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Questo articolo è disponibile anche in: Italiano (Italian)

Didactic Regulations of the 2nd Level Academic Diploma Course

Jazz School – COMJ/12

Career opportunities

Professional concert activity oriented toward performing as a soloist or in chamber and ensemble groups.

Characteristics of the Final Exam

Free concert program, not identical to any program performed in previous exams, approximately 30 minutes in length, soloist with instrumental or orchestral accompaniment.

Training Objectives.

After completing the degree programme, graduates of Second Level in Jazz Singing will developed: An artistic personality and a high professional level that allows them to realize and express their own artistic concepts; ; A good knowledge of instrumental/interpretative and improvisational styles and techniques related to them, as well as historical and contemporary jazz repertoire, enabling them to perform in a wide range of different contexts; These objectives must also be achieved by promoting the development of perceptual hearing and memorization skills and by acquiring specific knowledge related to the organizational, compositional and analytical models of music and their interaction. Special attention should be given to the acquisition of appropriate postural and emotional control techniques. At the end of the biennium, students should have acquired a thorough knowledge of stylistic, historical aesthetic aspects in general and in relation to their specific course. Furthermore, with reference to the specificity of the individual courses, the student must possess adequate skills related to the field of improvisation. It is also an educational objective of the course to acquire skills in music information technology as well as those related to a second community language

Qualifications and skills required for entry

Bachelor’s degree or a first-level academic degree or a Conservatory degree together with an upper secondary school diploma, or other qualification obtained abroad and recognized as suitable. It is also necessary that the preparation acquired be consistent with and appropriate for the second-level course.

Conditional admission may be sought by applicants who plan to earn the required degrees by the February-March session of the relevant academic year.

Entrance Examination

1) Practical test (the Commission has the right to listen to all or part of the
solo concert program of the candidate’s choice lasting about 30 minutes, of a difficulty consistent with or greater than that presented for the exam
of 1st level Academic Diploma, including compositions from different historical periods or styles. The candidate may include in the above-mentioned programme a
Composition for ensembles/ensemble groups.
Reading test: impromptu performance of a piece assigned by the Commission (maximum time allowed before the performance: 2 times the
duration of the piece).
3) Oral exam: the interview will focus on the training course already undertaken and on any professional orientations that have already emerged during the last
years of training, with particular reference to the interests of the specific specialization.
Evaluation of the candidate’s resume.

First year

Piano for jazz instruments and singing

Course year: 1 – Credits: 6 – Hours: 10 – Individual lesson – Assessment form: Exam.

Exam syllabus:

  • – Prove that you know all the Seventh chords in all keys and their extensions through the category A and B positions.
  • – Execution of a given progression by reading the theme song at first sight, respecting the harmonic link and the function of the dominant.
  • – Performance (harmony only) respecting the harmonic link, the function of the dominant and the melody, of one of the 5 pieces studied at the choice of the commission, using the positions of category A and B “One handed voting”.

Jazz Compositional Techniques I

Course year: 1 – Credits: 3 – Hours: 18 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Verification of suitability.

Program of Study:

  • – Insights into functional, modal and chromatic harmony.
  • – Analysis of stylistic languages from RagTime to Cool Jazz.
  • – Density of melodic rhythm and harmony as a function of a style.
  • – Considerations for how to arrange and structure a song.
  • – Melody construction techniques.
  • – Invention of jazz themes in the forms: Blues, AABA song, ABAC song and BeBop form.
  • – Creation of arrangements with block chords (4 narrow voices + doubling 8vb lead), with late parts (drop2, drop 3, drop 2 and 4), counterpoint with several voices.

Eligibility check. Invention of a melody with chord acronyms on a fragment given by the commission and its writing in full for soloist and rhythm.

Performance Practices and Jazz Repertoires I

Course year: 1 – Credits: 6 – Hours: 20 – Group lesson – Assessment form: Exam.

Program of Study:

  • Study of the rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and structural styles and language of jazz styles: From Dixieland to Bebop music. Peculiar characteristics of jazz: rhythm, theme, improvisation, harmony, structure.
  • Swing (medium, up, fast, medium slow, ballad) and La Bossa Nova.
  • The form and structure: the Blues, the Rhythm and Change, the standard Song and atypical standard forms.
  • Harmonic and melodic analysis and performance of jazz repertoire from dixieland to bebop.
  • Thematic study of historians from dixieland to bebop. The improvisation inherent in the repertoire studied: from Dixieland to BeBop.

Exam program: Presentation of a list of six pieces taken from the repertoire studied. Two of the six tracks must contain simple elements of arrangement by the candidate himself (intro, special, background, coda). The candidate will perform a piece of the commission’s choice and a piece of the commission’s choice.

