BME Instrumental Jazz - Piano at Indiana University Bloomington

Programme overview

Bachelor of Music Education in Instrumental Jazz teaching with piano as the performance area, offered by the Jacobs School of Music at IU Bloomington. It combines music education preparation, jazz studies and applied study leading to a senior recital and student teaching.

Faculty: Jacobs School of Music | Duration: 120 credit hours | Intake: Fall (audition weekends January-February; IU application due November 1 preferred, December 1 final) | Location: Bloomington, IN, United States

What you will study

Bachelor of Music Education, Instrumental Teaching-Jazz: 120 credit hours, including core music (11 cr.), music education (50 cr.) and jazz courses (22 cr.), performance study each semester until the senior recital, X40 instrumental ensemble and O450 Jazz Chamber Ensemble, and 16-credit student teaching. Sample courses: O214 Jazz Harmony, O321 Jazz Improvisation 1, O316 Jazz Arranging 1, F325 Rhythm Section Methods, E344 Methods and Materials for Teaching Instrumental Music.

Career pathways

Prepares graduates for K-12 music teaching in instrumental programmes.

Official programme page

Application information

Entry requirements

Jacobs School of Music (Bachelor of Music Education, 2027-28 entry): apply to Indiana University (November 1 preferred, December 1 final; IU application or Common Application) and submit the Jacobs Supplemental Application by December 1, together with any required prescreening. Applicants complete an audition in their performance area and a one-to-one in-person interview on audition day, plus a mandatory group meeting with music education faculty that includes an on-site questionnaire on musical and extracurricular activities and a general assessment of musical skills and dispositions for teaching. Audition weekends are January 29-30, February 5-6 and February 26-27, 2027; recorded auditions are due February 15. Jazz piano audition: no prescreen; two tunes from memory (one not a blues, rhythm changes or ballad, and one from the standard list) with melody, comping and soloing; classical audition of a Bach Prelude and Fugue, a Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven sonata first movement and a short 19th- or 20th-century work; scales and possible sight-reading. Jazz applicants enter at the concentration level to a jazz studio.

Requirements published at faculty level.

Tuition is charged per credit, so the total depends on the modules you register for each year. Current fees are listed in the official fee schedule.

Freshmen can start in the fall or spring semester; freshmen applying for the spring semester should apply by November 1 (priority deadline).

Transfer students can start in fall, spring (January start) or summer.

Freshman early action (non-binding) deadline is November 1 (response January 15); regular decision deadline is February 1 (response March 15); after February 1 applications are considered on a space-available basis. The enrollment deposit of $100 is due May 1. IU Bloomington is test-optional (SAT, ACT and CLT scores are optional). Apply with either the Apply IU application or the Common Application.

Transfer priority deadlines: fall start June 1, spring (January start) November 1, summer start March 1; School of Nursing applicants for fall must apply by April 1 and Kelley School of Business applicants by June 1. Apply with either the Apply IU application or the Common Application.

The undergraduate application fee is $65 (US citizen and international); the Jacobs School of Music application fee is $95.

Apply through the official page: https://admissions.indiana.edu/apply/index.html

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