The NTNU Jazz Programme is one of the most vital jazz education programmes in Europe.

Students and alumni are active in all kinds of musical expressions – from traditional jazz to contemporary classical music, from rock and pop to world and folk music and beyond.

They tour Norway, Europe, Asia, the USA, and whatnot. They collaborate with international profiles such as Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, and Joshua Redman. And they win numerous prizes.

What do they do? How do they release such musical potential?

The ear is the key: Listen!

The Jazz Programme focus on what jazz musicians always have known: Music is best learned by ear—and by aural imitation.

It’s fun, intuitive—and immensely potent. You can do as follows:

1)      Listen to records you genuinely like  

2)      Put away your musical instrument for a while. Replicate what you hear as precisely as possible by singing, clapping, and stamping

3)      When the music feels internalised, when you have become the source of the music, pick up your instrument. Now use it as a prolongation of your body, replicating what you hear on the record—and in yourself

4)      Start making variations in the rhythmic and tonal language. Improvise along with the players on the record

5)      Go play and have fun with fellow musicians. Music is a communicative thing! Unfold and develop further what you hear along with others

Learning Environment

We believe in peer-to-peer learning—not the master-apprentice model.

We don't have star teachers, only coaches. The teachers can guide the students and engage them in stimulating processes. But the student is his or her own best teacher.

We don't believe in benchmarking either. We don't grade the students.

Instead, we embrace that musicians develop at different speeds and along pathways impossible to determine in advance.

Working Life Relevance

We believe in releasing the musical entrepreneurial spirit in the students.

Students learn to see themselves in context. Exploring the driving forces and motivations for music goes hand in hand with discovering possibilities and limitations in the working field.

This attitude breaks down the boundaries between education, work, and civic engagement. The student accomplishes his or her potential out there—in the real world. 

The typical Jazz Programme alumnus CREATES his or her market. He or she doesn’t just wait for something to happen, but contributes in the creation of new possibilities.