Musical Improvisation Techniques I

Course year: 1 – Credits: 3 – Hours: 18 – Group lesson – Assessment form: Assessment

Program:

  • – Theoretical learning and practical implementation of the various improvisational techniques, with particular attention to the most current techniques.
  • – Knowledge and practice, during the course of study, of the various approaches to improvisation; Modal Jazz, Using Space, Motif, Working with Different Scale, Improvising with Pentatonics, Intervallic Playng, Playing “Inside” and “Outside”, Bitonal Chords, Improvising over Bitonal Chords, Scale/Chord Relationship, Harmonic Substitutions, Free Improvisation, Triad Pairs, Coltrane Changes, etc. – Study of targeted pieces of the jazz tradition: Mainstream Jazz, Avant-Garde & Contemporary Jazz. The form of verification will be established by the teacher.

Enforcement Practices and Repertoires I

Course year: 1 – Credits: 18 – Hours: 35 – Individual lesson – Assessment form: Exam.
Exam syllabus:

  • Performance of 2 pieces (1 chosen by the candidate and 1 chosen by the commission) among 10 presented by the candidate and studied during the Academic Year.
  • For each piece, the candidate will have to produce a brief introductory report on the stylistic characteristics, author and performer of the version(s) of
    reference and an exercise book (triad arpeggios on harmonic progressions, guide notes and melodic-harmonic links between chords, etc.), to be inserted
    in the essay;
  • For each piece, the candidate will have to transcribe and perform only one historical to be chosen from the reference versions studied during the year;
  • A cappella intonation of scales: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, minor pentatonic, blues, modal scales derived from
    major scale. Scales must be inserted in the essay, in all keys for descending fifths;
  • Stoloff: Rhythm Etude 1, 2, 3, 4; Blues in F, Minor Blues solo.

Techniques of expression and body awareness

Course year: 1 – Credits: 6 – Hours: 36 – Group lesson – Assessment form: Exam.

Exam program: The exams will be carried out with the presentation, individual or collective, of a creation/improvisation of a vocal/musical movement that will then have to be argued from the mental genesis to its realization and motivated in the expressive details taking into account rhythm, movement and thought. The presentation can also be illustrated by a written paper on the topics elaborated.

Management of cultural events and live entertainment

Course year: 1 – Credits: 3 – Hours: 18 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Verification of suitability.

Program of Study:

  • – Public and Private: funding, partnerships and collaborations
  • -Associations
  • – Certificates, Attestations and Artistic Titles
  • – The S.I.A.E.: purposes, obligations, exemptions and safeguards.
  • – The E. N.P.A.L.S: purposes, obligations, exemptions and safeguards.
  • – Examples of production of a show: soloist, orchestra, opera and new languages

The course includes collaboration, promotion and assistance for a production of the ISSM “Arturo Toscanini”. The form of verification will be established by the teacher.

Student’s Elective Subject I

Course year: 1 – Credits: 6 – Hours: 36 – Form of assessment: Assessment or Exam.

Subject and/or activity chosen by the student II

Course year: 1 – Credits: 6 – Hours: 36 – Form of assessment: Assessment or Exam.

The activities will be evaluated according to art. 13 of the Didactic Regulations of the 2nd level Academic Diploma Courses and related evaluation table (5h of activity/1 CFA).

Community Foreign Language I (English Language I)

Course year: 1 – Credits: 3 – Hours: 25 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of competence.

The study program will be established by the teacher following an accurate student entrance test and will be preparatory to the acquisition of the B1 level of English.

The form of final assessment will be established by the teacher and will concern the following language skills: Speaking, Reading, Listening and Writing.

Second year

Analysis of the compositional and performative forms of jazz

Course year: 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of suitability.

Program: Primary concepts and historical-musicological foundations of the origins of Afro-American music, analysis of pre-jazz forms: work song, prisons song, gospel, spiritual, ragtime, blues. The advent of New Orleans style and dixieland. Development of the jazz language, the forms of improvisation of the twenties: Jelly Roll Morton, Joe King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington.

Development of the jazz language and forms of improvisation in the 1930s. Swing Era and great orchestras, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, the new forms of virtuosity.

Development of the jazz language and forms of improvisation of the Forties, the great soloists in the pre-bebop era: Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster. Revolution and advent of bebop. Analysis and forms of improvisation: Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk. Evolution and concept of standards, analysis of the American song. Development of the jazz language and forms of improvisation of cool jazz, west coast and third stream: Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Jimmi Giuffre.

Analysis of the forms of modern orchestral jazz: Stan Kenton, Gil Evans, George Russell. Analysis of shapes in hard bop: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus. Analysis of Bill Evans’ compositional language. Free jazz and Ornette Coleman. Avant-garde and interconnections with contemporary music: Edgard Varése, Pierre Boulez, Frank Zappa, development of European jazz, contemporaneity. The form of verification will be established by the teacher.

