Music Performance

Core Modules

• Academic Integrity

  This module will describe the key principles of academic integrity, focusing on university assignments. Plagiarism, collusion and commissioning will be described as activities that undermine academic integrity, and the possible consequences of engaging in such activities will be described. Activities, with feedback, will provide you with opportunities to reflect and develop your understanding of academic integrity principles.

   

Students must take either:

• Special Study: Performance

  In this module you will develop your technical abilities as a performer or conductor. You will make interpretative decisions based on an informed knowledge and analysis of performance, practising conventions and an understanding of specific musical styles. You will work closely with your chosen instrumental, vocal, or conducting teacher to prepare for a final recital lasting up to one hour.

or

• Special Study: Collaborative Piano

  This module aims to develop the your interpretative and technical abilities as a performer at an advanced level, providing the kind of grounding that is analogous to that offered in a music conservatory. As a collaborative pianist, you will develop the various techniques required for working with different duo partners and in various genres, managing rehearsals, working on sight-reading and other necessary skills and applying critical understandings of style and performance practice to a number of musical styles and genres.

   

Optional Modules

There are a number of optional course modules available during your degree studies. The following is a selection of optional course modules that are likely to be available. Please note that although the College will keep changes to a minimum, new modules may be offered or existing modules may be withdrawn, for example, in response to a change in staff. Applicants will be informed if any significant changes need to be made.

You will be able to choose two modules (one of which is recommended to be a performance-related module) from the available options, including: 

• Historical Musicology 1

  In this module you will be introduced to methodologies in source studies, editing, archival study, historiography, iconography, social history, and critical epistemologies. You will examine contemporary debates within these specified sub-areas of the discipline, considering issues and methodologies applicable to the study of music in its various historical contexts.

• Historical Musicology 2

  In this module you will look at a series of case studies to examine the cultural, intellectual and social history of music. You will consider issues of canon, music and text, aesthetics, cultural history, music and politics, critical musicology and hermeneutics.

• Topics in Music & Screen Media

  In this module you will look at the musicological and theoretical literature on music and screen media.  You will examine current debates within film and television, opera, musical installations, and music videos, drawing out issues and methodologies applicable to the study of screen music in its various historical and media contexts. It may be assessed by essay, composition or performance (if on silent film music).

• Topics in World Music

  This module will introduce you to the ethnographic, theoretical, and practical aspects in the study of world music cultures, considering a range of issues and perspectives. You will look at regional case studies, exploring critical perspectives relating to the exploration and generation of knowledge about the world’s musical traditions.

• Techniques in Ethnomusicology

  In this module you will explore a range of issues, perspectives and techniques relevant to the practice of ethnomusicology. You will examine how fieldwork is undertaken within different geographic contexts, considering a variety of theoretical outlooks and debates, such as ethnographic representation.

• Documenting Performance

  In this module you will develop specific performance skills on an instrument or in a chosen musical style learnt, possibly from scratch. You will work closely with a consultant performer, who will act as your teacher, documenting and critically reflecting upon the music learning processes. You will consider the ethnographic dimensions of learning to perform, including analysis of teaching methods, techniques, cultural expectations and learning strategies.

• Music of the Americas - Politics, Indigeneity and Performance

  In this module you will develop an understanding of a range of musical forms, practices and contexts from the Americas, examining the social and political dynamics of their creation, performance, dissemination and reception. You will look at the historical and social processes and contexts that have shaped these musics, and consider how they, in turn, have been shaped by them.

• Issues in Popular Music

  In this module you will look at the musics of India, considering the complexities of the relationships between popular styles and their socio-cultural contexts. You will examine themes such as media and film, the commodification and globalisation of popular music, the relationship of popular styles with traditional musics, leisure and tourism, space and place, ethnic and national identity, and social and political protest.

• Studies in Musical Sources, 850 to 1450

  In this module you will examine a group of musical sources from the medieval period. You will consider the transcription and interpretation of those sources, bibliographic analysis, including study of their notation, handwriting and physical structure, and the comparison of their musical texts. You will also look at music‐theoretical texts from the same time and milieu, exploring the relationship between notated sources and contemporary music theory. You will have the opportunity to view medieval manuscripts first‐hand in one or more collections, such as those held at the British Library or the University of London Library.

• Techniques in Theory and Analysis

  In this module you will develop an understanding of the principal methodologies in accepted use for analysing music today as well as the theoretical foundations on which they are based. You will consider the major trends in musical analysis since the end of the Second World War, examining analytical methods, theoretical issues, and musical repertory.

• Short Recital

  In this module you will develop your interpretative, analytical and technical abilities as a performer at an advanced level. You will design an intellectually coherent and aesthetically satisfying concert programme based on specialist repertory, and manage the occasion of performance at a professional level, including the writing of scholarly programme notes.

• Techniques of Performance Studies

  In this module you will look at the methods and approaches used in performance studies research, including the philosophies of performance and historical performance practices. You will examine the practice of Western music between the seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries, considering the multi-faceted components of the art of performance and the philosophical, historical and stylistic issues that underpin it.

• Fusion, Electronics and Sonic Art

  In this module you will develop an understanding of fusion and cross-genre composition, electronics and sonic art. You will look at the history and repertoire of these genres, and explore the compositional possibilities where these types of music meet. You will examine the combination of live music and computer performance, and the production of purely computer-based compositions, covering commercial electronica though to contemporary classical approaches. You learn to write music that falls under these definitions using contemporary techniques in music software, such as Logic, Reason, and Abelton Live, combined with industry-standard written notation.

• Media and Commercial Composition

  In this module you will develop an understanding of the composition of film scores for several genres of film. You will learn to compose traditional notated music for orchestral scores, and how to use modern music software and programming techniques. You will examine contemporary issues surrounding production, orchestration, compositional techniques, and the business of music, including production libraries, television, advertisements, computer games and other visual media. You will also look at the working practices of commercial and film composers and current industry standards.

• Practical Composition Projects

  In this module you will explore the advanced techniques of musical composition, considering the idea that there is more than just inspiration to the act of composition. You will look at a range of current trends in compositional techniques, learning to manipulate these in sophisticated, creative and personal ways. You will examine the possibilities of instrumentation, including the exploitation of instrumental capabilities, and the practical compositional issues facing composers today.

• Composing for Ensemble

  In this module you will examine a broad range of contemporary vocal and instrumental concert repertoire from a variety of perspectives. You will look at compositional theory and thought across a wide body of modern musical styles, examining different ways of thinking about composition for ensemble and the working practice of a stylistically diverse range of composers. You will examine how to incorporate some of these elements in to your own creative work.

• Music Pedagogy

  On this module you will develop the employability skills necessary in order to confidently teach an instrument or voice in a one-to-one or group setting.  As well as developing and enhancing your critical reflection on your own performance practice, you will be equipped with a knowledge of appropriate teaching styles and methods and a contextualised understanding of these as appropriate to different teaching situations (ages, aspirations, individual or group lessons).