Music with Jazz Studies

Music and jazz studies is a combination that takes the full seriousness of both academic musical study and the specific traditions of jazz as an art form. Jazz is not simply a genre: it is a way of thinking about music, rooted in improvisation, ensemble listening, harmonic sophistication, and a deep tradition of African American musical creativity that has influenced almost every form of popular music in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Studying it alongside broader musical study connects you to both the jazz canon and the wider world of musical ideas.

This three-year full-time programme at the University of Chichester develops your practical performance skills, including improvisation and ensemble playing, alongside your understanding of music theory, harmony, composition, musicology, and the history of jazz from its roots to the present day. You will listen deeply, analyse scores and recordings, perform in jazz and other musical contexts, and develop the ear training and technical fluency that professional musicianship demands. Chichester has a strong performing arts culture, and the programme benefits from dedicated music facilities and a community of students and staff with genuine commitment to music-making at a high level.

Graduates from music programmes with a jazz focus pursue careers as performing musicians, session players, bandleaders, music educators, composers and arrangers, recording and production professionals, and music journalists and broadcasters. Many work across several of these roles simultaneously, as a portfolio career is the norm rather than the exception in professional music. Some graduates move into music therapy, arts administration, artist management, or music publishing.

Postgraduate study in music performance, composition, music education, or jazz studies is available for those who want to develop their practice at a higher level or move into teaching in higher education.