Jazz

The School of Music offers MU undergraduate students the opportunity to pursue jazz, America’s original musical art form. Areas of study include performance and improvisation, jazz history, jazz theory, and arranging. The Certificate and Minor are not intended for beginners; rather, they are for students with basic musical knowledge. Hence, some of the required courses have pre-requisites, and auditions are required both for ensembles and for admission to the programs. The Graduate Certificate in Jazz Studies is a two-year program that provides opportunities for continued development of skills in jazz-specific areas, such as improvisation, pedagogy, and arranging. The certificate is available to degree-seeking and non-degree seeking students alike, non-music as well as music majors, and is designed as an intensive into jazz performance. The program will deepen the student’s preparation for a career in jazz performance or prepare the student for further study in jazz.

MU Jazz Festival History and Objectives

During the winter 1987 term, the University of Missouri-Columbia Jazz Studies Program, in conjunction with the Zeta Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and the student chapter of the International Association for Jazz Education, began a new annual jazz festival on campus. The organizers sought to bring together the finest junior high and high school instrumentalists, highly qualified and respected jazz adjudicators, and top quality clinicians. The MU Jazz Festival is about education, with the following objectives:

To provide a major jazz education event for junior high, high school, and college students, as well as teachers
To bring together outstanding jazz artists, educators, and student musicians in planned and shared educational and musical experiences that promote the students’ musical growth
To expose students of music to performances by America’s great improvisational artists
To give students and the general public alike a deeper understanding and appreciation of America’s own music – Jazz