Brass studies at CalArts is distinctive and innovative, with a curriculum designed to further develop the role of brass instruments in the present while looking toward the future.
Building from a traditional brass foundation, the curriculum focuses on contemporary brass works and performance practices, while also working to develop a radical expansion of the idiom. Emphasis is on intensive ensemble work, while also offering an inclusive environment for the study of non-Western music, improvisation, technologies, and interdisciplinary practices, with the aim of equipping students with the skills to both expand their own artistic voices and to be prepared for and contribute to an ever-changing professional landscape.
In addition to receiving core instruction from CalArts’ well-known and innovative faculty, brass students benefit from an ongoing schedule of internationally renowned visiting artists. Brass studies also maintains a roster of active leaders in the profession to act as advisors, primarily through a series of lectures and other consultations. To prepare students for the broadest possible career experience, they are offered numerous opportunities to draw from vast expertise among CalArts’ acclaimed faculty in other areas, especially the renowned brass faculty in CalArts’ legendary Jazz program.
Graduate and advanced undergraduate students of trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba are encouraged to apply. Established ensembles are also welcome.
BFA
BFA degree requirements:
Undergraduate students develop and refine their instrumental skills through a wide range of traditional and contemporary repertoire. The coursework focuses on major lessons, brass workshops, performance forums, and intensive ensemble work in different brass groups, woodwind ensemble for hornists, and various chamber groups and large ensembles, such as the school’s principal conducted faculty-student group, the Ensemble at CalArts.
The curriculum further includes classes in composition, creative skills, and pedagogy. The faculty also encourages students to incorporate jazz, non-Western music, improvisation, technology, and interdisciplinary genres into their individual studies.
Back to BFA Instrumental Arts program
MFA
MFA degree requirements:
The master’s degree track allows already-accomplished students of trumpet, horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba to explore advanced performance techniques and new stylistic directions as they develop their individual artistic and professional profiles and prepare for careers across a variety of creative settings.
In addition to major lessons, brass ensemble, brass workshop, and advanced classes in music history, literature, theory, and analysis, MFA candidates perform in the school’s principal conducted faculty-student group, the Ensemble at CalArts. They further hone their skills in extended techniques, improvisation, and interpretation through a number of more specialized groups, covering Baroque, jazz, electronic, improvisational, and experimental music, as well as a host of non-Western traditions. As part of the preparation for the professional world, the MFA curriculum also incorporates classes in pedagogy and career design.