Vocal or instrumental teaching

This area of study bestows on students the qualifications necessary for teaching an instrument, singing or music theory at music schools or conservatoires, up to the level of higher schools of music.

This area of study benefits directly from a field of application at numerous music schools in French-speaking Switzerland. The offer corresponds to the requirements on individuals published by professional associations such as the AEC or the ASEM.

Plan d'études
Admission criteria

In addition to the general criteria for access to the Master’s, the following special conditions are requested:

  • Potential for artistic development
  • An aptitude for leading an artistic project with increasing autonomy
  • Proven pedagogical aptitudes for vocal and instrumental teaching or the teaching of theory
  • An aptitude for undertaking guided research.
Study programme
  • Main course

Instrumental or vocal course and teaching directly associated with artistic practice.  The main subject, “theory”, prepares students for the teaching of the various disciplines of general musical training at music schools or at higher music schools (apart from musical initiation).

  • Special training

Teaching in education sciences, analysis of activity and didactics. Observations on the ground and practice accompanied by teaching internships.

  • Complementary and optional training

Students’ guided choices and free choices in the fields of ensemble music and musical research.

Master’s Project

At the end of the Master’s, the student presents:

  • An artistic project (public recital) accompanied by a work of critical thought connected to questions of interpretation (short written presentation).
  • A test of aptitude for teaching and a ‘mémoire’ related to a pedagogical matter.
Programme in the event of a second master’s

For students taking a Master’s in pedagogy as a second Master’s, after an initial Master’s taken at an HEM in Switzerland, the skills acquired in the first Master’s are taken into account and a lighter programme is implemented.

The Master’s in pedagogy programme, which is worth 90 ECTS, therefore contains the following reductions:

  • Main training

Instrumental or vocal lesson lasting 40 minutes a week instead of 80 minutes. The artistic production part of the Master’s consists of a recital taking the form of a mediation concert in which the candidate plays the role of an artistic mediator. A minimum of one masterclass must be taken.

  • Special training

The programme is taken in its entirety.

  • Complementary and optional training

One chamber music project per term is required.  The research workshop taken in the first Master’s is taken into account as an equivalent session.   

Départements & filières associés