I am starting what hopefully will be my final year in pursuit of a doctoral degree in multiple woodwinds performance (flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone). Today I kicked off five days of written comprehensive exams. In addition to a musicology exam and a music theory exam, I have been preparing for woodwind-related test questions such as these:
multiple woodwinds degrees
University/conservatory degree programs in woodwind doubling, part II: jazz
In response to my recent post about woodwind doubling degree programs, someone sent me this question:
My question is, out of that list, do you know of which schools offer multiple woodwinds with a Jazz/Contemporary focus … or at least some focus on jazz?
I checked out most of those pages, but it seems it’s all very classical focused.
Before addressing that question, I think it’s worth saying that if you’re going to be a woodwind doubler, a little jazz background is really valuable.
University/conservatory degree programs in woodwind doubling
I’ve updated my list of schools with woodwind doubling programs. The current count as of this writing is 5 schools with some kind of bachelor’s degree program, 15 with a master’s program, and 5 with a doctoral program.