Guitar and Harp MMus

Introduction

The Guitar and Harp Department at RCS is structured to directly reflect musical realities in the 21st century. Most successful musicians live varied musical lives, it is our desire to prepare you for the profession and we feel you must acquire as broad a range of skills as possible in order to become excellent musicians and interesting, expressive artists.

Weekly individual, group tuition, chamber music and orchestral performance are a focal point of the newly formed department. Regular collaborations with composers in creating new repertoire, side by side opportunities with all of Scotland’s national orchestra’s, classes in technique and performance practice, history and repertoire, improvisation, business skills, techniques of teaching, alongside regular masterclasses with visiting international soloists all are integral to the development of an aspiring and versatile musician.

The guitar and harp department consists of an exciting, forward-looking team of lecturers, who are all experienced soloists, chamber musicians, orchestral players and teachers in their own right. They are on hand to give invaluable advice and tuition drawing from their own experience of life as professional musicians.

The MMus programmes share many similarities, with the first three terms of the programme being common to both. The chief differences are in the length and volume of study, and in the pattern of delivery in relation to the four terms that make up the academic calendar. There are also some differences in the programme aims and learning outcomes, and in the proportional number of hours available for principal study lessons. Students can also exit with PGDip awards.