The Jazz Performance and Composition curriculum at NYU prepares graduates to be innovative leaders in today’s world-wide jazz scene. The Master of Music Degree program is constituted of individualized study with our world-class artist faculty, intensive rehearsal and performance opportunities through our 40+ jazz ensembles, inside tracks to the greatest jazz venues in the world, and interaction with other acclaimed NYU Steinhardt School music programs of study including Film Scoring, Music Technology, and Music Business.

In addition, Jazz Studies at NYU offers a wide variety of performance opportunities in and outside of Greenwich Village at venues including Birdland and the Blue Note. Access through internships to NYC’s music industry including Saturday Night Live, Blue Note Records, Verve Music Group, and the Blue Note Jazz Club are commonplace at NYU Jazz. Our faculty regularly call on graduate students as substitutes and even permanent members of professional ensembles throughout the city. In a globalized music industry, jazz studies at NYU makes it a priority to mentor students in entrepreneurship, a key component in the success of our graduates. 

Graduate Curriculum

The MM curriculum in Jazz Studies is constituted of a minimum of 36 credit hours, 18 credits of which are chosen from core courses such as private instruction, ensemble, jazz arranging/orchestration and other jazz courses, and the remaining 18 credits are in elective courses. With half of the degree credits available as elective study, students are can tailor their curriculum toward their specific interests and musical goals. Graduates from NYU Jazz Studies have attained significant roles in the music industry as performers and in colleges and universities as professors, researchers, and administrators.

For more information regarding our Advanced Certificate Program, designed specificially for masters degree holders, please click here.

Private Study

Both jazz performance and composition students may design a course of private study that includes two private lessons per semester focusing on their declared area of study as well as a secondary lesson selected from within the music department. Through our diverse faculty, musical styles ranging from bebop, free jazz, third-stream, fusion and world music act as starting points in pursuit of developing students' individual artistry.   Aside from a significant jazz curriculum, jazz studies students may also select from a wide variety of courses in film scoring, music technology and music business.

Ensembles

With over forty contrasting jazz ensembles open by audition, students have unparalleled opportunities to interact with our world-renowned artist faculty. Faculty ensemble directors frequently perform with students at weekly performances before live New York audiences enabling students to hone their skills on the bandstand alongside professional musicians. Students are encouraged to perform in percussion ensembles as percussionists in such groups as samba marching band and two world percussion ensembles. The NYU Jazz Orchestra, our premier big band, is regularly featured at local venues including the Blue Note and Birdland. Recent recording projects for this ensemble include “The NYU Jazz Orchestra Plays the Music of Teo Macero,” and “The NYU Jazz Orchestra featuring Saturday Night Live Saxophonist Lenny Pickett.”

Often described as the “Jazz Living Room,” our rehearsal spaces are open for use by professional groups to rehearse for gigs or prepare for recording dates. Groups including Joe Lovano’s Nonet, Kenny Werner Trio, the New Brew Band, Dave Liebman’s group, Chris Potter’s Chamber Ensemble, Combo Nuvo the NYU Jazz Faculty in Residence Ensemble, The Gabriel Alegria Afro-Peruvian Sextet, and the Vanguard Orchestra are examples of weekly rehearsals that our students observe.

Insofar as our large music department also includes programs in classical performance, composition, technology, business, film scoring, dance and music theater, our students have countless opportunities to collaborate with performers, dancers, actors, and multi-media applications. All of these activities generate an ideal creative atmosphere, within a highly personalized jazz program, which is filled with opportunities for training, development and networking in the world's musical capital.

For more information about NYU Jazz please contact us

By phone:  212 998 5446
By e-mail:  jazzstudies@nyu.edu