Jazz Compositional Techniques II

Course year: 2 – Credits: 3 – Hours: 18 – Group lesson – Assessment form: Exam. Prerequisites: Jazz Compositional Techniques I

Program: Invention of jazz themes in the forms: modal, chromatic and open.

Creation of arrangements with block chords (4 narrow voices + doubling of 8vb leads), with late parts (drop2, drop 3, drop 2 and 4), counterpoint with several voices.

Exam: Written test and interview in front of the Commission.

Invention of a melody with chord acronyms on a fragment given by the commission and its writing in full for soloist and rhythm. Duration of the test: 8 hours.

Melodic and harmonic analysis of a piece given by the commission.

Performance Practices and Jazz Repertoires II

Course year: 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours: 20 – Group lesson – Assessment form: Exam.

Prerequisites: Performance Practices and Jazz I Repertoires

Study program: Study of the rhythmic, melodic, harmonic and structural styles and language of jazz styles: from Hard-Bop to contemporary jazz music.

The Even-eights time (funk, afro, pop ballad, jazz-fusion, jazz-rock). Il Latin Jazz.

Thematic study of historical solos from hard bop to contemporary jazz. Improvisation inherent in the repertoire studied.

Exam program: Presentation of a list of six pieces from the repertoire studied. Two of the six tracks must contain simple elements of arrangement by the candidate himself (intro, special, background, coda). The candidate will perform a piece of the commission’s choice and a piece of the commission’s choice.

Musical Improvisation Techniques II

Course year: 2 – Credits: 3 – Hours: 18 – Group lesson – Assessment form: Exam.

Prerequisites: Musical Improvisation Techniques I

Exam syllabus:

  • – Performance of a piece chosen by the candidate among those required by the program with improvisation. The student can choose to perform the pieces in solo form or with the help of any accompanists.
  • – Performance of a piece chosen by the commission among those obligatory in the program with improvisation.
  • – Execution of a single historical, modern and/or contemporary one agreed in advance with the teacher and transcribed by the candidate. The exam requires the performance on the instrument, in sync with the original audio track and the extemporaneous analysis. The student will also have to prove knowledge of all the topics related to the year.

Performance Practices and Repertoires II

Course year: 2 – Credits: 18 – Hours: 35 – Individual lesson – Assessment form: Exam. Prerequisites: Performance Practices and Jazz I Repertoires

Exam program: Public concert of pieces of the jazz tradition arranged by the candidate, and/or original pieces of his/her own composition. The duration of the concert must be a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of 50 minutes.

Music Informatics

Course year: 2 – Credits: 3 – Hours: 15 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of suitability.

At the end of the teaching hours, the teacher will express the judgment of suitability based on the verification, for each student, of the attendance, of the performance of the theoretical and/or practical work, both collective and individual, of the achievement of the set educational objectives.

Conducting a jazz orchestra

Course year: 2 – Credits: 3 – Hours: 18 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of suitability.

Program

Basic technique of direction: the setting of the arm and hand; the starting position. The three phases of the attack and the attack transient; breathing and the exact transmission of time; the gesture of staccato and legato; directorial schemes.

Study of the concertation of a score and conducting analysis (also at the piano) Practical work in ensembles and big bands (in number of hours to be agreed)

Eligibility Verification

Conducting and concertation (where possible with the institute’s orchestra) in a maximum time of 20 minutes of a piece orchestrated and arranged by the student for the ensemble previously agreed with the teacher or of a piece from the jazz repertoire/new languages studied and analyzed during the year. The passage on which the student will be examined will be studied by the student at least 7 days before the exam to be taken. Also demonstrate knowledge of the technical fundamentals of orchestral conducting.

Subject and/or activity chosen by the student III

Course year: 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours: 36 – Form of assessment: Proficiency or Exam.

The activities will be evaluated according to art. 13 of the Didactic Regulations of 2nd level Academic Diploma Courses and related evaluation table

(5h of activity/1 CFA)

Community Foreign Language II (English Language II)

Course year: 2 – Credits: 3 – Hours: 25 – Group lesson – Assessment form: Exam. Prerequisites: EU Foreign Language I (English Language I)

Study Program: Revision of the grammatical structures of the first year;

The study program will be established by the teacher, will include the revision of the grammatical structures of the first year and will be preparatory to the acquisition of the B2 level of English.

Exam syllabus: Students will be tested on their skills and ability to take part in different types of interaction with the teacher with particular regard to the musical discipline.

The final form of exam will be established by the teacher and will cover the following language skills: Speaking, Reading, Listening and Writing

It will also include the main points of a specific written question with various exercises (Quizlet: written questions, terms to match, multiple-choice questions and true/false questions) of both Classical and Jazz Musical Terminology, after having acquired knowledge of the Glossary of Terminology and specialized musical definitions.

