Percussions department

A career as a professional musician offers a wide range of opportunities :

• Orchestral, instrumental ensemble, or vocal ensemble musician
• Chamber music
• Live performing arts, multidisciplinary artistic projects (music, dance, theater, etc.)
• Teacher-musician, teacher in conservatoire or professor in associative music school (bachelor in instrumental/vocal pedagogy)

Main repertoires & chamber music

This teaching units focuses on refining and consolidating technical skills while developing musical and stylistic maturity. Students work toward complete instrumental mastery across a wide range of contexts and repertoires: Classical, Romantical, contemporary, creation, transcriptions, and more. Chamber music practice is central throughout the curriculum.

Improvisation & dance accompaniment

This course enables students to:

• Acquire tools for keyboard improvisation and accompaniment (vibraphone, marimba)
• Master structural concepts (phrasing, cycles, and metric frameworks) through exercises and methods tied to modal and tonal improvisation
• Discover the history of the jazz vibraphone

Students gain hands-on experience accompanying dance classes (playing for warm-ups, improvising over choreographic variations, performing repertoire aligned with choreography, exploring gesture/sound relationships and tempo/bodily awareness). Finally, students compose and record variations used for the dancing practice prior to a public performance.

Timpani & orchestral percussion

The timpani and orchestral percussion course aims to equip students with the necessary skills to prepare for orchestral projects or orchestral auditions:

• Musical background and mastery of key orchestral excerpts
• Practice methodology for orchestral excerpts
• Discovery and technical development across required instruments (timpani, xylophone, snare drum, crash cymbals, tambourine, triangle, castanets, etc.)
• Mental and physical preparation for auditions
• Mentored professional oriented experiences (partnerships with professional orchestras, academy audition mock trials).

Ensemble practice

Ensemble performance (percussion ensembles, symphony orchestras, wind bands) is a core component, featured in both regular sessions and professional immersion projects. Partnerships are established with ensembles within diverse setups and aesthetics. Students are also encouraged to develop their skills in transcription, arrangement, and composition. Expanding horizons to encompass jazz, theater, dance, street arts, and traditional instruments is another key focus of the program.