We offer an Honours Degree Course in Music (W300) and also degrees in Music with Math and Music with Computing. Most of the details on this page are about the W300 course. For the combined courses, see the ACM Undergraduate Prospectus.

Music

Degree: BA Music

Course Code: W300

Duration: 3 years, full time

Aims

Our undergraduate course has three main aims:

·  to be comprehensive in its intellectual range;

·  to be based around a core of material common to all students;

·  To offer a framework within which students are able to develop their individual talents and interests.

The third aim is especially important, particularly in a period when the subject-matter and methods of music study have expanded rapidly and dramatically. We are thus able to offer scope for students who are interested in creative work, in performance, or in music as a conceptual and historical field of study. In years 2 and 3 this is achieved by a system of options within which there is a large element of choice. All ACM courses operate in a modular way inside a "Common Course Structure".

Courses outside music - in any available subject area within SWIU - may be taken as part of the music degree. We teach in a considerable variety of ways, and in differently-sized groups. These are planned according to the subject concerned.

Assessment

The ACM organises the academic year into two semesters of twelve weeks each plus a six week assessment period. Marks are given and recorded for all work set: this might be an essay, an analytical exercise, a performance, a short test or a larger project. It all depends on the type of course. Students in years 2 and 3 may have written exams, or - normally in the summer - a solo/ensemble recital. In order to help students monitor their own progress and eliminate anxiety about exams, we have a series of structured revision classes in the period leading up to exams.

First Year

The first-year programmed is common to all students on the full-time degree course, being designed to bridge the gap between A-level music and degree work at Honours level. It introduces students to the principal areas of musical study including some which may not have formed part of their previous experience. For convenience these may be considered to fall into two main categories, although in practice the distinctions between the two are frequently blurred.

1. Critical Studies

This comprises course-units which focus on the way we think about music history and the role played by music in human cultures across many times and places; about musical language; and about the many forms which musical practice has assumed. There is a foundation course in research techniques, drawing on the full range of library resources: these include CD-ROM, on-line catalogue, and internet facilities. A weekly Sources seminar introduces students to a common core of musical experience (often involving video or DVD) and a unit on Sound and Information provides a thorough grounding in the musician's relationship with technology in all its various forms. A unit in philosophy provides students with the basis for sophisticated aesthetic judgement and analysis, aural training and score following complete this area of the programmed.

2. Creative and Performance Studies

Creative and Performance Studies comprises courses in composition, which introduces a variety of techniques, tools, and compositional procedures with the aim of developing students' individual imaginative potentials. Performance Studies involves regular individual instrumental/vocal tuition funded by the School and tuition in conducting and score reading techniques. Additionally ensemble classes, master classes and workshops form an essential part of performance study.

Second and Third Years

The Honours programmed (years 2 and 3) builds on the core areas studied in the first year, but allows students to design their own course, which is made up from a number of separate course units ("course unit" means a component course for which an assessment mark is recorded). There are three components to the Honours programmed.

1. Critical Studies

All students take a compulsory course in their second year on "Core Critical Skills in Music". This builds on first-year units by examining contemporary musical practice and thought from a series of discrete but interlinked viewpoints.

2. Historical, Contextual, and Technical Units

Students have a free choice in other second-level units, most of which units are of 20 credits. Some units focus on particular historical periods and their cultural contexts, or concentrate on the ideas that lie behind the music. These can be thought of as "words-based" units. Other units concern themselves with broadly technical matters, and could be thought of as "notes-based" units.

Sample units:

·  New York & Los Angeles: Pop Culture in the 1960s

·  Music and Courtliness 1150-1550

·  Postmodern Perspectives on Music

·  Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts 1900-1930

·  Music and Material Culture

·  Music: Meanings and Social Constructions

·  Analytical Approaches to Music

·  The Sixties Pop Explosion ­ Then & Now

·  Russian music from Glinka to Shostakovich

·  Beethoven as Hero

·  Issues in Music Aesthetics

·  Perspectives on the Concerto

3. Creative and Performance Studies

Students deciding to take units in this area may take fewer course units from the historical, contextual, and technical group of units.

Sample units:

·  Solo and/or ensemble performance

·  Conducting

·  Electroacoustic composition

·  Instrumental and vocal composition

·  Improvisation and performance skills

Funding is available for second and third year performance students through a number of named scholarships. These are awarded after competition at the end of the first year. Please see the Scholarships section for details.

4. Project-based units

In year 3 all students undertake two project-based units. One is a dissertation, for which the individual student chooses a subject area and develops it under personal guidance from a member of faculty. In the other, students choose a topic which extends and develops a subject based on one of the course-units that the student has taken in year 2.

Recent Dissertation titles include:

·  "Death and the Performer: A Study of the Effect of Death on the Careers of Buddy Holly and Jimi Hendrix"

·  "Growing up and Breaking Free: Feminist Musicology and Deconstruction of the Glass Ceiling"

·  "Stravinsky and Picasso: A Study in the Relations between Music and the Visual Arts"

·  "The Role of Music in TV Advertisements"

5. Units outside Music

Because all School's of Study at ACM operate a modular system, music students in years 2 and 3 can choose from an enormous number of units outside their main subject. Music students are encouraged to take advantage (if they so wish) of the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and experience.

Sample units:

·  Creative writing

·  Practical electronics and microcomputers

·  Italian language for beginners

·  The post-war English novel

·  Introduction to philosophy

·  Gender studies

Part-time Students

The structure of the part-time course is the same as the full-time course, but students take a maximum of six years instead of three to complete the full programmed of study.

Entrance Requirements

Our standard A-level offer is BCC, with the B grade usually in Music. The Practical Music A-level option may be acceptable as long as there are sufficient non-performance elements involved in the curriculum. Applicants will also normally have achieved a good mark in the Grade VIII practical examinations of the Associated Board, or have reached an equivalent standard.

It is the School's policy to interview promising candidates wherever possible, not least because we recognise that paper qualifications are not always adequate in indicating aptitude for the course. We encourage applications from students with other qualifications including AS-levels, AGNVQs, and International Baccalaureate, and we often accept alternatives as equivalent to our stated entry requirement. As a relatively small school we strive to maintain a sense of community among students and staff, and at interview we are looking particularly for students who will contribute to and benefit from the School's unique ethos.

As an interviewee, you will be asked to perform one piece on your first-study instrument (or voice), and you will be encouraged to discuss your interests, your knowledge of music beyond the immediate requirements of your A-level course, and given the opportunity to ask us questions. Interviewees should bring sample essays, harmony/counterpoint exercises, and any compositions they have written wherever possible.

Mature students

We welcome applications from mature students (over 21 years of age) and recognise that they might not possess conventional qualifications. In such cases the applicant's suitability for the course will usually be assessed at interview, and by written work. Please contact our Admissions Clerk if you would like further advice concerning your eligibility.

International students

International applicants are asked to consult the relevant sections of the current University of East Anglia Undergraduate Prospectus (here). We consider each applicant individually, and those who are unsure of their eligibility to apply are encouraged to contact our Admissions Clerk or to contact the International Office. We expect the same standard of instrumental or vocal performance as for UK students, but recognise that many different types of qualification exist in other countries. Written work and recordings may be requested.

Music with Maths

Degree: BA Music with Mathematics

Course Code: W3G1

Duration: 3 years, full time

Entry Requirements

Music with Computing

Degree: BA Music with Computing

Course Code: W3G4

Duration: 3 years, full time

Entry Requirements