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Student experience
Overview
Meet Jade Nye
I’m currently in my third year of the Jazz & Improvisation stream of the University of Melbourne Bachelor of Music course majoring in saxophone. I feel this year has already provided the greatest artistic growth for me, and I recognise who I am as a creator and how I want to perform. In the first two years of my undergraduate degree I felt an expectation to intellectualise everything I played and composed, but I am only now realising that I don’t exactly fit the conventional mold.
Jade Nye
Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
The course is taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, the proud home of the Victorian College of the Arts and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music.
Much of the teaching, research and performance takes place in, or near, the new Ian Potter Southbank Centre at the University of Melbourne’s Southbank campus. Our facilities on the University's Parkville campus, including Melba Hall, are also used for teaching, research and performances.
While studying at the Faculty, you will have the chance to benefit from a range of partnerships and engagement activities at major arts companies in Melbourne's Arts Precinct, local and national festivals and sister institutions around the world.
Explore the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music
Wilin Centre
Situated in the heart of Melbourne's Arts Precinct, the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development provides exposure to contemporary Indigenous arts practices and supports the recruitment of Indigenous artists, academics and students.
IGNITELAB career development program
IgniteLAB is a world-class professional development program that supports the development of creative entrepreneurship and enterprise skills from the first day of our students' journey so that our graduates are prepared to create their own opportunities.
Learn more about professional development opportunities
Learn from the best
Jazz & Improvisation holds a near 40 year history at the Conservatorium, of exceptional staff working with the finest students to create a generation of contemporary music practitioners known both nationally and internationally within the genres of jazz, world music, rock, pop, indie, funk, experimental and big band.
Your teachers are practicing artists who are well-connected to industry, and there are course-integrated opportunities to collaborate with students from other creative disciplines.
Visiting Master teachers
The Conservatorium has strong relationships with local and national industry organisations, creating unique opportunities for collaborative work and performance. We also regularly welcome national and international visiting artists.
Andrea Keller
Meet Andrea Keller, Lecturer in Music (Jazz and Improvisation – Piano)
She’s won multiple ARIA and Australian Jazz “Bell” Awards, written and recorded dozens of albums, and is a strong voice for women in jazz – so what does pianist and composer Andrea Keller think is the best thing about working at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music?
The Music building at Southbank has had an immeasurable impact in nurturing who I am as a person and a musician. I arrived as a 19-year-old in the 1990s and have spent the majority of my life there – the space, the people, some of whom have changed, while others have remained the same… I enjoy the feeling of belonging to something truly enriching, life-changing, and ever-evolving – it provides a crucial balance of known and unknown, assuredness and curiosity.
Learn from the best
The Jazz & Improvisation specialisation holds a near 40 year history, of exceptional staff working with the finest students to create a generation of contemporary music practitioners known both nationally and internationally within the genres of jazz, world music, rock, pop, indie, funk, experimental and big band.
Your teachers are practicing artists who are well-connected to industry, and there are course-integrated opportunities to collaborate with students from other creative disciplines.
See more about instrument areas and your teachers
Visiting Master teachers
The Conservatorium has strong relationships with local and national industry organisations, creating unique opportunities for collaborative work and performance. We also regularly welcome national and international visiting artists.