It trains both professionals and amateurs, focused of the interplay of both aspects of music-making.

The first conservatory in Mainz was established around 1882 and was named after its founder: Paul Schumacher'sches Conservatorium der Musik.

[2] The city of Mainz bought the institution and its buildings in 1920, intending to create a municipal university of music (Musikhochschule).

[4][5] The Musikschule (music school) is the largest in the state,[6] with 140 examined teachers training around 3,500 students from age three months to 80.

[7] The Studienabteilung educates music teachers, in close cooperation with the Hochschule für Musik Mainz.