Cardiff University

MA Music

This is a one-year full-time programme totalling 180 credits.

Stage one

Modules taken vary according to the pathway/area of study chosen.

In the Autumn Term, all students will undertake general research skills training via the MA Research Skills module. In addition, there are core specialist pathway modules:

• Performance: Music Leadership & Public Engagement, Closed Recital
• Composition: Music Leadership & Public Engagement, Composition Portfolio
• Music Studies: Music Research in Practice, Introducing Music Studies
• Music Education: Music Leadership & Public Engagement, The Theory and Practice of Teaching Music

In the Spring term you choose from a selection of optional modules which are available to students across all pathways, and which allow you to hone your skills and interests.

Stage two

Modules in stage one are followed by a major project, relevant to your chosen pathway:

• Performance: a public recital
• Composition: a thesis composition
• Music Studies: a dissertation
• Music Education: a specialist education project

Core Modules for Year One

• MA Research Skills

Optional Modules for Year One

• Thesis Composition
• Public Recital
• Dissertation
• Music Education Portfolio
• Music Leadership and Public Engagement
• Music Research in Practice
• Composition Portfolio
• Closed Recital
• Introducing Music Studies
• The Theory and Practice of Teaching Music
• Postgraduate Ensemble
• Cultures of Performance
• Studio Techniques
• Studying Musical Multimedia
• Music, Culture and Politics
• Teaching Music: Developing Curricula and Directing Ensembles

How will I be Assessed?

Taught modules are assessed in a variety of ways. Specific assessment methods differ depending on the pathway that you’ve selected, as follows:

Performance

• Oral presentations
• Ensemble performance
• Solo performance
• Lecture recital
• Written report
• Practical portfolio
• Printed programme with scholarly programme notes and performance diary

Composition

• Composition portfolios
• Essays
• Written reports and/or commentaries
• IT computer-based notational assignments (incl. editing)
• Oral presentations
• Orchestrations

Music Studies

• Extended essays
• Written reports
• Fieldwork, as needed
• Oral presentations
• Dissertation (12–15,000 words)

Music Education

• Oral presentations
• Written reports and commentaries
• Extended essays and/or projects
• Lesson plans
• Digital/Technology-based projects
• Specialist project

What skills will I practise and develop?

You'll acquire and develop a range of valuable discipline-specific skills, as well as employability, research, communication, and presentation skills.

Performers will acquire specific skills, such as the practical and interpretative musical skills associated with their chosen instrument or voice, an understanding of the relationship between the history and practice of music, knowledge of repertoires and recent developments in performance practice, as well as participating in lecture-recital, public recital, and ensemble recitals.

Composers can expect to acquire specific skills, such as knowledge and understanding of contemporary compositional techniques, IT skills in music notation inputting and editing, the ability to rehearse an ensemble, communicate musical intentions to performers via notation and written instructions, direct a rehearsal of your own composition as a conductor, and illustrate how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge.

If you are following the music studies pathway, you’ll acquire specific skills, such as the ability to analyse and process complex texts, ideas and concepts, develop different forms of academic writing, experience oral and written presentations, gain an understanding of standard bibliographies, catalogues and other reference material in music, develop research techniques and choice of appropriate sources to aid individual research, undertake complex library-based research, undertake fieldwork and interpret a range of quantitative and qualitative data.

Students on the music education pathway can expect to exhibit knowledge and understanding of a range of oral communication skills suitable to teaching; link pedagogical theory and research with practical skills; demonstrate fluency in mixed-media demonstrations; demonstrate a critical self-awareness of their teaching; and show understanding of the pastoral, administrative and assessment responsibilities within the teaching profession.

The Learning Outcomes for this Programme describe what you will achieve by the end of your programme at Cardiff University and identify the knowledge and skills that you will develop. They will also help you to understand what is expected of you.

On successful completion of your Programme, you will be able to:

Knowledge & Understanding

• KU 1 Demonstrate in-depth and rigorous specialist knowledge, creativity, imagination, flair, skill and understanding in one of the following: performance, composition, music studies or music education
• KU 2 Possess a critical awareness of, and sensitivity towards the component sub-disciplines within their specialist field of music
• KU 3 Demonstrate a broad contextual knowledge relevant to a specialist discipline within music, including the relationship to wider historical, philosophical and cultural issues and practices
• KU 4 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of techniques and scholarship with analytical and critical awareness

Intellectual Skills

• IS 1 Demonstrate the ability and confidence to see a major project through to completion while being aware of intellectual or artistic growth to ensure continuing creativity and scholarship
• IS 2 Develop reasoned, coherent arguments about specific problems, utilising and applying methodologies, evidence, appraisal techniques and skills effectively in order to carry out tasks
• IS 3 Think critically, analytically, sensitively and reflectively about music, identifying significant formal, historical, and cultural patterns in the way it is performed, composed, or used

Professional Practical Skills

• PS 1 Have a strong ability to find creative links between the results of personal research or scholarship, textual and musical analysis, reflection and listening skills
• PS 2 Demonstrate the relationship between theory and practice in music, using relevant techniques and methods to explain and exemplify interrelationships
• PS 3 Demonstrate a confident ability to work closely with other musicians in the preparation and delivery of collaborative projects
• PS 4 Exercise initiative and personal responsibility in planning and implementing tasks, and demonstrate enterprise skills such as creativity, problem-solving and independent learning
• PS 5 Display artistic, technical and/or critical skills in planning, evaluating and reflecting critically on work in progress, with an ability to assimilate and summarise complex information and ideas

Transferable/Key Skills

• KS 1 Communicate intentions clearly, economically and persuasively in a variety of formats including written, oral and/or notated work
• KS 2 Engage effectively in debate in a professional manner and prepare and present work to a professional standard for a range of assessment types and formats
• KS 3 Possess academic and personal skills such as critical thinking, writing, oral presentation, problem-solving, collaborative group work, time management, and the use of information and/or digital technologies
• KS 4 Have the capacity for problem-solving and originality in thinking by using knowledge and skills to tackle familiar and unfamiliar problems

You’ll gain a broad spectrum of knowledge relating to music and a variety of skills, making you highly attractive to both potential employers and research establishments. The MA programme has been designed to provide you with advanced knowledge, understanding, and skills in your chosen area of study. It is ideal preparation for progression into practice or a research pathway, such as our PhD in Music.

Our graduates are sought after by employers, across a wide range of roles and sectors. Recent graduates have taken on roles including musicologist, administrator, music manager, freelance musician, research development officer and music teacher.

Our annual series of talks on Careers in Music offers a great chance to meet professionals active in a range of fields such as performance, music education, music journalism, arts and artist management, production and licensing, and composing for media.

How will I be Taught?

Teaching of academic modules is delivered primarily through seminars and small-group tutorials, and you’ll have the opportunity to develop your own interests through fieldwork, interdisciplinary study, and other areas of work.

Our regular series of workshops and masterclasses allow you to work directly with distinguished composers and performers.

All postgraduate students are expected to attend and participate in a regular postgraduate forum and to attend the school’s research lecture series, which attracts visiting speakers from around the world.