The Jazz & Improvisation specialization reflects our long history and ethos of practical, intensive and performance-based musical training.

This course focuses on ensemble and individual studio-based practice with a central focus on creativity and technical skills.

The Jazz & Improvisation specialisation holds a near 40 year history ;of exceptional staff working with the finest students to create a generation of contemporary music practitioners known both nationally and internationally within the genres of jazz, world music, rock, pop, indie, funk, experimental and big band.

This specialisation celebrates its role as the custodian of Australian jazz, improvised music performance and scholarship, while embracing its status as the nation’s pre-eminent cultivator of new works drawing on the Australian Indigenous, non-Western, European and African-American jazz traditions within a culture of inclusivity that embraces diversity.

A unique studio-intensive teaching approach nurtures future musicians, crafting distinctive personal voices and developing advanced technical skills through contemporary performance practice and the creation of original compositions.

You will learn performance skills across a range of individual and ensemble performance contexts, including close performance-based collaborations with music staff. A focus on staff-student mentorship will guide you as you set forth in your career in the music industry.

Specialist studies in jazz can take you in a number of directions: from hands on performing and producing through to journalism and education.

You could find a rewarding career in roles as a :

• Contemporary music arranger
• Reviewer
• Contemporary music educator
• Contemporary music performer for bands
• Studio and live recordings
• Film, theatre, television and live events
• Record producer
• Studio engineer