You manage your own professional study route

Master
Full-time
2 years

Master of Music

Level: master
Form: full-time
Duration: 2 years
Language: Dutch, English
Locations: Groningen
Degree: Master of Music
Credits: 120 ECTS
Startmonths: Start: September

Arts and Culture

The Master of Music at the Prince Claus Conservatoire is an innovative master’s programme for students who are talented, passionate and socially engaged.

Your professional practice as a musician is central to our programme. By integrating performance, entrepreneurship and research, the programme prepares you for the profession at the highest level and to respond to the challenges and opportunities in society at large.

We are a professional learning community challenging talented musicians to develop into competent and socially involved professionals. As creative makers, they are able to develop innovative concepts and transform them into artistic, meaningful musical products and services. This is how our learning community connects with, and enriches people and society. The Master of Music educates engaged, first class musicians with different cultural and musical backgrounds. Our aim is to help you develop and share your talent, and to move the world together!

Several study routes are available to you: Classical Music, New York Jazz, New Audiences & Innovative Practice (NAIP).

Apply for this programme

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Projects with impact

During your master’s, you will be involved with projects that combine working in research, education and industry. Through applied research you come up with innovative solutions for genuine societal issues. Below, you can find some examples of projects our master’s students engage in.

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General information Master of Music

A student's superior musical and performative competence is rooted on knowledge of technical and interpretative skills in music. These serve as a basis for their capacity to perform as an ensemble musician, soloist, artistic collaborator, creator or leader. Each student determines his or her own specific area of professional development, as a singer or an instrumentalist, as a composer, improviser, arranger, leader, or conductor, etc. The Master of Music programme promotes artistic performance within a spectrum of forms, contexts and media. Students develop a strong sense of artistic identity which reflects their awareness of past and current developments in music, other arts disciplines and society.

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Course overview

Your professional practice as an artist is our main focus, and that can be realised through our integrated learning system. An expert team of teachers/coaches will provide supervision and assessment throughout your study. Under our guidance you manage your personal study route, as worked out in your study plan.

The curriculum is built around the three main courses:

Performance
Practice-based Research
Entrepreneurship

These three courses together form your principle study, which is called Professional Practice. The development of your own professional practice will be the basis of your study within these courses. For Classical Music, New York Jazz and New Audiences & Innovative Practice there are specific subjects.

In addition, we offer Open Modules, which allow you to shape or broaden your principle study. These may be classes within your study route, classes from other study routes, projects of your own design, or extramural activities. Furthermore, there is a mentoring programme to guide you in the practical and philosophical aspects of reflecting on the progress and direction of your principle study.

General information Master of Music

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Entry requirements

The Master of Music programme is the sequel to the Bachelor of Music, both nationally and internationally. Target groups for admission are recently graduated Dutch and international Bachelor of Music students. The Master of Music programme may also be interesting for candidates who have been working in the professional field for several years.

All candidates must have:

convincing musical and artistic capacities;
a study attitude that is inquisitive and open-minded; investigative and innovative; independent and reflective;
professional and intellectual capacities on the level of higher education.

In addition, candidates:

want to make an active contribution to the further development of professional practice;
want to delve into the meaning of music practice for society.

We prefer to organize all our auditions live in Groningen. However, if it’s impossible for you to travel to Groningen you may do your audition online. Please mark this in your application Hanze Apply/Osiris.
We need you to upload 3 YouTube videos of you playing different pieces in different styles. This may be the same pieces you want to play at the online audition. Next to these videos of you playing, you need to upload a video of you introducing yourself (max. 2 minutes). Note that all videos have to be recorded recently and we need you to be recognizable.

Max. 2 pages in PDF format

Please upload a CV with everything you usually write down in such a document.
But we also like to read about:

Your personal passion for music.
What characterizes/describes you as a musician.
Relevant performances/activities (including date, venue and if applicable type of ensemble) in which you participated during the last four years.
Different kinds of collaborations in which you participated and in what different contexts you have been working.
If applicable: titles of music you composed or arranged, links to recordings you made, references to articles you published, etc.
Links to your website and/or social media (Linked In, Instagram, Facebook etc) on which you present yourself professionally.

Please write a short study plan, max 2 pages in PDF format.

Describe your ideal career as a musician and the way you want to approach it during your study. The study plan is the thread that ties your plans to the requirements of our Master programme and to your future career. It makes your personal, flexible study path explicit and serves as a basis for a discussion of your learning objectives. Please address the following points:

Dream

What do you aspire to in your life as a professional musician?

Describe your goal(s) as a professional musician.

Reality

What is your current professional situation?

Describe your current situation in regard to your musical career.

Challenge

What do you think can help you to realise your dream, and what do you expect from our Master of Music programme?

Describe the activities you want to undertake in order to develop your career and tell us what you may need from the school to make this happen. How do you intend to shape your professional practice? For example, can you describe how you intend to contribute to developments in your field or to the innovation of the practices in which you engage? Practice-based research and cultural entrepreneurship are two tools which can play a role here; how do you think they can help you realise your artistic and professional goals?

Learning goals

What do you need to learn or to develop in order to realise your dream?

What do you want to accomplish during your two years of study? Can you give us specific objectives you want to achieve? Describe skills, knowledge and/or attitudes that you will need in your future career.

For these instrument we have a pre-selection prior to the auditions.
Classical Music: violin and vocals
New York Jazz: all instruments

For this pre-selection we ask that you upload 3 YouTube videos of you playing different pieces in different styles. This may be the same pieces you want to play at the audition. Next to these videos of you playing, you need to upload a video of you introducing yourself (max. 2 minutes). Note that all videos have to be recorded recently and we need you to be recognizable. Two weeks prior to the date of the auditions you will receive an e-mail informing you whether you have passed the pre-selection and will be invited for your audition.

Live in Groningen

You will receive an e-mail with an invitation for your audition containing date, time and location. Please check in at the front desk in our building 30 minutes prior to the start of your exam. A student assistant will welcome you and guide you to the location of your exam.

After the exam you will be informed whether your level is sufficient (this means you are admittable) or not. You are not directly admitted (unless stated otherwise by the jury). When all candidates have played, the jury will decide who will be admitted and who will be put on a waiting list. All candidates who are admitted will receive a call or e-mail asking them whether they will accept their spot or not, and we ask for your decision as soon as possible. All candidates will receive an e-mail confirming the result of their audition.

Online through Teams

You will receive an e-mail from us with an invitation for your online audition containing date, time and a link to a Microsoft Teams meeting. Please note that the jury may join the meeting a bit later than what’s written in your e-mail.

After the exam you will be informed whether your level is sufficient (this means you are admissible) or not. If you are admissible you are not directly admitted (unless stated otherwise by the jury). When all candidates have played the jury will decide who will be admitted and who will be put on a waiting list. All candidates who are admitted will receive a call or e-mail asking them whether they will accept their spot or not and we ask for your decision as soon as possible. All candidates will receive an e-mail confirming the result of their audition.