Overview

The Jazz History and Research program from Rutgers University attracts a diverse range of teachers, performers, scholars, and intellectuals from every background with a shared passion for America’s music. Students are encouraged to approach jazz with a broad lens and develop their own topics, drawing on approaches that include performance; composition; popular music; histories of race, gender, and sexuality; film; world musical traditions; and more. 

Graduates of the program

Graduates of our program have gone on to complete doctorates in musicology, ethnomusicology, music theory and related fields. Others teach at community colleges and have used their degrees to enhance their credentials as teachers, performers, or archivists.

The required 12-course curriculum covers topics such as music historiography, jazz analysis, archival research, in-depth studies of individual musicians, and critical approaches drawn from fields such as American studies, gender studies, and critical histories of race. In addition to required courses, many students choose to play in the jazz ensemble. Also, private theory study, one-day writing workshops and/or a semester-long writing seminar may be required, at our discretion, in addition to the required 12 courses. At the end of the coursework each student takes a final comprehensive exam and completes a master’s thesis.