Music Education (B.A.) – Jazz
Entrance examination
Entrance examination Jazz
Dear applicants for a place in the Jazz specialization of the Music Education degree program at the Institute of Music. We look forward to your application and ask you to follow the instructions below carefully so that you are well prepared for the examination.
- Please first apply between March 1 and April 26, 2026 via the application portal of Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences.
- About 10 days after the application deadline (April 26), you will receive an invitation to the entrance examination by email. The examinations take place in the week of May 18 to May 22, 2026 at Caprivistr. 1, 49076 Osnabrück.
Please note the detailed information under application deadline and dates.
You will find the exact requirements/content of the entrance examination (instrument/voice performance and theory exam) further down this page.
During the examination, you will be accompanied by a band of the Institute of Music. Please therefore send us your sheets/scores as PDFs by email in advance to jazzinfo.ifm@hs-osnabrueck.de. The PDF files must be named with your name and your instrument so that we can assign them. To be on the safe side, please also bring the sheets printed out on the day of the examination.
In addition, please bring a printed program with the pieces you will perform and your name (one A4 sheet) and hand it to the examination board before your performance.
In special cases of hardship (e.g. clashes with Abitur exams or entrance examinations at other universities, or long journeys from abroad), please contact us so that we can agree on an alternative (online examination or alternative date) with you. In these cases, please email the head of the Jazz specialization, Prof. Anne Mette Iversen, at a.iversen@hs-osnabrueck.de
We look forward to meeting you and wish you every success!
International applicants can find general information on admission requirements and the application process on the university’s central page How to apply.
- A 20-minute major subject examination: performance of three standards with improvisation (e.g. medium swing, Latin, ballad) with piano or combo accompaniment, sight-reading a combo or big band part, followed by an interview. For placement purposes, playing by ear is also tested within the artistic major. Your skills for the minor subject piano or guitar are also assessed: in the examination you will receive a lead sheet and play a simple version of the piece, e.g. (on piano) the melody with the right hand and chords with the left hand. (If your instrumental major is piano or guitar, this part does not apply.)
- 60-minute theory exam (30 minutes ear training / 30 minutes harmony)
By the application deadline, please upload a meaningful selection of your own compositions/arrangements as scores and (if available) as recordings or MIDI files to the Netcase folder below.
https://netcase.hs-osnabrueck.de/index.php/s/YgIv8DcWa1EaMyf
So that we can assign your documents, please name them as follows:
[Last name] [First name] – Jazz Composition [Title of the piece] (e.g. Mustermann Max - Jazz Komposition - Moonshine)
The entrance examination then covers the following parts:
At least 3 weeks before the examination, a meaningful selection of your own compositions/arrangements must be submitted as scores and (if available) as recordings or MIDI files via the online portal.
- Practical examination: colloquium on the compositions/arrangements submitted, questions on jazz theory, piano work if applicable. Duration approx. 30 minutes. For placement purposes, your skills in the minor subject piano are also tested within the artistic major.
- Examination in the instrumental supplementary subject Jazz or in the supplementary subject jazz voice with two self-chosen pieces with piano or combo accompaniment. Duration approx. 10 minutes. Sight-reading a lead sheet with melody and left-hand voicings on the minor instrument piano, or sight-reading a lead sheet on the minor instrument guitar: duration approx. 4 minutes. (If your instrumental supplementary subject is piano or guitar, this part does not apply.)
- 60-minute theory exam (30 minutes ear training / 30 minutes harmony)
- Intervals
- Triads
- Jazz chords with options
- Common jazz scales
- Melodic dictation
- Rhythmic dictation
- Naming intervals
- Writing intervals
- Identifying jazz chords from notation and converting them into chord symbols
- Writing scales
- Identifying scales
- Writing a jazz cadence in simple piano texture