MA Music Pedagogy | instrument / voice | Choral Conducting, Basel Academy of Music

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).

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.

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.

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.