The Royal Academy of Music - Aarhus/Aalborg

The Classical Music programmes give opportunity to hone the student’s skills in an inspiring environment with strong professional networks; internally on individual subjects as well as across all classical disciplines. All the teachers are experienced professional musicians.

During the studies, the student will get many opportunities for playing concerts and chamber music, attending master classes, participating in internal competitions, or participating in various projects such as orchestra training courses or opera productions.

In addition, there are great opportunities for collaborating with students from the Academy's two other main areas: jazz/pop music and electronic music.

The classical programmes span many different genres, ages, methods, and tuition formats, and they provide opportunities for specialisation as well as more generalised education.

Tuition is offered in all common instruments and fields in Classical music.

All the Classical Music programmes at master’s level gives the student the knowledge, skills, and qualifications necessary to become a musician/singer, composer, or music teacher on the highest level. They are concluded with a master’s project.

The subjects are:

• Main instrument/subject
• Chamber music
• Entrepreneurial studies
• Electives

This programme is offered at the Aarhus campus.
Visit the programmes website.    

Career Opportunities  
This master's program makes the student prepared for a career as a musician, songwriter/composer, music teacher, and an enterprising music industry player.

Admission
To be admitted to this programme, students must take an entrance exam that is described in admission requirements. At the Academy’s homepage the applicant can find detailed information about admission requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, and soloist programmes as well as examples of entry exams.

The applicant must apply online via kum.studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

At the Academy’s homepage the student can find out more about admission e.g., application deadline, schedule for entry exams, application fee etc.

Tuition
There is a tuition fee for all full­time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.    

For Further Information Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located here.

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition.

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System.

The environment at this programme is unique, even by international standards. Based on DIEM, The Danish Institute of Electronic Music, founded in 1986, the programme is very popular and is recognised internationally.

Right from the start, the programme has a strong focus on the student’s compositional and technical ability. Taking the student’s compositions as a starting point, the student will be introduced to a broad range of subjects and projects that form the basis for the choice of further studies and future career. Later, we also focus on the communication of music, in practice and in theory.

The programme is usually visited by several guest teachers and/or international artists who carry out concerts and workshops.

On the master’s programme, the student specialise as an electronic musician and/or composer at the very highest level. Tuition takes place in an artistic, research-based study environment where the student will develop his/her qualifications for independent commencement and execution of musical projects and tuition courses.

The students at the programme come from many different backgrounds, ensuring a diverse and inspiring environment. Also, we collaborate closely with the jazz/pop/global and classical music students at the Academy who regularly make use of electronic musicians and composers in their projects.

The students have access to professional-grade studio facilities based on Intel Macs with the Logic Pro sequencer environment and 5.1 surround workstations. The studios are fully equipped with state-of-the-art professional software and hardware as well as various sensor systems and other untraditional user interfaces for use in customised music applications. Also, the students have access to several very different concert halls, including a symphonic hall, a multiple function black box hall and a hall equipped with a 48-channel speaker system for spatial sound processing.

All master’s programmes include Entrepreneurial Studies and are concluded with a master’s project. To be admitted on the master’s programme, the student must have a bachelor’s degree.

This programme is offered at the Aarhus campus.
Visit the programmes website.    

Career Opportunities  
This master's program makes the student prepared for a career as a musician, songwriter/composer, music teacher, and an enterprising music industry player.

Admission
To be admitted to this programme, students must take an entrance exam that is described in admission requirements. At the Academy’s homepage the applicant can find detailed information about admission requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, and soloist programmes as well as examples of entry exams.

The applicant must apply online via kum.studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

At the Academy’s homepage the student can find out more about admission e.g., application deadline, schedule for entry exams, application fee etc.

Tuition
There is a tuition fee for all full­time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.    

For Further Information Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located here.

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition.

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System.

On this programme the student will be working with the production and performance of electronic music and sound. The programme focus on compositional methods and take an analytical approach to investigating contemporary and older electronic music, art, and culture. The students gain a relevant understanding of music history and culture which enables them to break new ground and be innovative on the contemporary art scene.

The student will be working with e.g., music production, studio technology, hardware, programming, electronics, live performance, installations, synthesis, and sound design. The student will also be working with electronic sound, contributing to productions that span several art forms.

