EU/International induction: September 2020
6 years part-time
Part-time
£13,400 (INT) *
Overview
Why study music with us
The course has been designed so that you can align your studies to your passion in music and graduate with a degree that represents your interests and skills. With a wide range of optional modules leading to named degree pathways, you can graduate with any of the following titles:
- BA Music
- BA Music (Performance/Composition)
- BA Music (Jazz)
- BA Music (Popular)
- BA Music (Production)
You will become a part of our friendly and supportive international community of more than 300 music students, based in the purpose-built Grove building at our vibrant North London campus. You'll collaborate with students from other courses in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, especially in Dance, Theatre, Animation, TV Production, Art, Fashion and Design.
Benefit from more than 40 permanent and visiting music staff of national and international standing in their fields, as performers, composers, songwriters, scholars and music industry specialists.
Build your hands-on experience while developing your musical talents
Make the most of our state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, including an industry standard recording and mixing studio, concert grand pianos, sound insulated practice rooms and computer suites.
You will gain key industry links to the music world with regular visiting guest speakers and master-classes from leading practitioners and music industry managers and the opportunity to work with a range of artists and professors in residence including the Firebird Orchestra, Allegri String Quartet, Daniel Miller, Founder of Mute Records and Grammy award winning producer Alan Branch.
Get the support you need to succeed
You’ll get plenty of support throughout your course, including access to professional staff, coaches, and personal instrumental lessons in your first study instrument or voice. You can also take advantage of our library and music practice facilities.
While you’re learning, you’ll be matched with a Personal Tutor directly related to your course. You’ll also get support from our Student Learning and Graduate Academic Assistants, who have experience in your subject area.
Find out more
Sign up now to receive more information about studying at Middlesex University London.
Course content
What will you study on the BA Music?
You’ll explore performance, composition or songwriting, music technology, studio music production, music theory and specialise in genres such as classical, jazz and popular music.
You’ll be encouraged to think critically about music by studying key ideas and concepts, from the historical, political and economic to the technological and aesthetic. You'll learn harmony, instrumentation, orchestration and musicianship, and how to write and/or perform music convincingly in a range of styles.
What will you gain?
As well as cultural capital gained through an in-depth knowledge of musical repertoires and practices, you will also acquire skills in original music composition, music performance and critical thinking. During your third year, you have the opportunity to propose a topic of your own choosing to investigate and explore, along with the guidance of an allocated supervising tutor.
Modules
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Year 1
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Performance, Composition and Songwriting (30 credits) - Compulsory
This module explores the reative practice in Music in performance/improvisation and composition/songwriting. You'll develop proficient skills and techniques in these areas and can select areas of creative practice as major and minor components in the summative assessment. The exploration and development of creative practice provides a solid foundation for later specialist creative work.
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Musicianship and Theory (30 credits) - Compulsory
This module will give you the skills to both understand and utilise music theory. You'll look at the use of music notation and develop a knowledge of harmony and analytical insight. You'll also develop essential musicianship skills such as aural perception, melodic/harmonic transcription, sight-reading, and the practical application of notation conventions and symbols.
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Music Technologies (30 credits) - Compulsory
This module will develop your understanding and technical ability in making, recording and producing music using digital, electronic and acoustic sound sources.
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Critical Thinking in Music (30 credits) - Compulsory
This module will develops your ability to think critically about music, and introduces key ideas, concepts and approaches such as the social, the material, the historical, the political, the economic, the technological, and the aesthetic.
You'll also explore current units including:
- Early Jazz in New Orleans and the Swing Era
- Bebop, Post-Bop and Fusion
- Politics of Classical Music 1150-1790
- Revolution and Modernism in Classical Music 1800-1920
- Popular Music Studies
- The Music Industries
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Year 2
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Composition, Songwriting and Arranging (30 credits) - Optional
This module will develop your songwriting and compositional skills to specific briefs. You'll develop your own distinctive voice through exploration of various writing techniques and approaches as well as using a range of styles and genres.
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Bop and Hard-Bop (30 credits) - Optional
This module will develop your knowledge in the styles and techniques of small group bop and hard bop. You'll gain an awareness of the roles of instruments in these styles and their inter-relationships in practical performance and workshop groups.
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Musicianship and Performance (30 credits) - Optional
This module will explore creative practice in Music through performance and musicianship. You'll gain skills and techniques in these areas and begin to develop an individual and distinctive voice as an artist.
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Recording and Production (30 credits) - Optional
This module will act as a study of music production theories and practices. You'll learn to confidently apply advanced techniques and procedures in digital and analogue recording and mixing environments. You'll also be able to adapt these to achieve the desired creative results.
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Popular Music in the 21st Century (30 credits) - Optional
This module will explore and evaluate the appraisal of recent, current and significant trends in popular music and related concepts. You'll be encouraged to view the dialogue between musical practice, reflective thinking, and critical evaluation that benefits and develops creative and academic work.
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Music and Culture (30 credits) - Optional
This module develops critical understanding of how musical practices intersect with cultural domains. You'll examine the role of music in the production and transmission of identities, knowledges, beliefs, values, attitudes and understandings, and explore how, in turn, these shape music and its interpretation.
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The New Music Business (30 credits) - Optional
This module will allow you to study the contemporary business of music. You'll learn about the large and small companies that operate in this field, as well as how to self-manage a music career. You'll develop a knowledge of working in music as well as gaining a critical understanding of the issues that affect this sector.
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Style and Theory (30 credits) - Optional
This module explores a range of stylistic approaches in Music. You'll be able to develop the relevant skills and techniques in these via performance or composition/pastiche work in specific styles of classical, jazz or popular music.
