Education
Mainly public, the music teaching system is organized by age and level. Spread throughout the country, the municipal conservatories (CRC, CRI, CRD) and the regional conservatories (CRR) provide initial training.
Then, the national conservatories (CNSM), in Lyon and Paris, provide higher education. Since the 1980s, jazz teaching has gradually developed, but not all conservatories offer it.
As for universities, they sometimes offer music courses, but they are more theoretical than practical. Besides the public system, there is a network of private schools run by associations. Tuition fees are much higher, but they can offer more individualized training than in the public system, notably for musicians who are already active. A lot of them belong to the FNEIJMA (see cell 4), which has created a jazz diploma specific to the private sector.
Finally, a few schools are based on the American model.
The most prestigious music school in the country at university level with a jazz department that notably offers initiations to different types of improvisation, including from the Indian tradition.
The most renowned regional conservatory for initial training with a jazz department. Other CRR are spread throughout the country, but not all of them offer jazz courses.
A private school near Paris holding several partnerships with public institutions, which allow them to offer international exchanges via the European academic program Erasmus and charge the same tuition fees than in the public system.
Private school based in Salon de Provence.
A famous private school in Paris whose curriculum is based on the American university model, which then allows graduates to apply to prestigious music schools in the United States.