In addition, the student will be doing practical work with teaching training. And there are good possibilities for musical collaboration with the jazz/pop/global music students on the Aalborg campus.

Tuition takes place in large, elegant rooms with professional-grade studio monitors, monitor controls, sound cards, and sound-absorbing materials. The rooms also contain drum pads, drum machines, synthesizers, MIDI controllers, and MIDI keyboards. One of the rooms has 4 studio monitors, allowing a 4-channel set-up.

The student also has access to two e-music rehearsal rooms with a monitor set-up, mixer, sound card, and piano. The rehearsal rooms give great opportunities for working with production and composition around the clock.  

The subjects are divided into four areas:

• Main study area: Subjects where you perform, as well as subjects that support this
• Pedagogics: Subjects where you communicate and teach, as well as subjects that support this 
• General studies: Elementary music theory subjects 
• Entrepreneurial Studies: Subjects and projects that give you experience as an entrepreneur and similar

This programme is offered at the Aalborg campus.
Visit the programmes website.    

Career Opportunities  
This bachelor’s program makes the student prepared for a career as a professional contemporary electronic music composer, producer, and teacher.

Admission
To be admitted to this programme, students must take an entrance exam that is described in admission requirements. At the Academy’s homepage the applicant can find detailed information about admission requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, and soloist programmes as well as examples of entry exams.

The applicant must apply online via kum.studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

At the Academy’s homepage the student can find out more about admission e.g., application deadline, schedule for entry exams, application fee etc.

Tuition
There is a tuition fee for all full­time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.

For Further Information Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located here.

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition.

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System.

The General Music Teacher (AM) programme is the broadest music teacher education offered at the Academy. Right from the start, the programme focuses on developing both teaching skills and the students main instrument performance skills. The student will be introduced to a wide range of subjects and projects and will acquire the knowledge, skills, and qualifications necessary to become a music teacher and musician.

The General Music Teacher programme can be chosen by both classical and jazz/pop musicians. The programme requires the student to be familiar with a wide range of styles, and the student will receive tuition on both classical and jazz/pop subjects, no matter if the student study a classical or a jazz/pop main instrument.

Tuition in the student’s main instrument is offered in all common instruments in both jazz/pop music and classical music.  

The student will gain a widespread network and will be able to facilitate and participate in cross-disciplinary projects throughout the study environment at the Academy.

The master’s programme builds on the skills and qualifications acquired on the bachelor’s programme. The students must immerse themselves in three supplementary main subjects in addition to their main instrument, either classical or jazz/pop/global. Supplementary main subjects include Choir Conducting, Ear Training, or Main Instrument Pedagogics, and all include a communication aspect and a pedagogical course.

The course subjects at master’s level are divided into the following fields: 

• Main study area: Subjects where the student is a performer as well as subjects that support this aspect
• Pedagogics: Subjects where the student communicates and teaches as well as subjects that support this aspect
• Entrepreneurial Studies: Subjects and projects where the student explores the role as entrepreneur and manager of dynamic processes, and in addition develops his or her career management tools
• Master’s project: The project itself as well as tuition in the form of guidance and subjects that prepare the student for project work

This programme is offered at the Aarhus campus.
Visit the programmes website.    

Career Opportunities  
Graduates from The General Music Teacher programme are seldom short of work, as their versatile and well-grounded professionalism is in high demand both in educational environments and in the general music business.

Admission
To be admitted to this programme, students must take an entrance exam that is described in admission requirements. At the Academy’s homepage the applicant can find detailed information about admission requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, and soloist programmes as well as examples of entry exams.

The applicant must apply online via kum.studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

At the Academy’s homepage the student can find out more about admission e.g., application deadline, schedule for entry exams, application fee etc.

Tuition
There is a tuition fee for all full­time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.    

For Further Information Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located here.

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition.

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System.

The Innovative Choir Leading programme is focusing on contemporary forms of expression and methodology, and on developing the student’s personal and professional competences as a choir leader in regard to styles such as pop, rock, jazz, gospel, world, improvisation, and vocal painting.

