Program Overview

Music - MMus / PgCert / PgDip

Overview

The principal aim of our Master of Music (MMus) course is to provide you with knowledge, skills, and confidence to succeed in your chosen branch(es) of the music profession, giving you a head-start in addressing the challenges involved in becoming a professional musician.

Entry Requirements

Essential requirements

• UK students should normally hold an honours degree, ideally but not necessarily in Music.
• Non-UK students should hold a Bachelor's degree or a similar degree-equivalent diploma, ideally but not necessarily in Music.

Applying with international qualifications

• See below for further information on applying as an international student.

English language requirements

• IELTS 6.0 overall with no less than 5.5 in each band, or equivalent.

Fees & How to Apply

UK students

• Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study.
• The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament.

International students

• Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study.
• The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament.

Course in Depth

MMus

• In order to complete this course you must successfully complete THREE CORE modules (totalling 140 credits):
  • The Career Development module (20 credits), and
  • Both Principal Study 1 and 2 modules (each 60 credits, chosen according to the specialism – see below).

Career Development

• Members of the music profession require not only high-level specialist skills but also the ability to target those skills strategically to different circumstances.
• This module focuses on a range of different aspects of a musician’s professional development that directly relate to the music industry and their preparation for it: from self-promotion and self-management, to funding and wellbeing.

Principal Study 1

• As a postgraduate instrumentalist or singer, the Principal Study 1: Instrumental/Vocal Performance module enables you to advance your training in your specialist area and it is thus at the heart of your conservatoire studies.
• As the focus of this module is entirely on your own continued development as a performer, you will spend considerable time developing your technical facility, musicianship, interpretative skills and stylistic awareness, expanding your knowledge of the repertoire, refining your platform manner and presentation skills, and, in some cases, advancing your collaborative performance skills.

Principal Study 2

• As a postgraduate instrumentalist or singer, the Principal Study 2: Instrumental/Vocal Performance module builds on the performance skills acquired in the Principal Study 1 module, encouraging independent decision-making, the development of an individual musical personality, and a professional approach to the performance context.
• The module clearly supports you in adopting an ever-increasing degree of professionalism in all aspects.

Professional Development modules

• THREE Professional Development modules (20 credits each), and
• ONE MMus optional module (40 credits)

Professional Development modules: Conservatoire based

• Concepts in Musicology
• Contemporary Music Concepts and Practice
• Music Technology in Performance
• Critical Editing Techniques
• Documentation
• Experimental Performance in Context(s)
• Historical Instrument Performance
• Historical Performance Practice
• Independent Scholarship in Music
• Music and Ideas
• Music Technology in Context
• Orchestration
• Performing and Producing in the Studio
• Professional Music Criticism
• Self-Promotion Project
• Teaching Matters: Principles and Practice
• Work Placement
• Writing Music for Media
• Conference Paper
• Preparation for Research
• Music, Community and Wellbeing (BMus module)

Professional Development modules: Art based

• Art and Ecologies
• Contemporary Philosophy and Aesthetics
• Discourses in Art and Design
• Models and Methods of Curatorial Practice
• Queer Strategies in Practice
• Small Arts Business Set Up
• Social Practice in the Visual Arts

Professional Development modules: Media based

• Live Events and Festival Management
• Social Media as Culture and Practice

MMus optional modules

• Research Project
• Critical Edition
• Lecture-Recital
• The Reflective Practitioner - there are two pathways through this module:
  • Professional Placement, and
  • Creative Interdisciplinary Artist.

PG Dip

• In order to complete this course you must successfully complete TWO CORE modules (totalling 80 credits):
  • The Career Development module (20 credits), and
  • Principal Study 1 module (60 credits, chosen according to the specialism – see below).

PG Cert

• In order to complete this course you must successfully complete one of the following CORE modules (totalling 60 credits):
  • Principal Study 1: Instrumental and Vocal Performance 60 credits
  • Principal Study 1: Percussion 60 credits
  • Principal Study 1: Global Traditional Music Performance 60 credits
  • Principal Study 1: Jazz Performance 60 credits
  • Principal Study 1: Jazz Instigator 60 credits
  • Principal Study 1: Composition 60 credits
  • Principal Study 1: Music Technology 60 credits
  • Principal Study 1: Experimental Performance 60 credits

Employability

• At Royal Birmingham Conservatoire we provide a friendly and supportive environment in which you can pursue your postgraduate studies.
• This is a time when you need to think particularly carefully and strategically about the direction of your developing career as a musician.
• We therefore encourage you to be ambitious in pursuing your aspirations, and endeavour to provide you with the flexibility to mould your course to your individual needs, both within your Principal Study area and in complementary modules.

Facilities & Staff

• Our staff
  • Dr Luan Shaw
  • Beetung Goo
  • Dr Siân Derry
• Please visit individual department pages for information on staff who teach on our various principal study areas.