Artist Diploma - Jazz & Contemporary Music
Longy School of Music of Bard College
Program description
Artist Diploma - Jazz & Contemporary Music
The Artist Diploma is Longy’s highest performance credential. Offering full-tuition remission, admission is offered to exceptionally gifted performers who show outstanding promise for a professional career in music.
For music to thrive, the world needs change-makers who will question and dream about what comes next. While the desire to keep the canon of masterworks alive is laudable, it is no longer enough. Longy, in turn, places its primary focus on preparing students for a meaningful life in music.
Wanted: Musicians who possess a keen desire to disrupt the status quo; who wish to contribute to society and be part of music’s evolution; who will join other artists in forging that future.
Longy’s Artist Diploma program offers the opportunity for emerging musicians to craft, design, and curate artistic projects over a two-year residency period. The program is designed for exceptionally gifted musicians who demonstrate great potential to impact and change the world by challenging norms and breaking the mold.
Jazz & Contemporary Music Major
The legacy of jazz is boundless innovation. Longy’s JCM program provides an open environment in which students experiment and create to find their artistic voice and gain the experience and versatility necessary for success in an ever-changing professional world. Engaging in improvisation, composition, and performance practices, untethered to any one discipline or genre, students will build off the foundations of jazz and explore beyond—to modern contemporary, global folk traditions, bluegrass, Rock, Hip Hop, as well as other popular idioms—to define the music of the now and the future.
Admission requirements
- Bachelor’s degree, post-secondary conservatory diploma, or demonstrated equivalent
- Applicants must demonstrate extensive performance experience at a professional level and the intent and ability to pursue a performance career
- Applicants who pass the pre-screening must present a live audition
English Proficiency
All applicants for whom English is not a first or primary language must submit results from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), or Duolingo English Test.
Recommended minimum scores for admission to the Undergraduate Diploma (UD), Master of Music (MM), Graduate Performance Diploma (GPD), Graduate Diploma in Composition (GD), and Artist Diploma (AD):
- TOEFL: 63
- IELTS: 5.5
- Duolingo: 90
For more information about admission requirements, please visit the institute website.
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Learn moreProgram content
The Jazz and Contemporary Music (JCM) Department is a close-knit cohort of students, each on a unique path to mastering their artistry and musicianship. Small, project-based courses, unparalleled access to faculty, and an abundance of opportunities to collaborate create a supportive environment that fosters curiosity, experimentation, and comradery.
Highlights include:
JAZZ AND CONTEMPORARY MUSIC SEMINAR
The Jazz and Contemporary Music Seminar, the centerpiece of the JCM graduate program, gives students the chance to collaborate on arrangements, engage with faculty and visiting lecturers on contemporary music topics, and demonstrate their current projects.
Sound and Style: Rulebreakers
Rulebreakers: Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Jimi Hendrix, and J Dilla challenged the status quo. Take an in-depth look at how they changed the way their instruments were played, invented novel improvisational and compositional languages, and forever altered the course of modern music.
You are the Chef: Modal Analysis of Classical Music for Improvisation
Any piece of music, regardless of style, can be understood by its tonal, thematic, and rhythmic ingredients. Jump into this experimental laboratory to find your voice and starting writing your own music.
This program also includes the following modules:
- The Lydian Chromatic Concept
- Advanced Theory for Improvisors
- American Sonic Practice
- Sound and Style: Rulebreakers
- Jazz Immersions
- South American
- Perspectives in Free Music
- Prehistoric Jazz
- No Boundaries Big Band
- Modern Times: Collaborative & Improvised Film Scoring
- The Art of the Trio
- The Folk Tradition Ensemble
- Flying Solo
Scholarships & funding
Several scholarship options are available. Please check the institute website for more information.
Program delivery
The following delivery options are available:
- Online
- Hybrid-Online
- Hybrid-In-Person
- In-Person
Tuition fees
The annual tuition fee for this program is $29,500
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About this institute
Longy School of Music of Bard College
At Longy, we prepare students to become exceptional musicians who can engage new audiences; teach anyone, anywhere; and use artistry to change lives in communities around the world. Join us and become the musician the world needs you to be....
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Longy School of Music of Bard College
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