Music

About

As a student on the BA Music, you will receive around 7½ hours of timetabled contact per week on average over the course of the programme. This will include a combination of lectures, seminars, and tutorials (including one to one supervision), as well as instrumental or vocal tuition and performance and composition workshops. The number and balance of these activities will change over the course of the programme as you develop your knowledge and abilities as an independent learner.

Timetabled contact is only the beginning of your learning. It provides a starting-point for your development as an independent, self-motivated learner. Typically, classroom teaching and learning will form around 25% of the time that you will spend on your studies during the 22 teaching weeks; you will be expected to spend the remaining 75% of your time on independent research. Students are also encouraged, as an integral part of their studies, to take advantage of other opportunities including participating in performance groups (including staff-led ensembles) and attending research and composition seminars.

In the first year, you will receive about 9 hours of timetabled contact each week. For each module, weekly lectures will introduce you to the broad questions and current issues in Music and its sub-disciplines. Seminars will give you the opportunity to engage with the topics introduced in lectures, discuss key issues in small groups, and look in detail at music and at writing about music. Instrumental or vocal lessons will help you develop your abilities as a performer, while composition seminars and workshops will allow you to explore approaches to composing. Practical training in both generic study skills and music-specific skills such as using notation software, recording equipment and transcribing music are embedded within the core modules.

For each hour of timetabled contact, you will be expected to complete 3 hours of independent research to prepare for your classes, broaden your subject knowledge, and complete assignments (that is, 27 hours of independent research per week). The teaching methods and coursework will be designed to help you achieve this; for example, you will receive reading lists, assignments, presentation briefs, and online materials to direct your research in preparation for seminars.

In the second year, there is an increased emphasis on the development of critical and analytical skills: a core module concentrates on the development of research skills in musicology. As modules specialise more strongly in particular areas such as performance, composition or different branches of musicology, the type of teaching varies more markedly between modules, so the kind of contact you experience will depend to a great extent on the modules you take. The total contact time you will receive will on average be similar to the first year, around 9 hours per week. As in the first year, you will be expected to complement this with about three times as much independent study as there are contact hours.

In the third year you will develop further your independent research skills, culminating in a double weighted project, which can be a dissertation, composition portfolio or public performance recital: this counts for one third of your marks for the year. This project will give you the opportunity to engage, at an advanced level, with creative cutting-edge research at the forefront of the discipline. On account of the time that you will need to undertake this research, during the third year you will receive timetabled contact of 4½ hours each week on average. This includes one to one supervision on your project (6 hours for dissertation, 6 for recital or 11 for composition) as well as group classes. The performance strand has 19 group seminars, as well as time for instrumental or vocal lessons. The contact time for dissertation supervisions reflects the text-based nature of the mode of study. Additional hours in the case of the recital and composition projects takes account of their practical nature and the need to investigate and embed further advanced skills specific to the student such as performance practice, notation and instrumental scoring, and the creative use of music technology. Other modules on offer include single-weighted projects in musicology, composition and performance, as well as taught courses in areas of staff research expertise. Overall, during the third year, you will be expected to spend at least 35 hours on independent research each week.

Throughout the programme, all students also have access to an academic adviser who will provide them with academic support and guidance. A student will meet with their adviser three times a year, in addition to which all members of teaching staff have weekly office hours when they are available to meet with students on a ‘drop-in’ basis.

The department also has an exciting programme of research events (seminars, guest lectures and workshops) which undergraduate students are strongly encouraged to attend. There is a busy programme of musical performance, both within and beyond the walls of the music department, which complements students’ academic programme by providing opportunities both to listen to and to perform a wide variety of music. The many musical ensembles to which students can contribute includes both independent societies (including orchestras, choirs, opera and musical theatre as well as a Javanese gamelan) and department-run ensembles such as the New Music Ensemble and Korean percussion group.

Content

The course at Durham prides itself in combining the traditional and the modern in the study of music. The learning of techniques such as harmony, counterpoint and aural skills are juxtaposed with an investigation of the most up-to-date thinking in musicology, critical theory, composition (acoustic and electroacoustic), analysis, ethnomusicology and performance. Moreover, our teaching, essentially research-led, is enhanced by distinctive staff specialisations that include nineteenth- and twentieth-century British music, music of the Soviet Union, Korean and Indian music, popular music, music technology, conducting, cognitive musicology, early music and contemporary composition.

Year 1

In the first year all students are expected to follow the same course, designed to introduce a broad range of disciplines and approaches.

The course consists of six modules:

• Historical Studies 1: The Long Nineteenth Century
• EITHER Performance 1: Listening and Performing Practice Through History (with Recital)
• OR Performance 1: Practice Through History (with Essay)
• Musical Techniques (Harmony and Counterpoint)
• Composition 1: 20th-Century Innovations
• Introduction to Ethnomusicology 
• Analysis 1: Elements of Tonal Theory and Practice

Essential topics in music technology are spread over these compulsory modules, as are foundational research skills that will be needed in the later years.

