Program Overview

Music and Music Technology BA

The BA Music and Music Technology course specialises in both music and music technology, allowing students to pursue other areas of musical interest. The core of the course balances modules focused on music technology, electronic and computer music, with those drawing on musics from a range of genres, styles, cultures, and geographic locations to explore key concepts, theories and approaches.

Course Overview

Students will develop their skills as creative, critical and reflective thinkers, gaining the tools and experience needed to be independent workers, musicians and music technologists, ready for life after university. The course is designed to equip students with a broad range of advanced musical, music-technological and transferrable skills.

Year Structure

• Year 1: Students gain and develop core skills in musical research and practice-research, engage with multiple ways of thinking about and understanding music, and are introduced to theories and concepts in music technology and electronic music.
• Year 2: Students continue to develop their skills, applying their learning in new contexts, with a strong emphasis on the relationship between theory and practice.
• Year 3: The final year is centred around an independent project, enabling students to pursue a music or music-technology topic of their own choosing.

Compulsory Modules

Year 1

• Studio Recording (20 credits): Introduces students to the theory and practice of studio recording.
• Electronic Music (20 credits): Introduces students to electronic music and starts developing their skills.
• Music and Society (20 credits): Supports the development of research and practice-research skills.
• Materials of Music (20 credits): Brings music theory into the twenty-first century.

Year 2

• Applied Music Technology (20 credits): Explores applied music technology, contextualising practice and situating it within broader approaches to music technology.
• Computer Music (20 credits): Introduces students to computer music and starts developing their skills.
• Researching Music (20 credits): Develops musicological, practice-based, and empirical research techniques.
• Towards the Future: Skills in Context (20 credits): Provides an opportunity to think about the ways in which knowledge and expertise can be applied outside university studies.

Year 3

• Independent Research Project (40 credits): Gives students the chance to explore an area of music or music technology of their own choosing.
• Creative Music Technology (20 credits): Based around a series of case study topics in areas of staff expertise.
• Music Beyond Graduation (20 credits): Provides an opportunity to examine the ways in which expertise in music can be applied beyond studies.

Optional Modules

Students can choose from a range of optional modules in areas such as:

• Collaborative Performance
• Contemporary Composition
• Film Music
• Music Business
• Music Psychology
• Performance
• Popular Music

Learning and Teaching

Academics in the School of Music are experts in their fields, and their activities inform their teaching directly. A range of inclusive, active, and student-centred approaches to learning and teaching are used to engage students in their course and support them to develop their knowledge, understanding, and skills.

Assessment

A variety of assessment methods are used, each chosen to best measure achievement of a module's learning outcomes and associated skills. Assessments may include written assignments, creative outputs and portfolios, recitals and performances, presentations, project work, and online assessments.

Entry Requirements

• A-level: ABB. We also welcome BTEC applicants with DDM.
• If A levels or equivalent qualifications do not include Music, we would normally expect a discursive subject and evidence of musical literacy.
• Practical grades in music are not a requirement for this programme.

Alternative Qualifications

• Access to HE Diploma: 60 credits overall, with at least 45 credits at level 3 to include 30 credits at Distinction and 15 at Merit.
• BTEC: DDM.
• Cambridge Pre-U: D2, M2, M2 or D3, M1, M2 or D2, M1, M3.
• International Baccalaureate: 34 overall.
• Irish Leaving Certificate (higher Level): AAABBB or H2 H2 H2 H3 H3 H3.
• Scottish Highers / Advanced Highers: BB in Advanced Highers and AABBB in Highers, or B in Advanced Highers and AAABB in Highers, or AABBBB in Highers.
• Welsh Baccalaureate: WJEC Level 3 Advanced Skills Baccalaureate Wales.

Fees

• UK: £9,790
• International: £28,750 (per year)

Career Opportunities

A degree in Music and Music Technology from the University of Leeds equips students with valuable subject knowledge, cultural and social awareness, and a strong balance of musical, technological and transferrable skills. Graduates can work in a wide range of areas within the music industry, including performing, composing, teaching, studio engineering, and more.

Study Abroad and Work Placements

Students have the opportunity to apply to transfer onto the BA Music and Music Technology (International) variant and extend their degree by a year, spending their third year studying at one of the University's many partner universities worldwide. There is also the opportunity to extend the programme by doing a work placement year between the second and final years of study.

Related Courses

• Music BA
• Mathematics and Music BSc
• Music, Multimedia and Electronics BSc
• Music and Music Psychology BA