Institut für Musik

Studying „Music" at
Carl-von-Ossietzky-University Oldenburg


 

Aims in general Music Culture Degrees Structure in general Credits and exams Study areas Key fields of study

The links within the text lead to the corresponding German information.
For more details see also www.uni-oldenburg.de/musik/


Goals of all Music programs:
 

At Oldenburg University all programs are designed to prepare studentsin the profession as music teachers or musicologists through active, self-determined,conscious, and critical participation.

  • Active participation means that students must be able to take part in the shaping of musical life - in preparation for their future professional carrer - by using appropriate musical means;
  • self-determined participation means that students must be able to realize their own interests and needs;
  • conscious participation means that any type of activity can be reflected upon, justified and further developed;
  • critical participation means that the given conditions in musical life are analysed through scientific reflexion, assessed by applying previously established criteria and changed by using one"s personal sense of responsibility.


Degrees:

  • Master of Arts,
  • First State-Exam for all kinds of Music-Teachers (elementary, extended, secondary, vocational etc.),
  • Doctoral Degree.

No Bachelor is offered, but the intermediate exam („Zwischenprüfung") of theMaster’s or First State-Exam is about equivalent to a Bachelor’s exam.
 

MusicCulture at University of Oldenburg:

Studying Music at the University of Oldenburg means toparticipate actively in the University"s musical life. There are about 20 different musicensembles, many concerts and other cultural events. Here are some of the ensembles musicstudents can play with in summer 2001:
 

Big Band -   Satzproben für die Big Band -  Improvisationsübungen und Arrangement - Hochschulchor -  Jazzchor -  Hochschulorchester -  Ensemble Alte Musik (Instrumente und Gesang) -  Orient-Express Ensemble : Musik von Marokko bis Japan - Kammermusik - Musical-Projekt "Zapp in" -  Kammermusik mit Blockflöte und Streicher -  Gruppenimprovisation auf Streichinstrumenten -   Kammermusik des 20. Jahrhunderts: Spanien - Klezmer-Ensemble - Ethnoperkussion für Fortgeschrittene -  Klarinettenensemble und Analyse von Konzertliteratur - Akkordeon-Ensemble (und andere InstrumentalistInnen) -  Bandprojekt -   Westafrikanisches Percussionsensemble - Jazz-Ensemblepraxis 

Besides the performances and concerts of these ensembles there areperformances of musicals or related musical plays, of multimedia productions, videos andfilms etc.

General Structure:

The Music program at the University of Oldenburg combines perfomanceand music theory (as usually taught at „Musikhochschulen"), musicology (asusually taught at Institutes of Universities) and music pedogogy (as usually taught atspecial departments of „Musikhochschulen" or at „PädagogischeHochschule"). Thus the program is divided into four main areas of equal importance:

  • Performance („Musikpraxis")
  • Music Theory („Musiktheorie")
  • Musicology („Musikwissenschaft")
  • Music pedagogy („Musikdidaktik und -vermittlung")

Further more the whole program is divided into two sections, each comprising 4 Semester(2 year) study periods:
  • Semester 1-4 (year 1-2): Basic Studies („Grundstudium") with a program consisting of fixed modules.
  • Semester 5-8 (year 3-4): Advanced Studies („Hauptstudium") with a program consisting of one key study-field ("Schwerpunktstudium") and other preparatory courses for the exams.

The modules of the Basic Studies are:
 

Study Area Module credits per course and semester
Performance Individual Instruction 2
  Group Instruction 2
  Music Performance: Ensemble 2
  Music Performance: Media 2
Musik Theory Elementary Music Theory and Analysis 3
  Applied Music Theory 3
  Production 3
Musicology Introductory Class (EV) 4
  Seminar (SE) 4
Music Pedagogy Introductory Class (EV) 4
  Seminar (SE) 4

Credits and Exams:

The German System of exams and credits combines three differentprinciples:

(1) The complete (regular) Music program has four orfive exams:
 

Name of exam Kind of exam Contents of exam
„Zwischenprüfung" oral exam at the end of Semester 4 musicology and music pedagogy - Basic Studies
„Fachpraktische Prüfung" 4 to 5 oral exams between Semester 3 and 7 all areas of Music Performance and some of Music Theory
„Klausur" written exam in Semester 8 or 9 musicology - field of key study
„Mündliche Prüfung" oral exam in Semester 8 or 9 musicology field of key study and music pedagogy general study
„Hausarbeit" written thesis-paper  musicology

(2) Some 6 to 8 classes or courses have special requirements:
 

„ET-Schein" basic studies special work  2 credits
„ET-Schein" advandes studies special work 2 credits

(3) The European CreditTransfer System (ECTS):

In order to make the German System compatible with European andinternational systems, each class, course, special requirement or exam is equivalent to 2to 4 „credits". Altogether the complete music program requires 75 credits(elementary teaching), 108 credits (secondary teaching), 135 credits (Master) per completecourse of studies. Please note: If a student has collected all necessary credits, he/shehas not passed the program successfully unless he/she has passed all the exams andpresented all special requirements.
 
 

Contents of the StudyAreas:

(The following text is an excerpt from the