The Bachelor’s programme in Organ at the Royal Conservatoire is part of the country’s rich tradition in organ music. The Netherlands is home to many exceptional organs from the Renaissance, Baroque, Romance and modern periods. Students in the Bachelor’s course are taught by Jos van der Kooy, the organist of the Müller organ in the St. Bavo Church in Haarlem and the Cavaillé-Col organ in the same city. You will learn to play on these historical instruments, as well as on the organs in the Westerkerk in Amsterdam.
The curriculum of the Bachelor’s course covers a cross-section of the most important organ repertoire up to and including the most recent compositions in the 21st century. The basic skills you will have mastered by the end of the course include improvisation and harmonisation. Knowledge of the various national style periods and the associated instruments is an important element of the broader professional knowledge that will allow you to specialise later. The profession of church musician demands specific skills, such as accompaniment to congregational singing. The theory and practice of these skills are taught by the main subject teacher in one-on-one lessons.
Students can take additional elective subjects during the Bachelor’s course, such as Gregorian, style-specific improvisation, advanced lessons in basso continuo and rhetoric in order to create a personal profile.
Students can monitor the latest developments in the profession through regular master classes and lectures given by musicians and musicologists from the Netherlands and abroad.
Specifications
Language
English
Lessons
60 min/ week
Duration
4 years
Degree
Bachelor of Music
Tuition fee
Check 'Tuition fees'
Department head
Teunis van der Zwart