All Combined Honours students taking one or two modules in Music may take Historical Studies and/or Introduction to Ethnomusicology; students taking a third module in Music have a free choice.

Year 2

In the second year, you will undertake one compulsory module – Historical Studies 2: The Twentieth Century – and choose five modules from a broad menu. As an alternative, you may choose to take one or two modules in other departments.

Modules available in 2014/15 2015/2016:

List A:

• Composition 2: New Directions in Art Music
• Creative Music Technology
• Performance 2: Practice as Research 
• Advanced Musical Techniques 
• Theory and Analysis 
• Orchestration 
• Conducting
• World Music Traditions
• Russian and Soviet Music, 1830-1960
• Studies in Popular Music
• Studies in the History of Opera
• Music and Science

Year 3

The third-year course is structured around a compulsory double-weighted independent project, which can take the form of a musicological Dissertation, a composition portfolio, or a 40-minute solo recital. All students are required to do one of these. In addition, you will choose four other modules, selecting from the list of third year modules (which in previous years has included the modules below) and the second year menu (above). Other possible options are to undertake a single-weighted project (again, a Dissertation, composition or performance) and/or pursue a module in another department.

• Contemporary Music Performance
• The Music of India
• Performance 3: Recorded Performance Project
• Time and Rhythm
• Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century English Song
• Arts Management
• Live Electronic Music
• Psychology of Music
• Advanced Ethnomusicology: Themes and Methods
• Studies in Symphonic Analysis
• Words and Music.

Study Abroad

As part of ongoing curriculum review we are creating opportunities for a year's study abroad for those on the BA Music programme. Exchanges will take place after the second year of the programme with partner institutions now being confirmed.

Subject requirements, level and grade

• Our typical offer is AAB at A-level or equivalent, in any subjects except for Critical Thinking and General Studies (or equivalent). For more details of equivalent qualifications please see our equivalency documents for UK or EU qualifications from the links on our website (www.durham.ac.uk/undergraduate/apply/entry-reqs/) , or contact our International Office atinternational.admissions@durham.ac.uk for details of other international qualifications.

• We consider each application holistically. Whilst academic achievement is important, it is not the only factor that we consider when assessing applications and applicants who have achieved, or are predicted to achieve, close to our typical offer, but who have not met it exactly, will be welcome to apply if they have a strong application in other key elements, for example if they have practical music accomplishments or can demonstrate merit and potential through their personal statement or their reference. 

• We welcome applications from mature students with non-standard qualifications or who may have had a break in their study and may consider other experience in place of formal qualifications where applicable. Mature applicants may also be interested in our Music with Foundation programme (W301). For further advice and guidance on the opportunities available for mature applicants or those lacking the typical entry requirements, please contact us at music.ugadmissions@durham.ac.uk.

• A-level in Music is required, or we will accept ABRSM Grade VIII Theory in addition to AAB at A-level or equivalent.

• Grade 7 or 8 in first instrument is advisable but by no means essential.

• Keyboard skills are advisable (but not absolutely essential), since they aid score reading and analysis.

• We accept applications for deferred entry. 

Preferred Tests:

a. IELTS: 6.5 (no component under 6.0)

b. TOEFL iBT (internet based test): 92 (no component under 23)

c. Cambridge Proficiency (CPE): Grade C

d. Cambridge Advanced (CAE): Grade A

e. Cambridge IGCSE First Language English at Grade C or above [not normally acceptable for students who require a Tier 4 student visa]

f. Cambridge IGCSE English as a Second Language at Grade B or above [not normally acceptable for students who require a Tier 4 student visa]

g. GCSE English Language at grade C or above

h. Pearson Test of English (overall score 62 (with no score less than 56 in each component))

Alternative accepted tests when those listed in a.-h. above are unavailable to the applicant (if the applicant requires a Tier 4 visa to study, advice on the suitability of these alternatives must be sought from the Student Recruitment and Admissions Office):

i. Certificate of Attainment (Edexcel)

j. GCE A-levels (AQA, CIE, Edexcel, CCEA, OCR, WJEC) at grade C or above in an essay based, humanities or social science subject from the following list: History, Philosophy, Government and Politics, English Language, English Literature, Geography, Religious Studies, Economics, Business Studies, Law and Sociology. Modern or Classical Languages are not acceptable in meeting this requirement.

k. International Baccalaureate with a minimum of grade 5 in Standard Level English or a minimum of grade 5 if taken at Higher Level.

l. NEAB (JMB) Test in English (Overseas)

m. Singapore Integrated Programme (SIPCAL) at grade C or above in an essay based, humanities or social science subject from the following list: History, Philosophy, Government and Politics, English Language, English Literature, Geography, Religious Studies, Economics, Business Studies, Law and Sociology. Modern or Classical Languages are not acceptable in meeting this requirement.

n. Singapore Polytechnic Diploma and Advanced Diplomas at GPA 3.0 or above

o. WAEC and NECO Grade B3 or above from Nigeria and Ghana