The Innovative Choir Leading studies provides the student with skills to make vocal music sound just ‘right’ when it comes to these musical styles with choirs and a cappella groups, in rehearsals as well as in performances.

Tuition includes the minor subjects ear training, theory of improvisation, rhythm and coordination, vocal studies, piano, voice theory, arranging, entrepreneurship, pedagogy, ensemble singing, RAMA Voices (vocal group, as a singer), and an elective flex subject.

The program is associated with the RAMA Vocal Center at the Academy’s Aalborg campus; an internationally recognized center of ‘Innovative Choir Leading’ created by Professor Jim Daus Hjernøe.

The teacher team has references to Bobby McFerrin, The Real Group, Touché, and Vocal Line, assisted by top guest teachers on e.g., beatboxing by RoxorLoops and concert design by Astrid Vang-Pedersen.

For several years choir directors from all over the world attend as students to be educated by this renowned team of world-class teachers, ensuring the highest pedagogical and artistic level.

In some cases, students from abroad will be able to participate in the weekly classes through digital high-speed video conferencing and have a choir available locally. This option adds to the modern and international quality of the program.

For all students, 8 boot camps per academic year are mandatory to join in person on Campus Aalborg (Monday to Friday). That will be 3 boot camps in the fall semester and 5 in the spring semester. These are supplemented by weekly classes, which in some cases can be joined via video conference.

In addition, live coaching sessions via video conferencing in “music mode”, 4 times per academic year per student, where students bring their teacher and fellow students to watch and supervise a choir rehearsal “live”, no matter where in the world you are.

This programme is offered at the Aalborg campus. Visit the programmes website. 

Career Opportunities  
This master’s program makes the student prepared for a career as a musician, and music teacher, specialized in leading and conducting choirs and vocal groups at the highest level in all jazz/pop-related styles.
 
Admission
To be admitted to this programme, students must take an entrance exam that is described in admission requirements. At the Academy’s homepage the applicant can find detailed information about admission requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, and soloist programmes as well as examples of entry exams.

The applicant must apply online via kum.studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

At the Academy’s homepage the student can find out more about admission e.g., application deadline, schedule for entry exams, application fee etc.

Tuition
There is a tuition fee for all full­time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.

For Further Information Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located here.

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition.

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System.

The Academy's jazz/pop programmes are very diverse, and we celebrate and use this diversity. Tuition is offered in all common instruments in jazz/pop music.

In a sense, on the Jazz/Pop Drum and Dance (Aarhus) programme the student study four main instruments: The students own instrument plus singing, dancing, and percussion.
 
Singing and dancing are integral parts of the programme through the Singing, Dancing and Playing (SDS) subject, no matter what the student’s main instrument is. The programme works within all jazz/pop/global music styles, approaching them from new, creative, playful and artistic angles, and with a willingness to mix established traditions with modern music and dancing. Music from other cultures in general plays a major role on the programme, not least music with strong ties to dancing.

The programme gives the student space for play and for being creative. SDS makes it possible to create a unique space for bodily and creative expression. The student will participate in creating the annual Drum and Dance touring show from the ground up and the student will tour with the show to boarding schools, Danish folk high schools, and so on.  

In addition, the Academy arranges annual study trips to e.g., Africa, Cuba, or Brazil, giving the students an opportunity to get very close to the music traditions of other cultures.

The course subjects are divided into the following fields:

• Main study area: Subjects where the student is a performer as well as subjects that support this aspect
• Pedagogics: Subjects where the student communicates and teaches as well as subjects that support this aspect
• General studies: Elementary support subjects
• Entrepreneurial Studies: Subjects and projects where students gain experience as entrepreneurs and managers of dynamic processes and acquire career management tools
• Bachelor project: The programme is concluded with the bachelor project; a specialisation defined by the student based on his or her interests or requirements

This programme is offered at the Aarhus campus.
Visit the programmes website.    

Career Opportunities  
This bachelor program makes the student prepared for a career as a jazz/pop musician/vocalist, teacher and dancer, and an enterprising music industry player, in performance and tuition contexts, both on the student’s main instrument and within the Singing, Dancing and Playing (SDS) area.

