Course description

Our MusM Composition (Instrumental and Vocal) master's course offers intensive training for composers and provides excellent preparation for doctoral work or a career in the professional world.

With a strong focus on practical music-making and supported by an outstanding programme of workshops and performances by professional musicians, it offers an invaluable opportunity for composers to hone their skills and develop their personal voice.

You will benefit from:

links to ensembles as an integral part of the course;
interaction with the music profession, including the BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata;
opportunities to develop professional skills, for example through collaborating, rehearsing and networking with professional musicians; learning to arrange/orchestrate; undertaking outreach opportunities; and collaborating in the creation of performances;
flexibility to develop your own compositional and research interests;
close ties with electroacoustic composers in NOVARS, and the flexibility to combine electroacoustic course units with those for instrumental and vocal composition;
integration into the active research culture of The University of Manchester, through research seminars, performance workshops and concerts.

You can also choose to take a placement unit where you will spend a minimum of 20 days over a period of up to 12 weeks with an arts and cultural organisation, business or service provider to gain valuable workplace experience.

Aims

We aim to:

• enable you to develop compositional techniques and professional skills appropriate to your creative needs;
• enable you to work with both student and professional performers toward the performance of recently composed prices;
• help you develop an awareness of aesthetic, analytical and technical issues relating to contemporary Western art music;
• encourage you to discuss with clarity and conviction issues relating to contemporary music;
• enable you to compose several works worthy of public performance;
• equip you with skills appropriate to the development of further postgraduate study on MPhil and PhD programmes.

Career opportunities

Graduates of this course have pursued successful careers in musical and non-musical fields.

Many are continuing to achieve success as composers, in some cases receiving professional performances from soloists, ensembles and orchestras all over the world.

Others continue to further study via a PhD before securing an academic position. Some go on to teach in schools or further education, both in the UK and overseas.

Other areas of work for which advanced musical training has been directly relevant include arts management and the culture industries, music publishing, music journalism, librarianship, music therapy and performance.

Careers outside of music have included accountancy, law, social work and human resources.