Our educational programs

2-year Composition Course and Free Art, 1 Year Composition Course.

Elever på Gotlands Tonsättarskola står runt ett piano.

Pedagogical profile

Our pedagogical profile is to apply theory in practice. We achieve this in both a long and a short perspective– throughout the day and over the course of the academic year. For example, a theory lesson in the morning might be applied to a creative workshop the same afternoon, where the students apply the theory towards a personal musical creation.The festival Sound Waves (Ljudvågor) is the ultimate result of our pedagogy and functions as the final thesis for the academic year. The composing work of an entire year culminates, through teacher mentorship and workshops with musicians, in world premieres for a paying audience at a music festval produced by the students themselves. In a typical composition project, the result of the individual lessons is tested in workshops, where the musicians who are to perform the work are invited to take part in the artistic process. All teaching relates more or less directly to the composition project– even electroacoustic music.

Personal development needs personal time

The most important goal of the school is that the students develop their own musical language, taken from their own individual backgrounds. We work to a great extent with individual mentorship, or in small study groups.

Tradition and renewal

Composition permeates all our subjects, and all teaching in the specific field of composition is individual. This individual mentorship combined with the Composition Seminar works as a sort of hub for one’s education. In addition to this we have what we call the core subjects, which are based on a traditional Western art music profile: notation, music theory, ear training, instrumentation,compositional technique, aesthetics/analysis etc. More contemporary complements are subjects such as electroacoustic music and live electronics.

2-year Composition Course

Free Art, 1 Year Composition Course.