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MA - Master of Arts
York campus
Full Time
JAN
1 year
Our MA in Music (by research) is ideal for those individuals who would prefer to study independently through a research project, with guided supervision from an expert within their chosen field of research.
Your research
This course is aimed at both high-level creators interested in composition, production and musical analysis, and those wishing to develop tools for other content, including composers, performers and analysts.
Guided by your supervisor, you'll work through a series of structured elements, with your final submission being either:
a dissertation between 30,000 and 40,000 words on your registered topic, alongside a comprehensive resource list (including scores, analyses, articles, books and concert ephemera, internet and audio-visual resources). Candidates in musicology, ethnomusicology or analysis will normally follow this route, but it is not exclusively limited to these subjects; or
a portfolio of compositions for any instrument, voice, ensemble, audio media or multimedia, with an accompanying critical commentary. The commentary will draw out the research embedded in the practice, discussing aspects of the compositional processes and situating the work in a research context; or
a portfolio of performance projects, fully documented through video/audio recordings, and submitted alongside a critical commentary. The commentary will draw out the research embedded in the practice, discussing aspects of the performance processes and situating the work in a research context.
Electroacoustic Composition research area
This area sets out to help you create music which through the medium of sound itself, can be experimental and forward-looking. We seek individuals who are inspired by contemporary uses of digital and analogue media, rather than choosing to emulate existing musique concrète or acousmatic styles.
You should have a good contextual knowledge of recent developments in any contemporary electro-acoustic genre. Wider knowledge, extending into domains such as data-mining, crowd-sourcing, urban revival, global digital cultures, hack technologies and aesthetics, analogue systems, algorithmic processes, projection mapping, graphics or processing, is an advantage.
You are free to make your own work that crosses media boundaries and encompasses hybridity, or alternatively, concentrate on reductive aesthetics and new post-postmodern practices. You may involve any combination of digital, or non-digital instruments or techniques. You should have good technical command of your chosen software environment but may seek individual assistance on specific matters in software programming - (MaxMsp, Pd, C, iOS) - from our dedicated Research Support programmer.
You should have a 2:1 or above in relevant university degree or approved equivalent qualification, or equivalent professional experience.
Students living in
Domestic
£4,863 per year
Students from Domestic
This is the fee you pay if the University is in the same country that you live in (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland)
£29,900 per year
Students from EU
The amount you'll pay if you come to study here from somewhere in the EU.
£29,900 per year
Students from International
The amount you'll pay if you come to study here from a country outside the EU.
University of Birmingham