The Conservatoire offers Bachelors and Masters courses in jazz guitar, within the jazz department. The Bachelors course consists of three years, while the Masters lasts two years.
During the bachelors course, students are guided to develop their knowlege of the fingerboard, throuh a series of exercises based on the positions of major, harmonic- and melodic-minor scales, as well as their respective modes, intervals and arpeggios etc. This in-depth knowledge of the fingerboard will allow the student to feel at ease during improvisations, regardless of the key, chord chard, or wherever they end up playing on the fingerboard. The idea is that technical problems or a lack of skills should should never hinder the musician in their desire to express a creative impulse during improvisation. Another aim of this approach is also to bridge the gap which is often seen between the sight-reading levels of guitarists and other instrumentalists.
In addition, students are required to learn by heart a certain number of jazz standards (melody, chords and improvisation), to learn and play along with the CD on a series of improvisations by the great guitarists from the history of jazz (to expand their personal "catalogue" of phrases), and also to work on solo repertoire.
The focus of the masters course is for the student to develop their personal artistic project, building on the skills acquired over the previous years, and with an eye to the future: students consider what repertoire suits them, and with what accompaniment, in order to create which kind of artistic emotion and expression... The years of the master programme focus on preparing all aspects of the final concert, in particular including participation in two evenings of performances of guitar duos, in a well-respected jazz venue in Brussels.