The current musical professional practice increasingly demands musicians who are not only able to perform at the highest level artistically, but who also have academic competences. Such competences are, for example, necessary to arrive at well-founded and convincing fund applications. That is why the Academy for Musicology and Musicianship Amsterdam (AMMA) is being developed, on the initiative of Michiel Schuijer, lector Music at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam. Schuijer received a Comenius Leadership Fellow grant in June 2020 to set up a new bachelor's and master's program for conservatory students who also want to develop their academic skills.

Scientific professional practice increasingly demands forms of analytical knowledge that are embodied and intuitive in addition to being conceptual. Musical forms of knowledge acquisition (body memory, flow) can provide extra impulses for this.

The social role of musicians requires critical reflection on their own work, on the work of others, and on broader professional and social issues, such as the role of music in technological innovation, cognitive research, health care, cultural politics and education.

Both the conservatory and the university will benefit from the closer cooperation necessary for this coordinated educational offer. The conservatory will be able to offer its students more opportunities for intellectual broadening, while students at the university will come into contact with diverse musical practices, and with the knowledge and experience that they entail.