Master In­stru­men­tal and Vocal Pedagogy

The course of study offers you the opportunity to deepen and expand your artistic and music education qualifications in a profile-oriented manner. The aim is to enable you to stimulate and professionally accompany artistic-musical learning processes of people of all age groups, whether in instrumental or vocal individual or group lessons, working with ensembles and bands, or in the context of educational collaborations with general education schools.

The course of study can also be studied part-time as a Continuing Education Master with a reduced workload. A completed bachelor's degree and high artistic and educational excellence are required. Prospective students with purely artistic backgrounds can acquire the qualifications required for the Master IGP through Supplementary Studies - Instrumental/Vocal Didactics. Entrance exams for the Master's program take place each winter semester, with the application deadline being April 1.

Our Study Program
The Master's program is divided into three areas, which include compulsory courses as well as freely combinable courses. Thus, a profile can be created both towards (artistic) music practice and towards academic music pedagogy.

1. The area "Künstlerische Praxis" includes lessons in the respective main subject (instrument or voice, with a 'classical' orientation or as a main subject in jazz) and offers the opportunity to further develop one's own artistic abilities at a high level in connection with the various ensemble options at the HMDK Stuttgart. Please note: study applicants with a completed artistic Master's degree take the "Künstlerisches Coaching" module instead of the main artistic subject lessons, see Continuing Education Master IGP.
2. The area "Musikpädagogik & Fachdidaktik" aims at a detailed examination of the didactics of the main subject (Didactic Coaching) as well as current music educational topics and issues in the IGP forum. Special opportunities for linking theoretical and practical teaching aspects and possibilities for practice-oriented research are offered by the Master internship, which provides insights into various fields of current music school work. Finally, one's own teaching experiences can be supplemented here by self-chosen perspectives and focuses to be deepened within the framework of the Master's thesis.
3. The courses in "Wahlbereich pädagogische Praxis" and "Wahlbereich Hintergrund" are selected according to individual emphasis. In addition to artistic, teaching practical, and rather scientifically oriented courses, there are also offers in the areas of improvisation, early childhood music education, group music making, musicology, music physiology, theory/ear training, music education, or in another instrumental subject or voice.

A special feature of the program is the individual support for students and close collaboration with the Stuttgart Music School. The HMDK Stuttgart also offers an inspiring environment: in addition to proximity to various musical and artistic practices also through the Campus Gegenwart.

Possible Main Subjects

All instruments and vocals, also as a major in Jazz/Pop (possible main subjects see Jazz/Pop). Applicants with a completed artistic master's degree take the module "Künstlerisches Coaching" instead of artistic major instruction, see Continuing Education Master Instrumental & Vocal Pedagogy

Admission Requirements

Completed artistic or artistic-pedagogical music studies (Bachelor or Diploma), language skills at level B2, successful entrance examination.

Further Study Opportunities

Doctorate (Ph.D.)

Yannis Brückner (Master in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy) gave a lecture at the EPTA Congress 2025 in Düsseldorf entitled ‘Klavierunterricht als kreativer Erfahrungsraum – Vielfältige Wege zum individuellen Bewegungslernen’, in which he presented insights into his research on the interaction between body and sound.

Meng Yuan (Alumna of Master in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy with Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender and Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann, alumna of Bachelor EMP) published the following article in the magazine üben&musizieren: Meng Yuan: ‘Unterstützung oder Erschwernis? Funktion des Cursors in Musizierlern-Apps für das Blattspiel-Training.’ In: üben&musizieren 4 (2025), pp. 32-33.

Daniel Berrío Quintero (Master in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy) gave a lecture as part of the EPTA Congress 2025 participant forum in Halle (Saale), in which he presented insights into his pedagogical practice under the title ‘Experience report on composing in everyday music school life: From improvisation to composition’.

Milena Roder (Master of Instrumental Pedagogy and Master of New Music) has been appointed as a music lecturer at the University of Education Heidelberg (starting from the winter semester 2024/25). There, she conducts seminars with a focus on music education.

Work results from students of the seminar "Forum IGP: Music Schools of the Future," organized by Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann in the summer semester 2024 at the HMDK Stuttgart, have been published on the website of the Music School Lab.

Valentin Bauer (Continuing Education Master Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy) received the Reichstein Scholarship from the Schumann Society Düsseldorf for the period 2024-2025 to realize his research project as part of his master's thesis in Vocal Pedagogy (supervised by Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann). Additionally, starting from the school year 2024/2025, he will be employed as a vocal pedagogue at the Music School of Cologne Cathedral Music.

Lukas Saalfrank (Master in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy under Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender and Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann) will start an 80% position as a piano teacher and head of the piano department at the Herrenberg Music School in September 2024. There, he will work with children, teenagers, and adults in individual as well as partner lessons and further develop the department.

Jinzi Ju (Master in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy under Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender) expanded her position at the Neckartailfingen Music School as a permanent piano teacher for children, teenagers, and adults to 33% in April 2024.

Meng Yuan (Master in Instrumental/Vocal Pedagogy under Prof. Ulrike Wohlwender and Prof. Dr. Karolin Schmitt-Weidmann, Alumna of Bachelor EMP) will focus on teaching activities in piano, MufA Piano ("Music for All"), and EMP at the Stuttgart Music School (70%) after a successful application starting from September 2024.

Valentin Bauer (Continuing Education Master IGP) has been appointed as a lecturer for singing and choral vocal training at the Bischöfliche Kirchenmusikschule Essen (starting September 2023). There, he works within the C-church music training program with aspiring and practicing church musicians from the region in both weekly units and workshops.

Valentin Bauer (Continuing Education Master IGP) has been working as a vocal pedagogue in the context of "BachBewegt! Singen!" at the Bachakademie Stuttgart since December 2023. Additionally, he has participated as a substitute (Tenor 1) in the SWR Vocal Ensemble in the projects "Advent Concert" and "Come&SIng."

IGP Master student Dennis Brenner won the first prize in the competition "Ideen im Turm" organized by the Career Service in 2023, with his idea of "3D animation-supported video learning for making an oboe mouthpiece."