Contact the Admissions Office
Call 314-246-7800 or 800-753-6765 or email admit@webster.edu
Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts | Department of Music
Call 314-246-7800 or 800-753-6765 or email admit@webster.edu
The Bachelor of Music in performance with an emphasis in jazz equips students with the tools to build a multi-faceted career in the professional music world as jazz performer. The Webster jazz studies program is based around the small group performing experience. Jazz students participate in combos, the Jazz Collective or Jazz Singers. In addition to core music classes, jazz students study improvisation, jazz theory, scoring and arranging, jazz pedagogy and history. Students who would like a music technology curriculum can add on the minor in sound recording and engineering in the Department of Audio Aesthetics and Technology.
At Webster, experience several special study opportunities such as:
If you plan to major or minor in music, you must complete an audition as part of your application to Webster.
BM in Jazz Performance, ‘24
To learn more about our program and course offerings, email Prof. Paul DeMarinis, Director of Jazz Studies.
View a 2014 television broadcast featuring Webster's jazz program
Emeritus Professor of Jazz
The Bachelor of Music in Performance with an Emphasis in Jazz four-year plan helps you visualize the courses you'll take each year of your education journey at Webster University.
At Webster University, our goal is to help you be your best. With a low faculty to student ratio, students receive practical advice and experience from their professors. Our advisors and faculty put students first so you can succeed.
Dennis Owsley, one of Saint Louis' most avid jazz fans, donated his entire 54-year collection of jazz recordings to Webster University in 2012. This gift is housed in Emerson Library in the Dennis Owsley Jazz Recording Collection, and is a benefit to our students and faculty, to the community, to historians and researchers, and to all who love this wonderful art we call jazz.
Nearly all the music heard on "Jazz Unlimited" is from Owsley's personal collection, a collection that now resides at Webster University's Eden Library.
This collection is of particular note because it includes LPs from the '60s and '70s that document Gaslight Square and the Black Actors Group. These LPs are a treasure for historians of Saint Louis.
Much of the Owsley Collection is available for circulation in the Emerson Library stacks.
Check out these important St. Louis organizations.
As a student musician, seize the opportunity to hone your skills in Vienna, home to legendary composers Beethoven, Mozart and Strauss. Webster University established its Vienna campus in 1981. Students typically attend the Vienna campus in the junior year spring semester. Study jazz with a Viennese artist, take courses in music history (including Vienna's music traditions), and experience the vibrancy of Europe's musical capital.
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January 11, 2023
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