Requirements for the minor in jazz studies
Entrance auditions
Entrance audition days are held several times each year. The audition schedule and downloadable application are available on the school website. Please submit application to the department office. Students should be prepared to demonstrate proficiency in their proposed area of specialization.
Students seeking admission to Oakland University as music majors or auditioned music minors must audition for the music faculty.
Students who audition and do not enroll within two semesters must re-audition. Students who enroll and leave school for at least two semesters must re-audition. Music students who enroll and leave school must re-audition and also retake the theory placement exam.
The department offers a minor in jazz studies that is open to both music majors and non-majors who have had prior music performance experience and wish to study jazz. Non-music majors who wish to pursue the minor in jazz studies must audition. Courses in which ast least a (C) has been earned will count toward the minor. Contact the jazz program coordinator, Sean Dobbins at dobbins@oakland.edu. Music majors who wish to pursue the minor in jazz studies should do so in consultation with the jazz coordinator and their applied music instructor.
The minor in jazz studies is designed to enhance the student’s ability to negotiate the theoretical, practical, cultural, and historical aspects of teaching and performing jazz as a musical art form. Students will study the practices of past jazz masters and develop methods in order to sustain their own jazz education in addition to the education of current and future students. The minor will focus on refining performance and improvisational skills through private instruction, techniques for rehearsing small and large jazz ensembles, researching historical perspectives, and creating functional arrangements and compositions for both classroom and personal use.
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