Performances + Events
Integrative Curriculum
NEC’s new Integrative Curriculum weaves together the many strands of a conservatory education, including music history, performance, composition and entrepreneurship, in fresh and dynamic ways.
The result: NEC students graduate as holistic musicians with the tools and creative confidence to make a transformative artistic and social impact on their careers — and on the wider world.
How it works
NEC’s innovative music education model puts music into context by combining traditionally separate classes — music theory, performance, and business skills — into comprehensive and engaging lessons that connect coursework with real-life applications. In these courses, theory meets practice, projects are central, and music is a lens to other disciplines. Faculty are encouraged to develop innovative ways to guide students to grow more deeply as artists.
As straightforward as this approach seems, it is a radical departure from the standard conservatory education. NEC introduced its new integrative approach to learning in 2022 and is moving to infuse this model into nearly every course it offers.
Goals
In this interconnected, applied-learning model, NEC supports and nurtures each student’s artistic voice and professional development, equipping them with a comprehensive range of core musical and management skills:
- collaborative ensemble work
- music technology and production
- leadership and entrepreneurship
- community engagement
- creative problem solving
After NEC
Innovating the traditional conservatory education for modern musicians
A balance of performance, academics, and exploration
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NEC’s integrative curriculum empowers artists like you to engage with big ideas and, ultimately, change the world through the lens of music.
In Dr. Jill Gatlin‘s integrative curriculum course Climate Change and Performance Practicum, students learn about climate science, climate injustice, and methods of engaging audiences across the arts. They use their new knowledge as the basis for producing, marketing, and performing a full-length concert, “What Washes Over: Sounds of Climate Grief and Action.”
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The curriculum grew from a deep understanding that the traditional conservatory model needed modern innovations to best support students on the path to success in today’s world.
While musicians have practiced Beethoven’s works for generations, students in Nicholas Kitchen course Creativity and Manuscripts look to the composer’s handwritten notations, dissecting line lengths and dot sizes to better understand the process and intended expression. Instead of studying the manuscript as a relic of music history, these students see it as a living document with insights they can utilize as performers.
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Through experiential, project-based courses and an approach to learning that balances performance, academics, and exploration, an NEC education cultivates lifelong curiosity and real-world skills.
In Ayano Ninomiya‘s Dichterliebe studio course, students are tasked with translating Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe song cycle – written for voice — into a score for the violin, a creative endeavor that has never before been done.
