Instrumental Proficiency
Before beginning studies toward the Jazz BFA, all students are issued a booklet describing the minimum skills they must develop to demonstrate basic instrumental proficiency. Upon entry, all students are evaluated on the basis of these guidelines. Students placing “in proficiency” (IP) are required to take private lessons with an assigned teacher deemed appropriate to their needs. (Proficiency requirements and instrumental faculty are subject to change.) Meeting proficiency standards is a graduation requirement.
Core Studio Curriculum
Before the start of their first semester, students are also evaluated by selected faculty members in theory, ear training, rhythmic analysis, piano (for non-piano majors), sight-reading, theory and performance, and arranging. The test results are used to determine students' placement in required core studio curriculum courses. The tests also enable the faculty and administration to develop an overall evaluation of each student.
Once students are placed in appropriate courses, they must complete the curriculum course requirements for each area in order to graduate:
- New Student Seminars (one semester)
- Theory through Level IIB
- Ear Training through Level IIB
- Sight-Reading through Level IIB (IB for bass, piano, brass)
- Theory and Performance through Level IIB (IB for drummers and composers; not required of vocalists)
- One year of Rhythmic Analysis
- One year of Piano (1 credit each semester)
- Arranging Fundamentals (one semester)
- One year of courses related to the music business
- Private lessons (every semester)
- Improvisation Ensemble (every semester; not required of vocalists)
Vocalists have these additional requirements:
- Vocal Musicianship I & II
- Vocal Improvisation I & II
- Basic Arranging for Vocalists
- Vocal Blues (one semester)
- Vocal Rhythm Section (two years--in place of Improvisation Ensemble)
- Vocal Jazz Ensemble
Liberal Arts
All degree candidates are required to fulfill the liberal arts component of the degree requirements with courses selected from The New School’s Undergraduate Liberal Studies (ULS) curriculum, The New School for General Studies, and Eugene Lang College, unless transfer credit has been approved in advance or special permission is granted. At Jazz, the liberal arts are not “applied” or professional in orientation.
Students take 18-27 credits (six to nine three-credit courses). Of these, two must be English or literature courses and two must be New School University Lecture courses. The remaining courses are electives.
Music History
Students must take six music history courses:
- History of Jazz (A & B)
- Classical Music History
- Contemporary Jazz and Its Exponents
- World Music History
- 20th-Century Innovators—Debussy to Cage
Sophomore Jury
The sophomore jury is generally held at the end of students' second year. It is meant to evaluate students' competence as jazz performers, check their overall progress toward graduation, and help assess their direction and development.
Jury Guidelines
Students prepare tunes of contrasting styles from a standard repertoire list--ten for instrumentalists and 20 for vocalists. The jury committee selects three of the tunes, and the student performs them with a professional rhythm section. Each jury session lasts for 20 minutes. The committee consists of three or more faculty members.
All songs must be memorized, but students must bring charts already transposed for accompanying musicians. Students are evaluated on the basis of their punctuality, presentation of material, instrumental or vocal skill and improvisational skill, rhythmic sophistication, band leadership, and communication with both the band and the audience.
Passing the sophomore jury is a graduation requirement.
Senior Recital
The senior recital should reflect the student’s technical and artistic growth as a musician. The recital is a formal performance that takes place either in the Performance Space on campus or at another live venue for which the student makes arrangements. Students must perform a senior recital before graduating.
Distribution of Electives
The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music has an extensive elective curriculum. The electives are grouped into six areas :
- Individual composers: e.g. Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Sun Ra
- Stylistic: e.g. Blues Ensemble, Vocal Jazz Ensemble, Music of the Fringe
- World Music: e.g. Afro-Cuban Orchestra, Brazilian Ensemble, African Drumming
- Technological: e.g. ProTools, Finale, Audio Engineering
- Composition: e.g. Linear Composition, Advanced Arranging/Composition, Film Scoring
- Theory/Analysis: e.g. Score Reading and Analysis, Bebop Harmony, Advanced Ear Training
Students are required to take at least one elective from each of the six areas over the course of their studies toward the BFA. Once they have satisfied the distribution requirements, students may take electives from any category they choose. Electives may be repeated once. (See page 12 for a complete list of courses that includes an enumeration of electives by category.)