MMus in Performance or Composition

The Master of Music in Performance (including orchestral or choral conducting) or Composition is similar to the MA but with the addition of a Masters Project. The MMus is the standard postgraduate programme for composers. Your Project preparation is supported by a team of specialists and provides an opportunity for you to enhance your creative work through specialised academic study and practice-led research. The MMus is normally a two-year programme, but in certain cases students can be allowed to take it in one year.

Your final Masters Project can be a concert with commentary, a recording-based project, a dissertation or a mixture of these. We will encourage you to pursue project work that is directly useful to and representative of your creative development. A concert based around your own research, compositions or performance interests might include a very practical focus on the development and delivery of the event, or you might pursue more conceptual or contextual areas in a substantial written document.

Students wishing to prepare applications for doctoral study will normally choose the MMus rather than the MA, as the Masters Project helps prepare students for the independent work required at doctoral level. Nevertheless, a significant number of students have gone on to doctoral study from the MA or external equivalents.

Students can also exit with PGCert award.

A concert based around your own research, compositions or performance interests might include a very practical focus on the development and delivery of the event, or you might pursue more conceptual or contextual areas in a substantial written document. Students wishing to prepare applications for doctoral study will normally choose the MMus rather than the MA, as the Masters Project helps prepare students for the independent work required at doctoral level. Nevertheless, a significant number of students have gone on to doctoral study from the MA or external equivalents.