Final exam

Course year: 2 – Credits: 9 – Hours: – – Assessment form: Exam Exam syllabus:

Free concert program, not identical to any program performed in previous exams, approximately 30 minutes in length, soloist with instrumental or orchestral accompaniment.

Subjects chosen by the student

History of costume design and scenography

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of suitability.

Verification: Presentation of a written paper on one or more topics covered during the course and concerning the history of the show, styles, costume, staging, furniture and theatrical make-up with particular reference to Opera and other forms of musical performance. The assessment must show an in-depth analysis of the notions acquired.

Community foreign language: German language

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of suitability.

Verification: Test and/or written questions and/or oral interview, or on the basis of a suitable certification presented, that the level of knowledge of the language acquired by the candidate is adequate for the year.

Music Pedagogy

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Exam.

Program: The formation of the personality and the role of the school curriculum in the didactic-educational musical project. The general methodological approach and its declination in the field of music. Music pedagogy in historical and modern methodologies. Emotional communication in music. The “Music” discipline in the 2012 National Indications currently in force. Ongoing assessment: written test.

Final exam: Final oral discussion on the topics covered in the mid-term test. The final grade is based on the marks obtained in the ongoing tests.

Music Psychology

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Exam.

Program: Emotional perception. Learning and Mental Structures: The Construction of the “Musical Vocabulary”. “Natural” listening and grouping mechanisms. Attention, memory, learning in music. Ongoing assessment: written test.

Final examination: Final oral discussion on the topics covered in the mid-term test. The final grade is based on the marks obtained in the ongoing tests.

Methodology of historical-musical investigation

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Exam.

Ongoing assessment: Open-ended questionnaire on the topics under study.

Final exam: Oral interview on the topics studied and covered in the mid-term test. The final grade is based on the marks obtained in the ongoing tests.

Ornamentation Practice

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Verification of suitability.

Verification: Present a short composition of your choice, taken from the Baroque instrumental repertoire with reference to the candidate’s basic instrument, in particular a piece from Suites, Sonatas, Pieces, which presents a varied richness of embellishments.

Extemporaneously perform a piece already adorned with embellishments, chosen by the teacher, for each instrument (keyboards in general, wind bow, pluck, etc.). Discuss the ornamental stylistic differences of French, German and Italian Baroque composers.

Fundamentals of Composition

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of suitability.

Program: The composition of simple and figurative choirs, as well as short pieces in ternary form and/or sonata-form for chamber ensembles to be agreed with the teacher at the beginning of the lessons, is aimed at developing compositional skills useful for a greater understanding of the artistic articulation of tonal language.

Verification: At the end of the teaching hours, the teacher will express the judgment of suitability based on the verification, for each student, of the attendance, of the performance of the theoretical and/or practical work, both collective and individual, of the achievement of the pre-established educational objectives.

Reading the score

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of suitability.

Program: Perform an extemporaneous piece written in the old keys on the piano, transfer a piece to the piano a tone above or a tone below, perform and intone an ancient aria at first sight. The above pieces and the ancient aria will be assigned by the teacher.

Verification: At the end of the scheduled teaching hours, the teacher will express the judgment of suitability also on the basis of the verification, for each student, of the attendance, of the performance of the theoretical and/or practical work, both collective and individual, of the achievement of the pre-established educational objectives.

Conducting instrumental and vocal groups

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of suitability.

Verification: Practical test – Demonstrate that they have learned the conducting technique and the basic gestures – in relation to tempo, agogy, phrasing, breathing and crowns – conducting the main simple and composed measures with the help of a chamber ensemble (instrumental and/or vocal) and/or a collaborating pianist.

Theory test – Discuss the topics covered during the course: historical elements of orchestral conducting; the relationship between the soloist and the conductor in the work of analysis and concertation of the score; the figure of the solo conductor in the concert repertoire; Notes on concertation in ensemble music.

Processing, transcription and arrangement

Course year: 1 or 2 – Credits: 6 – Hours of lessons: 36 – Group lesson – Form of assessment: Assessment of suitability.

Program: At the beginning of the lessons, the teacher will agree on the transcription, to be carried out with a guided work in class, of two pieces (one for solo instrument to be transcribed for chamber ensemble and the other for chamber ensemble to be reduced for solo instrument) that are of general interest to the group of attending students.

Verification: At the end of the scheduled teaching hours, the teacher will express the judgment of suitability based on the verification, for each student, of the attendance, of the performance of the theoretical and/or practical work, both collective and individual, of the actual achievement of the set educational objectives.

All active collective or group subjects included in the curricular plans of the Two-Year Regulations of all Schools can also be chosen.

Educational Regulations