composition

Making music is at the very heart of our education program. Whether the students’ major discipline is creating, performing or producing classical music, pop, jazz, making musical instruments, or any combination of these disciplines, technical skills (instrumental technique, soft- and hardware, craftmanship) and creative skills (composition, improvisation, design) are of the utmost importance, supported by solid theoretical foundations (music theory, human and natural sciences). In addition to the skill set, we cultivate the so-called curating mindset: a prosperous artistic practice requires a researching mind, continual critical reflection, and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Making music requires playing together, with or in front of an audience. Even when a student is pursuing a solo career, we believe that musical collaboration in various contexts is key. To this end we offer and stimulate various ensemble practices, e.g. (big)band, chamber ensemble, choir, studio recording sessions, orchestra, creative labs and interdisciplinary collectives. Students need to be able to present often and have their work confronted with peers and audiences, from experimental creations in the safe environment of the school’s premises, over musical instrument exhibitions and try-outs, to official concerts in public venues on and off campus.

Making music is a relational practice, where a musician as well as a musical instrument maker connects with a complex and intertwined ecosystem of colleagues, stakeholders, and audiences. Throughout our education program, we underscore and facilitate networking in expanding circles: from self-care and self-reliance, over creating collaborative networks with other artists and cultural organizations, up to a critical and socially engaged attitude to the global world we live in.

A composer should acquire a thorough knowledge of instruments coupled with an intelligent view of the practice and psychology of making music. These complementary objectives are addressed in a range of theoretical and more practice-oriented course units.  

General scientific, historical and categorising insights from organology and acoustics are given specific content in instrumentation and orchestration. Sound realisation and sound research are in turn a contemporary voyage of discovery through the world of live electronics and software in support of composition.  

Finally, keyboard practice and choir prepare you for more general music-making and the coaching of small and larger ensembles. These competences are indispensable for the eventual realisation of a master's thesis and your personal artistic project: a full-length concert of your own work that takes on a completely autonomous musical form and whose organisation rests with the composer.  

Such organisation requires the artist to take a broad view beyond the strictly musical. Course units such as cultural management, music and law and legal and economic aspects of the music industry show paths leading from dream to reality. 

KASK & Conservatorium offers English-language master programmes in the visual arts, audiovisual arts, drama and music. Each year, dozens of foreign students choose the master programmes of our faculty to continue their studies. The presence of students from different international backgrounds is an enrichment for our educational tradition and provides an added value to the training of foreign master students and Flemish students moving on from the Dutch-language bachelor programmes alike.

The programmes are organized so as to facilitate encounters between Dutch-speaking and English-speaking students in informal contexts, in seminars and courses, and even in artistic projects they start up together. There are no differences in curricula, competencies, learning outcomes or organization between the English-language programmes and their Dutch-language counterparts. English-speaking candidates holding a master’s degree in music can also go in for the advanced master contemporary music or one of our postgraduate programmes.

Don’t hesitate to contact the study and learning track counsellors with your questions.