Bachelor of Music: Church Music
The Bachelor of Music Church Music can no longer be studied.
Duration: 8 semesters
Qualification: Bachelor of Music
Major subjects
The Church Music programme encompasses three Major subjects:
- Organ Literature
- Organ Improvisation
- Choral Direction
Vocal Performance and Piano are the main foundational subjects in this programme, flanked by a range of subjects from the fields of theory, liturgy, hymnology and musicology.
A large number of historical, Romantic and modern organs are located in and around Bremen, and students at the University of the Arts can look forward to a wide-ranging and stylistically diverse programme of organ tuition. The close cooperative ties between this programme and the Department of Early Music provide students of Church Music at the University of the Arts with valuable insights into continuo practice and an older organ and vocal repertoire. The programme’s wide-ranging choral practice prepares students for a range of career options, including the fields of children’s and chamber choirs.The overall aim of this programme is to provide students with a comprehensive artistic qualification in the field of Church Music and to equip them with the skills necessary to work independently or in a team as they embark upon a career as an organist, cantor or choral director.
The organs
Students of church music in Bremen enjoy access to a diverse range of historical organs, including a wide variety of styles and levels of craftsmanship:
- the tower organ in the former observatory at University of the Arts Bremen
- Schnitger organs in Capperl, Dedesdorf, Grasberg, Stade and Weener
- a Silbermann organ in Saint Peter’s Cathedral
- Gothic and Renaissance organs in East Frisia (Rysum, Uttum, Osteel, Westerhusen etc.)
- the replica of a classical French organ (based on a design by Clicquot) in Stapelmoor
- an original Italian organ in Rhede
- the Romantic organs in the cathedrals in Bremen (Sauer), Osnabrück (Cavaillé-Coll) and Verden (Furtwängler & Hammer)
- a symphonic organ built by Gerald Woehl in Cuxhaven
- The University of the Arts is located close to Bremen’s St. Stephani and Walle churches; while the former houses an historical organ by Beckerath, the latter is home to a meantone organ by van der Putten.
Our Choirs
Bremen’s Große Hochschulchor was revived in April 1998 following the appointment of Friederike Woebcken to the University of the Arts and the University of Bremen.
All of the choir’s vocalists are students at the University of the Arts and the University of Bremen. The ensemble provides students from both of these institutions with the opportunity to master and perform a major choral work in a concert staged at the conclusion of each semester.
The Chamber Choir of the University of the Arts and the University of Bremen was founded in 2002. Established by a group of ambitious singers from the ranks of the Große Hochschulchor, this choir is also open to students from other degree programmes and disciplines. The Chamber Choir’s repertoire ranges from complex A-cappella choral works to pieces for smaller for smaller ensembles. The Chamber Choir has made a name for itself, performing across Germany and at the Deutschen Chorwettbewerb (German Choral Championship) in Kiel in 2006, where the choir came second in the “Mixed Choirs” category. Concert tours have taken the choir as far afield as Sweden (Göteborg), Iceland (Reykjavik and Myvatn), Denmark (Copenhagen), and southern Germany, (Stiftskirche Stuttgart and Kilianskirche Heilbronn).
A new Pop Choir, directed by Micha Keding, will also be established at the University of the Arts in the winter semester of 2011/12. Intended primarily for students enrolled in music education programmes, this new choir will be open to students from all our programmes.
The choir will initially seek to build up its repertoire of songs from the genres of jazz, rock and pop, while also exploring the rhythm, timing and phrasing of pop music. The choir will enable students enrolled in music education programmes to build up a wide-ranging repertoire of material for use in later choral work in schools, churches and music schools etc.
