Grow your skills and develop your style while you prepare for a thriving professional career in music.
Jazz and Studio Music studies fuse performance, composition and arranging into a program that lets you express yourself musically. With an emphasis on practical skills, our NASM-accredited program will equip you to appreciate and play the wide variety of music demanded of professional musicians today.
Through applied lessons, private instruction and extensive performing opportunities in both large and small ensembles, you’ll not only master your primary instrument but develop new and improved skills to bring out the music inside you. Through performances in the Southern Comfort Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Singers, ComboNation or the 901 Jazz Band, you’ll emerge from the program well-prepared to launch a successful multi-faceted career as a musician.
You will enjoy state-of-the-art music facilities, and work with a large and diverse community of faculty, students, and industry professionals. You’ll have the opportunity to attend numerous concerts, clinics, and master classes given by students, faculty, and visiting artists that will broaden your experience of jazz music. Additionally, the University’s location allows limitless opportunities to secure performances in a variety of venues.
Admission + Audition Requirements
Interested students should complete the University of Memphis application and apply to the School of Music. Jazz and Studio Music auditions are held to determine admission into School of Music programs and to award performance scholarships and graduate assistantships. All students who want to major or minor in music, or who seek a music scholarship must audition.
What degrees do we offer?
The Composition/Arranging Concentration provides professional training for students who intend to pursue careers as composers and arrangers. You receive intensive instruction in a core of technical studies that includes performance, composition and arranging into a program that lets you express yourself musically. The jazz composition major will develop skills sufficient to pursue a professional career as a jazz writer or to gain entry to graduate programs in jazz studies in preparation for an academic career in the fields of jazz theory, composition, and improvisation.
In addition to our world-class faculty, our state-of-the-art facilities and performance venues give you all the experience you need to enter the world of professional music with the confidence of a seasoned musician.
Outcomes
- Jazz and Studio Composition students will master knowledge of pedagogical methods to assist in the conceptual and technical development of students new to the jazz experience.
- Jazz and Studio Composition students will posses technical and conceptual mastery of jazz phrasing in a variety of historical jazz styles.
- Jazz and Studio Composition students will achieve professional-level artistry and skills as composers through the development of original material, technical mastery of their instruments, interpretive skill, ensemble experience.
Map out your college experience!
View required courses and our recommended timeline for degree completion, Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Studio Composition/Arranging Concentration.
APPLY NOW >The Performance Concentration provides professional training for career and leadership roles in jazz and related fields of contemporary music by promoting flexible musicianship and an understanding of the jazz tradition. You receive intensive instruction in jazz performance, composition, arranging, history, theory, aural skills and pedagogy. The jazz performance major will develop skills sufficient to pursue a professional career as a jazz musician or to gain entry to graduate programs in jazz studies in preparation for a career as a professional performer, music arranger or composer, or teacher.
In addition to our world-class faculty, our state-of-the-art facilities and performance venues give you all the experience you need to enter the world of professional music with the confidence of a seasoned musician.
Outcomes
- Jazz and Studio Performance students will master the knowledge of pedagogical methods to assist in the conceptual and technical development of students new to the jazz experience.
- Jazz and Studio Performance students will exhibit excellence through technical mastery of their instruments, superior listening ability and the development of a personal conceptual approach to improvisation and composition.
- Jazz and Studio Performance students will achieve professional-level artistry and skills as performers through the development of original material, technical mastery of their instruments, interpretive skill, ensemble experience.
Map out your college experience!
View required courses and our recommended timeline for degree completion, Bachelor of Music in Jazz and Studio Performance.
APPLY NOW >The Master of Music degree program with a jazz studies specialization focuses on individual jazz instruction, improvisation, ensemble work, history and pedagogy. You will further develop professional-level skills with an emphasis on the art of jazz and the professional side of being a studio musician. Our MM program provides you with a wide range of academically rigorous and inspiring courses; high-level solo performing and ensemble opportunities; and personal attention from distinguished faculty.
Graduate assistantships and scholarships are available but highly competitive.
Outcomes
- Jazz and Studio Music students will master the ability to write musical arrangements for both jazz combos and big bands using current notational software.
- Jazz and Studio Music students will posses critical and aesthetic judgment while improvising, composing or arranging that is informed by extensive listening to and analysis of the recorded legacy of jazz.
- Jazz and Studio Music students will cchieve professional-level artistry and skills as performers and composers through the development of original material, technical mastery of their instruments, interpretive skill, ensemble experience.
Map out your masters program experience!
View required courses and our recommended timeline for degree completion, Master of Music in Jazz & Studio Music.
APPLY NOW >Current Student & Alumni Success
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