Music

Through the course you’ll study practical areas (such as classical music or jazz performance on an instrument or voice and composition) and academic content (such as musicology relating to music styles and genres from medieval through to pop, jazz and contemporary world music).

You can also study areas such as empirical music psychology, community music, opera and musical theatre, and issues within the music industry.

You’ll play to your strengths, with the opportunity to specialise in areas including music psychology, community music skills, world music and field studies, opera and musical theatre.

We currently have over 30 ensembles open to all students, including numerous choirs, symphony and chamber orchestra, wind band and jazz big band, jazz small groups, our own Javanese Gamelan, brass, wind and string ensembles, folk, and experimental music groups.

Year one
You’ll study performance, including weekly one-to-one instrumental/vocal lessons, composition in a wide range of styles and genres, music technology in our industry standard labs, world music lectures and practical workshops, musicology lectures and seminars, research and study skills.

Year two
You’ll develop skills in teaching and in the area of music management and promotion through the Professional Musician module. This offers you the opportunity to undertake a placement in an organisation of your choice.

In addition to the Professional Musician module (which is core) there are a number of optional Music modules. You continue to develop your musical skills, and increasingly you will specialise in areas of particular strength and interest – for example in performance, composition or musicology in classical or jazz styles.

Year three
You’ll have the freedom for creative output in specialisms such as performance or composition together with the choice of a wide range of supporting modules, from the Opera Project to Music Psychology and Music in Action (which is a community music module).

You’ll be assessed through coursework, including compositions and essays, spoken presentations, and through practical assessments such as recitals, technicals and rehearsals.

The Music course is taught through workshops, masterclasses, lectures, seminars, individual tutorials and instrumental/vocal lessons. Teaching sessions are highly interactive, whether face-to-face or online (for example, through wikis or discussion boards).

You’ll be taught by, and work alongside, a creative community of experts. Full-time staff are all practising performers, composers and musicologists. You’ll also be taught by visiting staff, many with international reputations.

There are opportunities through the Erasmus scheme to study abroad for a term or longer in year two – we have links with university music departments and schools in Europe, particularly Germany and the USA.

We give regular performances throughout the year in Bath as well as beyond. Each year we fully stage opera and musical theatre productions, ranging from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Puccini's Il Trittico, to Philip Glass's Satyagraha and Sondheim's Into the Woods and Company to Seussical.

In year two and three, particularly the modules "Music in its Cultural Contexts" and "Music in Action", students have the opportunity to engage with music projects in the community.

During the course you’ll explore the constantly changing needs of the employment market, and you’ll undertake a placement in Year two. Recent placements have included the Bath International Music Festival, Bath Philharmonia, the BBC Proms, Welsh National Opera, Glyndebourne, Royal Opera, BBC Music Magazine, Dorling Kindersley and Real World.

You’ll benefit from masterclass sessions from industry experts. Recent visitors include Peter Donohoe, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Jason Rebello, Joanna MacGregor, Graham Fitkin, Iain Ballamy and Rosa Mannion.

We offer three prizes to students in Year three:

• Performance Prize
• Composition Prize for the best Year three composition portfolio
• Ensemble Prize for outstanding contributions to ensembles in Year three.

Graduates from BA Music at Bath Spa University have careers in:

• Performing
• Teaching
• Music in the community
• Composing for concert, screen, stage and education
• Music and arts management
• Music promotion and publishing.

This optional placement year provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for, and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.

By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of “with Professional Placement Year” to your degree title.

Before your Professional Placement Year, you'll work to secure your placement, constructing a development plan with your module leader and your placement coordinator from our Careers and Employability team.

On your return to University for your final year, you'll submit your Placement Portfolio, detailing your development on your placement.

Based at the Michael Tippett Centre, we have excellent facilities including:

• A purpose-built concert hall with superb acoustics
• 17 practice rooms, three with electronically variable acoustic
• A wide range of medieval, renaissance and baroque instruments, and a large collection of percussion and orchestral instruments
• A Javanese Gamelan
• A high spec music technology laboratory
• Five recording studios
• Two band rehearsal rooms
  
• Large, well-stocked Music Library and a wide range of online music resources.