Music BA

About the Course

This programme is designed for students who wish to focus on the academic study of music, while still retaining the freedom to pursue composition, performance, and interests outside of music.

It provides a thorough knowledge of the development of Western music in the 20th and 21st centuries, informed by a broad understanding of earlier music history. It introduces the important methods of analysis commonly applied to music of this period, as well as ideas in aesthetics, music sociology, music psychology and critical theory.

Practical Music-making

Brunel’s School of Arts and Arts Centre have a strong tradition of practical music-making and there are a number of ensembles that you can participate in, including the New Music Ensemble, Jazzbridge, Brunel Vox and New Noise. The Arts Centre holds regular lunchtime and evening concerts featuring visiting performers, music students and staff.

Music at Brunel also has associations with the London Contemporary Orchestra and Piano Circus.

About the School of Arts at Brunel

The School of Arts at Brunel includes single and joint honours degree courses in English, Journalism, Music and Sonic Arts, Film and Television Studies and Theatre. This is a vibrant, friendly and creative place to study. Research conducted by staff provides the basis for much of our teaching, ensuring that modules are connected to debates and issues that are current within these interdisciplinary areas.

Each programme develops basic skills within its discipline but allows you to explore your own particular interests through a range of optional modules.

We also benefit from the activities of the Arts Centre, which organises tuition, performances and exhibitions across a range of arts.

View student profiles

Aims

The course requires students to explore fundamental questions about the nature and meaning of music by analysing and critiquing musical texts, and by considering their social, cultural and political contexts.

Enquiries

Colin Riley
Admissions Tutor
School of Arts
Brunel University
Uxbridge
Middlesex UB8 3PH

Tel +44 (0)1895 266582
Email music-admissions@brunel.ac.uk

Special Features

• Facilities include a computer suite fully equipped for sound design and notation, studios for individual work, individual practice rooms and larger spaces for group rehearsals.
  
  
• There is a vibrant student performance culture on campus comprising several ensembles performing contemporary and classical music, improvisation, jazz, and live electronics.
  
  
• You will be part of a highly dynamic music department with a strong profile in the Greater London area. The University hosts weekly recitals and concerts, and our new Arts@Artaud series showcases new performance work by students, staff and visiting artists in the newly refurbished surroundings of the Antonin Artaud building.
  

Facts and Figures

Brunel has an unequalled concentration of contemporary music practitioners of national and international reputation, including the composers John Croft, Carl Faia, Christopher Fox, Harald Muenz, Colin Riley, Jennifer Walshe and Peter Wiegold, the pianist Sarah Nicolls, the jazz musician Frank Griffith, and the musicologist Bob Gilmore. The presence of associate artists and ensembles including Piano Circus and the London Contemporary Orchestra provides an incomparable resource that few institutions can match.

Course Content

The degree course is modular. Each module is worth 20 credits and you must complete 120 credits for each year of your degree programme. You will have a wide range of modules from which to choose and you can specialise in areas that particularly interest you. The final year project requires you to carry out in-depth research on any related topic of particular interest to you.

Typical Modules

Level 1 Core

• Academic Practice
• Musicianship
• Music since 1900: Themes and Contexts
  

Level 1 Options

• Introduction to Sonic Arts
• Principles of Musical Composition
• Principles of Performance Practice
• Sonic Arts Computing I
• Currents in Electronic Music
  

Level 2 Core

• Music and Perception
• Music since 1900: Experiment and Tradition
  

Level 2 Options

• Sonic Arts Project
• Conducting and Realisation
• Improvisation
• Instrumentation and Orchestration
• Composition for Soloist(s)
• Contemporary Performance II  
• Popular Music Practice
• Live Performance and Electronics
  

Level 3 Core

• Music since 1900: Modernism and Postmodernism
• Special Project
• Special Topic

Your special project may take the form of a lecture-recital, a dissertation on a chosen topic or an extended original composition.

Level 3 Options

• Orchestral and Ensemble Composition
• Advanced Improvisation
• Exploring Popular Music
• Music Journalism
  

Teaching and Learning

The music staff includes some of the country’s leading composers and performers, with teaching and research strengths in composition, performance, musicology and socio-critical musicology. Modules on the course reflect the expertise of the staff and focus on technique and interpretation in contemporary music performance, as well as relevant cultural and historical issues.

Assessment

Assessment methods include coursework, projects, oral presentations, practical work and some written examinations. The proportion of exam to coursework is approximately 30:70.

Employability

Brunel’s music courses help develop a wide range of vocational, collaborative and transferable skills that are highly attractive to employers in industry and commerce. Students have the opportunity, for example, to develop IT ability and highly sought-after presentation and communications skills.

Careers

A high proportion of our Music graduates have either progressed to postgraduate study at a university or conservatoire or have entered the music profession as performers, composers, teachers and technicians. Others have entered arts administration, publishing, the media and management.

Graduates have gone on to work for prestigious companies such as Universal (Decca) and the English National Opera.

Fees for 2012/13 entry

Home/EU students: £9,000 full-time, £6,750 part-time

International students: £11,330 full-time

Brunel is introducing over 1000 new scholarships for 2012, meaning that one in three applicants who join Brunel next year will receive financial support from the University. See our fees and funding page for full details

Fees quoted are per annum and are subject to an annual increase.

Entry Requirements for 2012 Entry

• GCE A-level BCC including grade C in A-level Music (General Studies/Critical Thinking accepted as third A-level). Applicants without music or grade 8 practical will be required to take a music test.
• Irish Leaving Certificate BBBBC.
• Scottish Advanced Highers BCC.
• Advanced Diploma Progression Diploma Grade C in Creative and Media plus Grade B at A-level for Additional and Specialist Learning.
• IBDP 29 points.
• BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma DDM. BTEC Level 3 Diploma is also accepted alongside other Level 3 qualifications – All BTEC candidates will be required to pass a brief entrance test, details of which will be provided upon application.
• Access Pass in a related subject -may also be required to take a music test.

All candidates without either A-level Music and Grade C or equivalent or Grade 8 ABRSM, LCMM or Trinity College will be required to pass a brief entrance test, details of which will be provided upon application.

For all of the above, 5 GCSEs or equivalent at Grade C or above are also required, to include English and Maths (please note that these must have been gained by the time you submit your UCAS application).

Entry Requirements for 2013 Entry

• GCE A-level BBB, including A-level Music at grade B (General Studies/Critical Thinking accepted), or Pass in the Brunel Music entrance test
• Irish Leaving Certificate   ABBBB
• Scottish Advanced Highers  BBB
• Advanced Diploma Progression Diploma Grade B in Creative and Media plus Grade B at A-level for Additional and Specialist Learning
• BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma DDM in a related subject All BTEC candidates will be required to pass the Brunel Music entrance test, details of which will be provided upon application
• BTEC Level 3 Diploma + 1 A level DD B
• IBDP 32 points
• Access Pass in a related subject

All candidates without either A-level Music at grade B or equivalent or Grade 8 ABRSM, LCMM or Trinity College will be required to pass a brief entrance test, details of which will be provided upon application.

For all of the above, 5 GCSEs or equivalent at Grade C or above are also required, to include English and Maths (please note that these must have been gained by the time you submit your UCAS application).

English Language Requirements

Brunel also offers our own BrunELT English Test and accept a range of other language courses. We also have a range of Pre-sessional English language courses, for students who do not meet these requirements, or who wish to improve their English.