MFA Video Game Composition and Orchestration
ThinkSpace Education
About this program
MFA Video Game Composition & Orchestration
Game projects are now using live orchestra. Video games frequently have both the budget and ambitious scale to support an epic fantasy score, or a thumping action soundtrack. MFA Video Game Composition & Orchestration is the perfect combination of skill sets for composers with the drive and determination to reach the top in video games music. Your course includes a live orchestral session with a professional film orchestra.
During this comprehensive Master of Fine Arts degree course, you will cover the skills taught in both our Composing for Video Games and Orchestration for Films, Games, and Television degree courses.
Admission requirements
Applicants should have an undergraduate degree in any subject. There is no entry by Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for our MFA courses. If you do not have an undergraduate degree, you might be eligible to join one of our MA programmes instead.
We expect you to have a competent knowledge of one digital audio workstation. You need to write music fluently and productively. You should be able to produce roughly two minutes of music in a day. Your demos should be of good quality and we are happy to listen to your music and give you an opinion on this before you apply.
A high level of music theory is a crucial skill, and you must be able to produce scores in a score editor. This will be a regular part of the course and will be checked during the application process.
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Learn moreProgram content
Your course falls into twelve modules plus a final major project which lasts three months. Each module focuses on a different area of video game and media composition and orchestration, while at the same time developing specific compositional, technical and business skills.
Students will complete these core modules:
- Game Audio Technology
- Writing For Strings And Woodwind
- Foundations of Game Music and Audio
- Research and Critical Reflection
- Elective 1*
- Adaptive Music 1
- Adaptive Music 2
- Writing for Brass, Harp and Percussion
- Scoring for Full Orchestra
- Session Preparation
- Advanced Game Music 1
- Elective 2*
- Final Major Project or Dissertation
For each of the Elective modules, students will pick one of:
- Basic Pro Tools
- Sampling Technology
- Wwise
- Cinematic Sound Design
- Work and Money
- Audio Post Production
- Advanced Sibelius
Scholarships & funding
Please check the institute website for more information.
Program delivery
Schedules
We offer 3 different schedules, and students are able to pick which suits them best.
- Full Time - 24 Months (30 hours/week)
- Part Time - 36 Months (15 hours/week)
- Part Time - 48 Months (8 hours/week)
These are estimates of the time a student will spend on each schedule. It will vary from student to student, depending on your rate of work. This includes live workshops, one-to-one tutorials, reading and watching the course materials, and time spent on assignment projects.
Tuition
Tuition fee: £14250
PLEASE NOTE: All currencies are quoted in GBP, but we invoice all of our students through the payment provider 'Flywire'. This allows you to pay your course fee in your home currency.
You will pay whatever the exchange rate is between your currency and the GBP fee.
Qualification
Course Details
Video Game Composition and Orchestration is an advanced degree that prepares you to write technically demanding, interactive music that you will learn to implement in the game using industry standard middleware such as FMOD and Wwise. You will learn to realise your scores as both professional grade sampled mock-ups and prepare them for live orchestra. You will learn to write for live players, prepare scores for a variety of applications and correctly manage Pro Tools sessions.
On this course, you will learn:
- How to work in an adaptive and interactive genre, tackling challenges unique to video games.
- To orchestrate awe-inspiring live and sampled orchestral game music.
- To produce professional-quality scores using Sibelius or Finale and record-ready Pro Tools sessions.
- What the market expects, what producers and directors are buying right now, and how to deliver market-focused music.
- About each section of the orchestra, taught by some of the world top film music session players.
- How to use FMOD to implement your music and sound design interactively in fully functional Unity games, many specially licenced for the course, including commercial releases.
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About this institute
ThinkSpace Education
ThinkSpace Education is an online provider of postgraduate degree courses for those looking to develop careers in the music and creative industries. With a 95% graduation rate, we know how to deliver innovative and engaging online education with exceptional professional...
Why study at ThinkSpace Education
Studying at ThinkSpace Education gives you the flexibility to pursue career goals and keep up with family life whilst gaining a postgraduate degree. As many of you may be looking to develop freelance careers alongside, or after, your studies anyway, this is great practice for working in your own space and being responsible for your own deadlines.
The tutors we have at ThinkSpace Education are truly some of the best from around the world. We are not limited to the expertise of those around a local campus, so we have recruited some of the best musicians, sound designers, orchestrators, and industry pros from all over the UK, USA, and Europe. Our tutors truly come from all areas of the music industry and no matter what you want to focus on there is likely a tutor who can help you achieve that goal.
We don't leave you totally to your own devices, and we do regularly interact with and check-up on our students as part of their studies, but the skills needed to study online are very similar to those you need to develop your own careers in the music industry.
Contact info
ThinkSpace Education
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