Study jazz in Groningen & New York

The PCC Master’s Program, "New York Jazz", is based on the connection between the PCC Jazz Department and the New York jazz community.  In the first, second and fourth semesters of the program, students study primarily with world class jazz musician/teachers visiting from New York.  In addition to ongoing weekly instruction from a world class Dutch faculty, each student receives lessons from our visiting New York jazz faculty which features: Joris Teepe (bass and head of the jazz department), Don Braden (sax), Gene Jackson (drums), Alex Sipiagin (trumpet), JD Walter (vocals), David Berkman (piano), Robin Eubanks (trombone) and Freddie Bryant (guitar). The third semester is a "study abroad" semester, in New York City.  All potential students should be prepared to undertake this very important period of study in New York.

Acceptance Requirement
Students must submit an Application and a Research Proposal. The application form is available on our website. In the Research Proposal, the prospective student should delineate the direction of personal development, what he wants to accomplish with this master study and the area he wants to focus on.
Examples of such might be a particular arranging or compositional style, a certain musical style, a period or a particular artist.  A definite requirement is that the focus of the student's plan should be an area that falls under the heading "New York Jazz". The student should show creativity in this proposal, and show how he plans to include the available resources of PCC and of New York City in his studies.

At the end of his studies the research should result in a documented presentation (a written paper and a lecture) and a concert, both of substantial content and appropriate length (approximately 1 hour for the concert and 30 minutes for the lecture). 

This upcoming year the program will start with a limited number of Master’s Degree candidates. Applicants will be selected by audition on the basis of their skill in Jazz and on their instrument, and the vision that they bring to their Research Proposals. At the audition applicants should be prepared to answer questions about this vision and be ready to perform a maximum of 3 tunes of their own choice. It will be the responsibility of the applicant to organize his own accompanist(s) or ensemble.

Mentorship
When the student is accepted a jazz professor will be assigned to him. This professor will be his mentor throughout the four semesters of the program, including the semester abroad in New York.  The mentor will help the student to formulate a Study Plan based on the Research Proposal, and will check and monitor the student's progress in his research, studies and the artistic content of his study route. Corresponding to the student’s focus area, the student will have other teachers as needed [a teacher who is appropriate to guide the student in that area]. Teachers will be drawn both from the bachelor "New York Comes to Groningen" program and other New York-based specialists, who are expert in the chosen subjects.
 
Tuition
Students will be responsible for 1800 Euro per year, which is only a part of the tuition of 5000 Euro. This price reflects a subsidy of 3200 Euro on the part of the school, and requires that students work 6 to 8 hours per week as Teaching Assistants or in other positions in the institute.  For non-EER students such a job is only possible if the student is entitled to a work permit. Our institute will mediate in the application. There are at no extra tuition costs for the student during his third semester in New York. Naturally there are living expenses for all semesters, but PCC can assist students in finding appropriate housing in Groningen and in New York City.

Example Program

Let's say a pianist is interested in arranging and composing for Big Band in the style of bass player Charles Mingus.

Here is a sample Research Proposal:
Charles Mingus compositional methods and arranging for big band.

I want to study the writing and arranging style of Charles Mingus. I will do this through listening to the entire Mingus Catalogue (with daily diary entries discussing aspects of his compositional and arranging style, evolution of instrumentation, famous bands and band members, etc.) I would like to study with big band arrangers and composers, as well as interview performers who worked with Mingus, and players who currently are connected to the Mingus Big Band. I will also be pursuing my own piano studies, with a focus on learning different tunes by Mingus, and styles from free music to stride piano that are employed by pianists who played with Mingus (especially focusing on Jaki Byard). For the "integration project" I'd like to do a performance that incorporates many of Mingus' techniques (such as: changes in tempo, the Duke Ellington influence, ballad style, use of double time or cut time, counterline and the blues) in a composition for large ensemble. Before the concert I will do a lecture where I explain my research results.

If this proposal is accepted, his assigned mentor would be, for example, Professor Kurt Weiss.  With Professor Weiss’ guidance, he writes his Study Plan, which eventually leads to his "Professional Integration Project": to 1) research and write his lecture or paper, and to 2) write and arrange his own composition to be performed at the end of the fourth semester.

His study program could look like this:

First and second semester
On a regular basis he gets private lessons from Kurt Weiss (arranging) and Jasper Soffers (piano), he plays in a Masters Candidate Ensemble and contributes to ensembles and workshops at the Bachelor level as "Teaching Assistent". He also gets private lessons in arranging from Joris Teepe and composition lessons from Alex Sipiagin (currently a member of the Mingus Big Band) when these teachers are in Groningen (usually, 2 weeks per semester). David Berkman is his piano teacher whenever he is in Groningen. Another specialist might be flown in from New York, such as Michael Mossman (arranger for Stevie Wonder and many well known big bands).  In the LAB, he is working on his ensemble playing skills with his fellow students and he is experimenting with the results of his research on Mingus’  style of writing and arranging.
He chooses Marketing & Business as an optional.  Furthermore the student keeps up a daily digital diary. In the diary, he describes his progress and experiences which he discusses with his mentor on a weekly basis. Together they also work on his practice based research.

Third semester (New York)
The student relocates to New York City and now takes lessons on a regular basis from David Berkman. Besides that, he gets lessons from Joris Teepe and Alex Sipiagin more intensively and arranging lessons from other musicians that are connected to his area of focus (such as Boris Koslov -current bassist of the Mingus Big Band- and Michael Mossman.) He attends weekly performances of the Mingus Big Band at the Jazz Standard (a jazz club in New York) as well as other performances of big bands playing in the city. He explores the jazz scene in New York and tries to participate in sessions as much as possible. He keeps in contact with his mentor through e-mail and keeps up his digital diary.

Fourth semester
He continues the pattern of lessons of the first and second semester and finishes off his study with a concert with his own music and arrangements and a presentation of his research subject.