Composition

You’ll graduate as a skilled composer with a deep understanding of contemporary music context. You’ll develop creative and technical skills throughout the course, alongside the ability to think critically about composition.

You’ll have opportunities to collaborate with other creative artists, such as choreographers, filmmakers, and theatre practitioners, through joint projects and seminar discussion. These developments in your creative practice are supported by practical consideration of your professional and academic skills.

We aim to provide a foundation for your work as a composer. We’ll help you improve the way you promote your work and plan projects, as well as understand the academic disciplines to which it relates.

The MA and MRes Composition pathways offer a different emphasis. MRes Composition provides an opportunity to conduct an extended, focused composition project, combining both creative work and academic research. MA Composition provides a space to explore a wider range of approaches and to experiment with new ideas. Composers on both pathways are taught together, and work with the wider Music and Performance community.

Tutorials
We’ll meet with you on a one-to-one basis through weekly tutorials to help develop your work. This support focuses on technical and aesthetic development, and we’ll work with you on specific questions arising from your current project and its wider context.

Seminars
We’ll discuss broader issues with you and the other MA/MRes composers through weekly seminar sessions. These can include case studies of particular composers or approaches, technical work in relation to specific compositional problems, or exploration of professional contexts.

Workshops
For specific composition projects, we organise rehearsals and workshops with visiting professional musicians and fellow students. This enables you to hear your work played live and to make changes based on discussion and feedback.

MA and MRes Composition students participate in the same seminars and workshops.

This course includes or offers the following modules. Please check the programme document (below the main image on this page) for more details on which modules are core, required or optional.

• Research Methodologies and Context
• Portfolio One
• Professional Practice
• Intercultural Musicology
• Portfolio Two
• Performance Two
• Sound Production Creative Project
• Intertextuality in Sound Production
• Sonic Architecture
• Visual Music
• Sound Design Practice
• Post Production
• Major Project
• Research Project.

The majority of the assessment is based on your creative work, including compositions for specified visiting musicians and projects where you decide what to write. You’ll also produce work that assesses your professional and academic skills, including making a website, preparing a funding application, and research into an area of practice that links to your work.

MA composers will typically offer a range of more varied work that is directed in part by the opportunities afforded by the course. MRes composers will typically offer a portfolio of work articulated as a single project that is supported by a clear research context.

Each module has a weekly seminar which is either specific to the MA/MRes Composition or, for core skills, shared with the other courses. You’ll also have a weekly tutorial during teaching weeks. Throughout the year, we bring in visitors to talk about their work, and a professional ensemble join us to play one of your compositions.

We have good links with the UK contemporary music scene, and have regular visits from performers, composers and other industry speakers during the year. Recent visiting performers who have played student work include Plus Minus Ensemble, Kreutzer Quartet, Ensemble Bash, Christopher Redgate, Alexandra Wood, New London Chamber Ensemble and Darragh Morgan.

Composers and sound artists who have visited us to talk about their work include Joanna Bailie, Gavin Bryars, Kim Cascone, Jem Finer, Graham Fitkin, Kathy Hinde, Tom Johnson, Liza Lim, Steve Martland, Miller Puckette, Phill Niblock, Michael Pisaro, Scanner, Matthew Shlomowitz, Dennis Smalley, Jo Thomas, Chris Watson, Judith Weir, and Trevor Wishart.

We also run a regular series of presentations by visiting composers that brings together MA and PhD students with staff and colleagues from other disciplines. Industry and academic speakers also present their work at the commercially-orientated Music Think Tank (recent speakers include Paul Brindley, CEO at Music Ally; Paul Gray; Musicians' Union; Vick Bain; BASCA; Chris Carey from EMI; Will Page, chief economist PRS for Music; John Minch, CEO of Boosey and Hawkes/Imagem).

You’ll develop a broad range of intellectual, practical and transferable skills. We’ll help you develop a portfolio career built around your creative practice, drawing in other related areas of work such as:

• Teaching
• Editing
• Performing
• Work in other areas of the creative industries.

Our aim is that on graduation from the programme, you'll have developed core problem-solving, analytical, and critical skills to support you in the changeable and unpredictable work environment.

• Michael Tippett Centre
• Commons
• Newton Park Library.

As an MA Composition student, you'll have access to networked music technology labs with highly specified workstations, running core software including Pro Tools, Logic, MAX/MSP, Macromedia suites, and Final Cut.

We also have five purpose-built digital recording studios, featuring:

• A variety of portable sound-recording equipment and digital cameras
• A purpose-built concert hall with excellent acoustics and PA
• 17 practice rooms, three with electronically variable acoustic
• Large, well-stocked library of books, periodicals and CDs
• A wide range of medieval, Renaissance and Baroque instruments, and a large collection of percussion and orchestral instruments
• A Javanese Gamelan.