International Music College in Freiburg, Germany

International Music College Freiburg:
At the International Music College Freiburg in Freiburg, on the edge of the Black Forest in southwest Germany we offer a three year program for aspiring jazz, rock, and funk musicians. Students receive instruction from professional musicians and are required to play in a different band with other students every semester. In addition to their music lessons and rehearsals, students are also required to take courses in subjects like Stage Presence, Music Business, Arrangement etc. Final year students must choose between Performance, Music Education, or Songwriting/Producing as the focal point of their studies. Our college offers a unique opportunity for music instruction. Styles of music for study range from jazz to rock to pop to funk. Training at IMCF is geared toward giving young musicians a good start in preparing for a career. A modern, practically-oriented and optimal curriculum, developed since the school’s founding in 1984, guarantees the basis for long-term success.

We are the only partner-school to the Berklee College of Music in the German speaking world. The Jazz & Rock Schulen Freiburg have been an official partner of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA since 1997.

Berklee, the most prominent rock/pop and jazz music conservatory, maintains an international network of 14 world-wide partner schools – the so called Berklee International Network (BIN). The International Music College Freiburg, a division of the the Jazz & Rock Schulen Freiburg, is the exclusive BIN partner school in the German-speaking region of Europe.

Three Year Music Programs ranging from jazz to rock to pop to funk; Music Lessons; Band rehearsal; Music Education; Composition; Music Business; Body Percussion & Rhythm; History of Popular Music; Practical Harmony and Ear Training; Arrangement; Practical Vocal Techniques; Music Transcription; Performance Ear Training; Recording and Sequencing with Logic and Cubase.

Freiburg is a popular city for young people. The landlords have considered the needs of students and are ready to rent individual rooms within apartments (“Wohngemeinschaft”). Apartment and room offers can be found on the bulletin board at the IMCF. There are also many youth hostels and hotels in Freiburg to provide lodgings for those students who have not yet found an apartment on arriving in Freiburg.

Getting here:
Baden Airport lies 60 km north of Freiburg, within an hr drive along the A5 Motorway. It offers daily flights to large European cities. Frankfurt Airport serves flights from a wide range of international cities and is 250km (2,5 hr drive) to the north of Freiburg. Frankfurt and Baden have train stations offering direct train connections to Freiburg. The largest regional airport is Basel/Mulhouse, 60 km or an hour to the south. They offer daily flights from London, UK, France, Italy and other European countries. A daily bus service is provided from Freiburg to Basel/Mulhouse.

Freiburg has a very good local transportation system. Buses, streetcars, and trains run within Freiburg city limits and also connect the city with the surrounding region.

The IMCF offers its students wireless Lan internet access free of charge on campus. Students can log in at any time with either their personal laptop or one of the computers in the computer room.

The students of the IMCF receive a student identity card which can be used to receive discounts for many cultural events.

The IMCF is noted for bringing excellent musicians together under one roof. Therefore, there are many musical enquiries directed at the school. Some seek a trio for a jazz matinee, others, musicians for a studio production, still others are looking for someone to sing at a wedding. The IMCF answers such inquiries, and books musicians for events – preferably its student-musicians, who gain live experience, and also can earn money.

Freiburg is a charming city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany (where it is officially known by its full name, Freiburg im Breisgau). Freiburg is situated in the center of the “Breisgauer Bucht” (“Breisgau Bay”). This is an area between the Kaiserstuhl (seat of the kaiser) – an extinct volcano directly on the eastern shore of the Rhine – and the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) mountain range, which recedes here.

The popular opinion is that Freiburg is the warmest city in Germany. It straddles the Dreisam river, and was founded in the foothills of the Schlossberg. The city is surrounded by mountains Rosskopf and Bromberg in the east, and in the south and west by the Schönberg, Tuniberg and the Kaiserstuhl.

The Schwarzwaldmetrople (Black Forest metropolis) is conveniently situated along the most important freeway A5 (Hamburg – Frankfurt – Basel) in the so-called “Drei-Länder-Eck” (corner of three countries ) of Germany, Switzerland and France. The Bundesstraße 31(national road) connects Freiburg to Swabia and the Bodensee (Lake of Constance).

Freiburg is famous for its many efforts to protect and preserve natural resources and the environment. In 1992, the city was awarded the title “Umwelthauptstadt Deutschlands” (The German Capital for Environmental Protection).