Admission
To be admitted to this programme, students must take an entrance exam that is described in admission requirements. At the Academy’s homepage the applicant can find detailed information about admission requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, and soloist programmes as well as examples of entry exams.

The applicant must apply online via kum.studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

At the Academy’s homepage the student can find out more about admission e.g., application deadline, schedule for entry exams, application fee etc.

Tuition
There is a tuition fee for all full­time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.    

For Further Information Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located here.

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition.

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System.

The Academy's jazz/pop programmes are very diverse. Knowledge of historical roots and performance traditions will be a natural part of many contexts and subjects, but always as a precondition for giving the student the ability to communicate future musical ideas.

Students will participate in various projects playing live. Examples include tours of boarding schools or folk high schools, performing at the Aarhus or Aalborg Festival, playing at concert cafés, and much more.  

All the teachers are experienced professional musicians. And the Academy is regularly visited by major international artists who conduct clinics for and with students.  

At the Jazz/Pop Music (Aalborg) programmes students become part of an international study environment at the Aalborg Campus. A common feature in all the programmes is that the student must first and foremost be an exceptionally skilled musician or singer. In addition, there is a strong focus on songwriting/composition and teaching skills.  

Tuition is offered in all common instruments in jazz/pop music.

The Master’s program builds on the student’s skills as a musician/singer, songwriter/composer and music teacher acquired on the bachelor’s programme. The education has a constant focus on:

• Main Instrument/Vocal Studies and Ensemble. The main area of the program also contains teaching skills in main instrument/vocal studies as well as artistic and/or pedagogical electives
• The student has one elective subject per year and can choose among courses such as: Songwriting, Composition, Music Production, Children’s Music and Innovative Choir Leading
• FLEX courses give the opportunity for individual specialisation
• Entrepreneurial Studies helps translate the student’s artistic and educational skills into a sustainable musical work life
• The master’s project starts with the Artistic and Pedagogical Reflection course, which enables the student to relate critically and analytically to once’s own and others’ practice as artists and/or music teachers

In the second year the student makes the actual master’s project within a self-chosen artistic, performative and/or educational subject. Popular topics are: Songwriting, composition, music production or the creation of new educational material.

This programme is offered at the Aalborg campus.
Visit the programmes website.    

Career Opportunities  
The master's program makes the student prepared for a career as a musician, songwriter/composer, and music teacher.

Admission
To be admitted to this programme, students must take an entrance exam that is described in admission requirements. At the Academy’s homepage the applicant can find detailed information about admission requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, and soloist programmes as well as examples of entry exams.

The applicant must apply online via kum.studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

At the Academy’s homepage the student can find out more about admission e.g., application deadline, schedule for entry exams, application fee etc.

Tuition
There is a tuition fee for all full­time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.

For Further Information Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located here.

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition.

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System.

The Academy's jazz/pop programmes are very diverse. Knowledge of historical roots and performance traditions will be a natural part of many contexts and subjects, but always as a precondition for giving the student the ability to communicate future musical ideas.

Students will participate in various projects playing live. Examples include tours of boarding schools or folk high schools, performing at the Aarhus or Aalborg Festival, playing at concert cafés, and much more.  

All the teachers are experienced professional musicians. And the Academy is regularly visited by major international artists who conduct clinics for and with students.

Tuition is offered in all common instruments in jazz/pop music.  

The Jazz/Pop Musician/Music Teacher (Aarhus) master’s programme builds on the skills and qualifications acquired on the bachelor’s programme. At the master’s level the student can choose to focus on musicianship, pedagogics, or songwriting/composition, depending on the selected curriculum:
Jazz/Pop Musician
Jazz/Pop Music Teacher
Jazz/Pop Composition and Songwriting  

The subjects on all three programmes are divided into the following areas: 

• Main study area: Subjects where the student is a performer as well as subjects that support this aspect
• Pedagogics: Subjects where the student communicates and teaches as well as subjects that support this aspect
• Entrepreneurial Studies: Subjects and projects where the student explores the role as entrepreneur and manager of dynamic processes, and in addition develops his or her career management tools
• Master’s project: The project itself as well as tuition in the form of guidance and subjects that prepare the student for project work

This programme is offered at the Aarhus campus.
Visit the programmes website.    

