MA Music Pedagogy | instrument / voice | Choral Conducting

Thinking of choosing an artistic specialisation or Music Pedagogy as a second master’s degree? Why not both? Students who have already completed a master’s degree in Performance, instrument/voice, have the opportunity to combine their artistic training in Choral Conducting with their own instrument or singing as part of an MA in Music Pedagogy. Learn to conduct choirs and ensembles at various levels professionally and, at the same time, acquire the qualification to teach your instrument or singing at educational institutions or independently.

The programme pursues two objectives:

Training as a choral conductor

Students are trained to become skilled, versatile choir conductors by deepening their conducting, vocal and instrumental skills and engaging with a broad repertoire of secular and sacred choral music. The programme incorporates research findings in areas such as historical performance practice and the critical analysis of source texts. Through practical work with the university choirs, the student ensemble and an external orchestra, students develop an individual, expressive conducting style. Finally, as part of their Master's qualification, they realise their own concert project.

Instrumental and vocal teaching training

In addition to the professional training in Choral Conducting, the practice-oriented, concentrated pedagogical training enables the students to teach the instrument or voice studied in the first master's programme professionally in individual and group lessons at musical educational institutions like music schools, grammar/upper level schools or independently at all levels.

Career prospects

The Master's degree in Music Pedagogy instrument/voice (second artistic Major Choral Conducting) allows students to acquire a dual profile:
Graduates of this degree programme are qualified to lead choirs and other vocal ensembles, whether amateur, semi-professional or professional, and different line-ups.
Furthermore, graduates will acquire a Master's degree in instrumental and vocal pedagogy for their own instrument or voice and will then be qualified to teach this subject in music education institutions as well as independently.
Nearly all music schools in Switzerland now require prospective teaching staff to have a Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy instrument/voice (or an equivalent qualification).

Target audience

This programme is aimed at students who have completed a Master's degree in vocal or instrumental performance and who wish to combine a specialisation in choral conducting with a Master's degree in pedagogy for their own instrument or voice. The second artistic major replaces the artistic major instrumental/vocal.

The BA and MA degree programs at the Basel Academy of Music are based on modules.

The legally binding structure provides an initial guide to the content and weighting of the subjects on the degree programme.
The detailed content and modalities of the individual subjects can be found in the module descriptions.
The study regulations come into force together with the study and examination regulations of the Basel Academy of Music FHNW and form the legal framework.

Admission criteria

In order to enter the FHNW Master of Arts in Music Pedagogy programme with a Choral Conducting Major, applicants must be awarded a Master in Music Performance or equivalent as well as they must have passed the entrance exam and were offered a free place at the Academy (limited places).
Applicants who have submitted all the necessary registration documents in time and have passed the first round of the entrance exam will be invited to a live audition.
For further information on the admission criteria, please see the Studienreglement of the Master of Arts FHNW in Music Pedagogy.

Required Skills

• Experience of reading choral scores of different musical styles and eras
• Basic conducting skills
• Ear training qualification (minimum mark of 4.8, or Grade C)
• Excellent piano proficiency and basic score-playing/reading skills
• Basic knowledge of early musical notation/clefs and transposing vocals
• Choral and/or solo singing experience
• Pedagogical abilities, leadership qualities

We expect students to have very good German language skills.
Students who are not German native speakers must present at least a B1 German language certificate (according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages).* This certificate must be complete, i.e. all modules (reading, listening, writing, speaking) have been tested separately and passed at a minimum level of B1 overall.
Only certificates that have been certified with the ALTE-Q-Mark seal of approval (e.g. the B1 certificate of the Goethe Institute or the telc certificate) are accepted. The required certificate B1 must be submitted with the confirmation of admission but not later than 31 May.

*For Swiss citizens whose native language is not German, the Matura is considered equivalent to the required language certificate, provided that the subject German was completed with at least a ‘sufficient/genügend’ grade.

Entrance exam

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