Content and structure

Jazz is an open music field that encompasses a range of styles, approaches and cultures of earlier and contemporary relevance in a long tradition of improvization, composition and production. Creativity, aesthetics and quality instrumental skills are in high demand. Moreover, world music focuses on the diverse global-regional and ethnic context of musical developments. 

Course content.

In the Master’s course, you will develop your own artistic identity as a professional musician. The focus is on the practical and artistic individualization of instrumental, vocal and/or electroacoustic performance as well as the creation, production and marketing of your own music.

The degree programme gives you considerable creative freedom. You work largely independently and are involved in numerous bands, seminars and projects both within and outside ZHdK. Besides the core tuition in one or more optional Majors and a Minor of your choice, you organize your weekly schedule yourself – elective subjects, seminars, workshops, project weeks and internships in the music industry make up the content framework. You can also undertake interdisciplinary work with artists from different areas of study and explore new paths at ZHdK. The degree programme is rounded off with regular concert work, studio sessions and master classes. 

In the final Master’s project, you design, organize and produce a current music project in the form of an audio and/or a video production, and develop a live presentation to introduce yourself to the public and a specialist jury on stage. Moreover, you document and reflect on your approach, artistic goals and individual development in writing.

Course structure.

The course consists of three module areas:

Core

The focus is largely on the practical individualization and artistic professionalization of your instrumental, vocal and/or electroacoustic performance as well as the creation/production of your own music. A wide range of mentored study paths and courses is the norm here. The comprehensive self-study element offers you plenty of creative freedom, and is combined with individual tuition that can be spread over different Major and Minor instruments, songwriting, producing, etc., as well as internal/external lecturers of your choice. 

Extension 

The module area also aims at artistic individualization and professionalization while broadening the range of content. As an individualized study area in the Major, this module area supplements the subject-specific individual tuition with elective and genre-specific, stylistically broad workshops that are curated in a range of courses that changes every semester. Advanced seminars on different musical, educational and scientific topic areas as well as interdepartmental and extracurricular projects/internships are also available. Apart from attending the compulsory “Music Business – advanced” module, students plan the module area themselves. 

Graduation exam/project

In the Master’s project, students devise, organize and produce an audio and/or video production, design a digital press kit, develop a live presentation and present it in public. 
They have creative freedom in terms of music and presentation form; heterogeneous artistic content is encouraged and is part of the evaluation process of the Major.
During the presentation of their individual profile, students formulate and present their individual identity as a musician in a creative, reflective and personal manner.

Module plan:

Skills acquired in the course.

  • Ability to develop and hone your own performance 
  • Ability to plan your own artistic projects, including the creation, production, performance and marketing of your own music 
  • Ability to comprehensively explore and develop your own artistic identity

Admissions requirements.

You hold a Bachelor’s degree in jazz or are a lateral entrant with a Bachelor’s degree in another area and have proven musical-artistic and professional expertise.

Further requirements:

  • Advanced technical and artistically unique expression with the voice, an instrument or electronic devices
  • Relevant, varied experience in music performance (instrumental/vocal or electronic), in the creation and/or production of music and in the common creative techniques of jazz and world music
  • An understanding of music that includes exploring your own relationship with the world, internationality, diversity, society and art
  • A high capacity for learning and a good ear 
  • Carefully selected use of instruments and technical media 

Benefits of studying at ZHdK.

Studying at ZHdK offers a wealth of unique benefits: 

  • A degree in the area of World Music is ground-breaking in the Swiss educational landscape.
  • In the Master's in Music Performance, you can look forward to a lively degree programme with approx. 120 musicians. 
  • You will enjoy an inspirational environment with colleagues and partners from around the world for discussion and collaboration in a variety of ensembles
  • You will benefit from outstanding infrastructure, live electronics and multimedia, audio productions with in-house sound engineers, historical instrument collections and an excellent library.
  • You will study at the Toni Campus – a public cultural and university campus for all artistic disciplines that is unparalleled in its dimensions anywhere in Europe.
  • You will meet students from other artistic disciplines on a daily basis, make contacts and enjoy stimulating collaboration. 
  • You will have opportunities to undertake exchange semesters and various possibilities to explore other cultures thanks to ZHdK Music’s international network. 
  • The self-designed graduation projects will motivate you to organize your work independently. 
  • You will gain extensive practical experience and have many opportunities to perform thanks to the diverse relationships with the regional cultural scene and its event organizations.