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Admissions

CvA Students

1. Upon taking the final examination for the bachelor's degree programme, CvA candidates must have received the distinction 'eligible for acceptance to the master's degree programme'.
2. A plan of study drawn up by the candidate and a follow-up discussion regarding the structure of the plan.

External Candidates

1. The candidate will perform a programme which may not exceed one half-hour. During the entrance examination, which will last approximately one half-hour, the candidate must demonstrate that he/she possesses above-average, high-minded qualities as a harpsichordist, a good overview of the harpsichord repertoire and a solid mastery of the various main styles.
2. The candidate must submit a list of repertoire with a proposed programme for the entrance examination to the CvA Student Registrar Office before 1 April. This programme will include a variety of musical styles. The admissions committee will evaluate the proposed programme and make any necessary changes. Programme guidelines may be obtained from the department co-ordinator.
3. A plan of study drawn up by the candidate and a follow-up discussion regarding the structure of the plan.

Learning Objective
After the two-year course, students will have developed their talents in line with the plan of study. They will then be ready to enter the professional music world at the highest level. The student will acquire the in-depth knowledge intended in the master's degree programme by choosing to study a particular area of repertoire which will be examined in a more profound and comprehensive way than is possible during the bachelor's degree programme.

Performance Programme Principal Study
Principal subject
Solo playing and/or, upon request, specialization in basso continuo. Principal private lessons by appointment.

Final project
Solo playing. The student will master the complete repertoire and will bring a more specialized interpretation to the principal study repertoire; he/she will also carry out research, which he/she will conclude by giving a lecture recital.

Basso continuo. The student will master the complete repertoire of chamber-music accompaniment in the different periods and styles according to the insights obtained by studying historical sources and will do research, on which he/she will report. To be determined by the student himself/herself.

Additional instruction in the principal study

• by means of projects, links are established with other keyboard instruments, should the candidate so desire (clavichord, organ and fortepiano, modern harpsichord) under the guidance of the relevant teachers
• conducting of early music ensembles
• continuo playing
• projects

Student activities
Playing, performing, participating in ensembles and projects; students specializing in basso continuo: giving lectures on the relationship between basso continuo and the project topic

Methods of instruction
Individual lessons, group lessons, projects involving lectures, lessons and workshops with guest teachers, excursions

Principal subject 'free space' selection
- internship

If students enrol in the performance-academic or the performance-pedagogy programme, the learning objective and curriculum will be tailored to fit the desired course of study in consultation with the teacher and the department head.

Other Subjects

1. Students may choose from a number of master level subjects and additional 'free space' electives.
2. Research and lecture recital. The student will be expected to write a master level thesis on a particular research topic under the guidance of the principal study teacher or another teacher at the CvA to be designated at a later time. Students specializing in basso continuo will write one or more articles in the course of their study.

Evaluation
Assessment Following the First Academic Year
During concerts given as part of an internship, it will be ascertained whether the student is undergoing the expected development. At the end of the first year, a discussion regarding the student's progress will take place. The performance will not exceed 50 minutes.

Final Examination
The candidate will give two public concerts:

1. Solo harpsichord playing: a programme lasting approximately one hour to be put together in consultation with the committee and which will include at least five styles, namely: virginalists or Sweelinck, seventeenth-century Italian music, seventeenth- or eighteenth-century French music, J.S. Bach, music written after Bach (Bach's sons or Scarlatti).

Specialization in basso continuo: A programme lasting approximately one hour to be put together in consultation with the committee and which will include at least seven basso continuo styles, namely:

• early seventeenth-century Italian music in the prima prattica style (unfigured bass)
• early seventeenth-century Italian music in the seconda prattica style unfigured bass)
• seventeenth-century French air de cour basso continuo
• eighteenth-century French instrumental ensemble music (e.g. F. Couperin, Concert royal)
• A. Scarlatti, cantata as adapted by Gasparini (unfigured bass)
• Händel sonata as adapted by Mattheson/Heinichen
• sonata by C.P.E. Bach as adapted by C.P.E. Bach

2. A final recital to be designed entirely by the candidate in terms of choice of repertoire, programming and instruments, possibly with an ensemble or orchestra. Both the performance and the programme will be assessed. Subsequently, the candidate will present the results of his research in the form of a lecture; alternatively, the candidate may present a master level thesis.

Together, the concert and the lecture will not exceed 90 minutes. The candidate must submit his/her programmes no later than 1 March to the Student Registrar Office using the forms provided for that purpose.

The final examination will be evaluated by a committee comprising a representative of the Board of Directors, principal study teachers and an external committe member. Research to be evaluated seperately.

Criteria for Completion

1. Credits to be earned in connection with the final examination: credits in respect of the principal subject. Research/lecture credits will be earned separately.
2. Additional subject credits, as part of the principal study, to be earned.
3. Master level subjects and 'free space' credits to be earned.

Students will be admitted to the final examination only after the credits referred to above in the second and third points of the list of criteria have been earned.