undergradly.
Major · Visual & Performing Arts

The conservatory craft of improvisation, arrangement, and stage time

Jazz/Jazz Studies prepares performers, composers, and arrangers in the language of jazz, blues, and improvisation. With 341 completions across 65 institutions and a median 5-year earnings of $43,744, it sits at the intersection of artistic mastery and careful career engineering. Conservatory pedigree and city of residence shape outcomes more than the diploma itself.

Schools offering
65
Annual completions
341
Typical degree level
Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$44k

About this major

Jazz/Jazz Studies (CIP 50.0910) trains performers, composers, and arrangers to master the jazz tradition — its history from blues and swing through bebop, modal, and contemporary fusion, alongside jazz theory, improvisation, and instrumental or vocal performance. Coursework typically pairs intensive private lessons and ensemble residencies with arrangement, transcription, and pedagogy, all anchored to public juries and recitals. Across 65 institutions and 341 annual completions, the major is small, audition-gated, and conservatory-shaped, with The New School (51 completions), University of North Texas (29), and Oberlin College (22) leading volume among tracked programs.

The major rewards students who have already logged years of disciplined instrumental practice and who treat improvisation as a craft rather than a free-for-all. It blends the analytical patience of music theory with the social athleticism of ensemble performance — listening hard, reacting in real time, and shaping a solo over an evolving form. Strong fits often come in already comfortable transcribing recordings by ear and reading lead sheets, and the work environment favors people who genuinely enjoy long stretches alone with an instrument and equally long stretches in close collaboration on a bandstand.

Career destinations cluster around two BLS occupations the data packet surfaces: Musicians and Singers (SOC 27-2042), an hourly, gig-based field, and Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary (SOC 25-1121), with a $80,190 median wage and a master's or doctoral expectation. Reported 5-year earnings of $43,744 reflect a mixed early-career reality of performance income, private teaching, recording sessions, and worship or pit work, with conservatory pedigree and city of residence — NYC, LA, Nashville, Chicago — doing more to shape outcomes than the bachelor's diploma alone.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Musicians and singers — +1.1% No formal educational credential
Art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary $80k +1.7% Master's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$44k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$37k

Bachelor's

$44k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you have already invested several thousand hours into your primary instrument and want a structured environment to deepen the jazz idiom, if you can listen across an ensemble and react in real time rather than execute a fixed plan, if you find transcription rewarding rather than tedious, if you are drawn to the postsecondary teaching path implied by the $80,190 median for college music faculty even knowing it requires a master's or doctorate, and if you accept that building a career will mean stitching together performance, teaching, and adjacent skills like audio engineering or arrangement rather than landing one salaried role.

Think twice if you want a clear single-employer career trajectory and find the gig-based, hourly nature of SOC 27-2042 Musicians and Singers anxiety-inducing rather than energizing, if you are not already a strong performer on your instrument heading into the audition cycle for programs like Berklee or Manhattan School of Music, if you cannot picture yourself relocating to NYC, LA, Nashville, or another deep jazz market within five years of graduating, or if a 5-year median earnings figure near $43,744 would force you into debt levels that close off the parallel-income runway most working jazz graduates rely on early in their careers.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Jazz/Jazz Studies

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
The New School New York, NY 0 51 51
University of North Texas Denton, TX 0 29 29
Oberlin College Oberlin, OH 0 22 22
SUNY at Purchase College Purchase, NY 0 15 15
University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA 0 15 15
University of Rochester Rochester, NY 0 14 14
University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 0 14 14
University of Nevada-Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV 0 13 13
Manhattan School of Music New York, NY 0 13 13
The New England Conservatory of Music Boston, MA 0 9 9
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Music, General

7,606 completions/yr

Music Performance, General

3,958 completions/yr

Music Technology

1,542 completions/yr

Musical Theatre

1,121 completions/yr

Music, Other

861 completions/yr

Music Theory and Composition

847 completions/yr

Voice and Opera

283 completions/yr

Stringed Instruments

209 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the Jazz/Jazz Studies field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is Jazz/Jazz Studies worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Jazz/Jazz Studies majors actually study day-to-day?
Daily life centers on instrumental or vocal practice, ensemble rehearsals (small combo, big band, vocal jazz), private lessons with faculty performers, transcription of recorded solos, jazz theory and harmony, arrangement and composition, and music history covering blues, swing, bebop, modal, free, and contemporary fusion. Most programs require performance juries and recitals each year, plus theory and ear-training sequences shared with classical music majors.
What kinds of jobs do Jazz/Jazz Studies graduates end up in?
Graduates work as gigging performers in clubs and festivals, session musicians for recordings, pit musicians for theater and Broadway tours, cruise-ship combo and showband players, music directors and arrangers, K-12 band directors (with state teaching certification), college jazz adjuncts and faculty (typically requiring an MM, MFA, or DMA), and worship-music leaders. Many combine multiple income streams rather than holding a single job.
Why is the median 5-year wage only around $44,000?
BLS tracks SOC 27-2042 Musicians and Singers as an hourly, gig-based occupation with negative projected growth, while the higher-earning postsecondary teaching path (SOC 25-1121, $80,190 median) requires a master's or doctorate. Most jazz graduates begin in mixed performance and teaching work, so reported 5-year earnings reflect parallel-income realities rather than a single salaried role. Established performers and tenured educators earn significantly more than the median.
Does the program I attend matter for Jazz Studies?
More than for almost any other major. Network and lineage drive who gets called for sessions, festivals, and faculty positions. Programs like Berklee, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, Juilliard, Eastman, North Texas, USC Thornton, and the New School (51 completions, the largest tracked program here) feed directly into NYC, LA, and Nashville scenes. Regional programs route graduates into local club, education, and church-music ecosystems.
What's a common next step after a Jazz/Jazz Studies bachelor's?
Three durable paths: pursue an MM, MFA, or DMA in Jazz Studies (NYU Steinhardt, USC Thornton, Miami Frost, Eastman, MSM) for college teaching; pair the bachelor's with a state K-12 teaching certification for school band-director work; or move directly to NYC, LA, Nashville, Atlanta, or Chicago to build a session and gigging career while supplementing with audio production, private teaching, or arts administration.
How does Jazz/Jazz Studies differ from Music, General or Music Performance?
Jazz/Jazz Studies (CIP 50.0910) is a focused conservatory major emphasizing improvisation, jazz harmony, and the African-American musical tradition. Music, General (50.0901, 7,606 completions) is a much broader degree often paired with education or liberal-arts breadth. Music Performance, General (50.0903, 3,958 completions) centers classical repertoire and orchestral training. Jazz Studies trades repertoire breadth for depth in improvised performance, arrangement, and the jazz idiom specifically.