Career Opportunities  
This master's program makes the student prepared for a career as a musician, songwriter/composer, music teacher, and an enterprising music industry player.

Admission
To be admitted to this programme, students must take an entrance exam that is described in admission requirements. At the Academy’s homepage the applicant can find detailed information about admission requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, and soloist programmes as well as examples of entry exams.

The applicant must apply online via kum.studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

At the Academy’s homepage the student can find out more about admission e.g., application deadline, schedule for entry exams, application fee etc.

Tuition
There is a tuition fee for all full­time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.    

For Further Information Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located here.

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition.

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System.

The Nordic Master in Jazz (NOMAZZ) is a joint initiative between the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and  the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

When a student is accepted to the programme, he/she will become a student of one of these three institutions, which will be his/her "home institution", and where he/she will also graduate from eventually. 

The student will receive tuition from some of the best known musicians of the Nordic jazz scene. However, the course has no pre-conceived stylistic conventions, and the students on the course have wide-ranging tastes in music, meaning they can focus on their own personal expression.

The Master's Degree comprises 120 ECTS credits, equivalent to two years of full-time study. The students study together respectively in each institution during the semesters.The students receive a Nordplus scholarship for their exchange studies.

Read more about NOMAZZ.

Career Opportunities

As a graduate the student will be well prepared for professional work in the jazz music field, both in the Nordic market and internationally. The programme leads to the Master of Music Degree (MMus), according to each institution’s specific regulations. 

Admission

The basic pre-requisite for admission is the successful completion of a Bachelor's degree in music. Additionally, a good command of the English language is required.

In order for your application to be considered, the following documentation must be submitted:

1. Signed, completed application form 
2. Certificates detailing previous post-secondary music education
3. Short essay - a brief (250 word) description of your musical background, recent musical activities, and musical aims, as well as your reasons for applying to the programme.

Read more about the requirements.     

Applicants for The Royal Academy of Music in Denmark must apply online via studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

Tuition

There is a tuition fee for all full-time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.

For Further Information

Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located at http://en.fivu.dk/

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System

The Academy's jazz/pop programmes are very diverse, and we celebrate and use this diversity.  

The Songwriting programme is part of the Jazz/pop main area at the Academy but has its own curricula. In addition to the main subject and supporting subjects, the student will receive tuition in general subjects, pedagogical subjects, and Entrepreneurial Studies.

The student will become part of a vibrant and diverse study environment, participating in cross-disciplinary projects at the Academy and elsewhere in addition to main subject tuition and other elementary subjects.

Tuition is based on the student’s creative ideas. The student will develop his or her compositional talent, and will work with storytelling, linguistic identity, text analysis, lyrics writing in Danish and English, co-writing, arrangement, instrumentation, and production and sound. Part of the tuition takes the form of preparation for and evaluation of the student’s songwriting at concert cafés and workshops.

The master’s programme combines individual projects with so-called laboratories featuring discussion, criticism, and exchange of experiences between students and teachers. During an internship, the student will be training or working with an organisation within the arts, business, or music.

All the teachers are experienced professional musicians. And the Academy is regularly visited by major international artists who conduct clinics for and with students.

This programme is offered at the Aarhus campus.
Visit the programmes website.    

Career Opportunities  
This master's program makes the student prepared for a career as a musician, songwriter/composer, music teacher, and an enterprising music industry player.

Admission
To be admitted to this programme, students must take an entrance exam that is described in admission requirements. At the Academy’s homepage the applicant can find detailed information about admission requirements for the bachelor’s, master’s, and soloist programmes as well as examples of entry exams.

The applicant must apply online via kum.studieoptag.dk, which is the application system for all education institutes under the Ministry of Culture.

At the Academy’s homepage the student can find out more about admission e.g., application deadline, schedule for entry exams, application fee etc.

Tuition
There is a tuition fee for all full­time degree students with a citizenship from outside of EU/EAA/Switzerland. Students within an exchange programme are not required to pay tuition.    

For Further Information Information from the Danish Agency for Higher Education can be located here.

You will find information about the Danish assessment of foreign qualifications in Guide to diploma recognition.

About the Educational System in general visit the section The Danish Higher Education System.