensembles, and exploring the relationship between composition and performance in jazz.

You can find more information about this course in the programme specification. Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.

Jazz BA Honours

Price on request