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Live Interactive Sound and Synthesis (30 credits) - Optional
This module will develop your expertise in theoretical and practical approaches to expressive sonic manipulation in studio, installation, live, interactive and virtual environments. You'll explore the principles of synthesis, interactive sound, spatial audio and visual programming through the invention and development of different sound worlds.
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Year 3
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Advanced Composition / Songwriting (30 credits) - Optional
This module will develop your songwriting or compositional style and technique. You'll also develop an individual and professional approach to composition/songwriting. You'll be encouraged to explore and establish a distinctive music identity – a personal creative ‘voice’.
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Advanced Jazz Improvisation (30 credits) - Optional
This module will enhance your understanding in the conventions and practice of improvisation in Jazz. You'll gain practical improvisation skills and associated aural awareness, and learn sophisticated techniques for the development of musical ideas through improvisation.
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Advanced Performance and Musicianship (30 credits) - Optional
This module develops your technical command of an instrument or the voice so you can confidently perform in public. You'll develop the necessary knowledge and skills in forming programmes/sets for performance, gain interpretative insight and begin to project their own individual voice/identity as performer.
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Production Project (30 credits) - Optional
This module will develop your knowledge, understanding and expertise in recording and producing music by allowing you to produce a self-developed project. You will be supported to achieve a highly effective and original musical output.
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Popular Music Studies (30 credits) - Optional
This module will give you an advanced knowledge of popular music theories through a range of critical approaches or critical perspectives including cultural theory, sociology, political economy and musicology. You'll understand how theory can be used to explore popular music practice, and how popular music practice can be developed by using popular music theory.
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Music Post-1968 (30 credits) - Optional
This module is designed to be a specialist study of musical works, composers and approaches since 1968 through the lens of contemporary classical music. The relationship between music and its cultural, political and philosophical contexts is examined through concepts such as the rise of postmodernism across the arts and its relationship with philosophy/political theory.
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Working in Music (30 credits) - Optional
This module prepares you for successful engagement with the music industries. You'll gain a working knowledge of contracts, copyright, funding applications and policy documents, as well as a sophisticated understanding of theories relating to decision making and success, which can be applied to a range of music-based projects.
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Music for Screen and Virtual Realities (30 credits) - Optional
This module develops the tools and competencies for making electronic and electroacoustic music for screen and virtual realities, in relation to some study of the aesthetics of screen music. You'll also gain the appropriate training in contractual and negotiation issues to support in-house and freelance composer-producers.
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Music for Dance, Theatre and Live Shows (30 credits) - Optional
This module develops musical practice in collaboration with students from other courses such as Dance, Theatre and Fashion. Critical and contextual study will support practical work with relevant theory, repertoire and case studies.
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Negotiated Project (30 credits) - Optional
This module enables the exploration of a specific area of academic interest and/or vocational/professional practice, providing a platform for the development of placement-related employability skills, or for the exploration and mapping of a specialised academic project that may provide the basis for further studies at MA level and beyond. The nature and aims of each project are negotiated.
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Studio Production Placement (30 credits) - Optional
This module is a work placement in a professional music studio setting. You'll build upon knowledge and skills developed from previous modules in production and studio skills and be able to apply theoretical knowledge and technical skills to the challenges of a workplace environment. You'll also be able to critically reflect on practices and processes in music production, as well as evaluate your workplace experience.
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You can find more information about this course in the programme specification. Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
Teaching
Entry requirements
Fees and funding
Student work
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Video clip from a title sequence animation. Collaboration between the media and performing arts departments. Music by third year student Sukanyan Sunthareswaran.
Careers
How can the BA Music support your career?
Careers in music continue to grow. Music is an excellent choice of study because it combines science, technology, history, arts, social and cultural studies, business and media.
Careers in music are exciting and diverse. You could find yourself working in media, publishing, cultural organisations, education, festivals, libraries, merchandising, PR, recording studios or record labels, or art charities as any of the following roles:
| Artist Management | Audio Production |
| Business Consultancy | Composer |
| Concert Performer | Event Management |
| Legal (Music) | Music Arranger |
| Music Distribution | Music Industry Accountancy |
| Journalism (Music) | Music Mastering and Post-Production |
| Web Design (Music) | Orchestral Management |
| Session Fixers (Music Contractors) | Session Musicians |
| Specialist Music Insurance | Studio Design and Construction |
| Video Production |
Teaching is also a popular choice, and might be combined with any of the above to form a ‘portfolio’ career.
You could also go into further (postgraduate) study, and our graduates have gone on to such prestigious institutions as the Royal Hague Conservatoire, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, York University and King’s College, London.
Facilities
Based in The Grove, you will have access to world-class facilities:
- Concert and recital rooms
- 15 soundproofed practice rooms
- 23 pianos (including a Steinway grand and a Bosendorfer grand)
- Hybrid analogue-digital sound recording facilities
- Recording and mixing studio
- Digital media workshop with 15 workstations (Mac computer with specialist music software, two monitors and piano keyboard)
You will also have access to external venues and collaborative access to other creative areas of the University such as dance, theatre, film, television, animation and computer games.
Campus life
Staff profiles
Dr Brian Andrew Inglis
Programme leader
Dr Inglis taught at Trinity College of Music and originally studied at City University London (PhD, MA) and the University of Durham (BA). His music and arrangements have been heard at the Sonorities Festival (Belfast), Huddersfield Festival, Spitalfields Festival, Guildford International Festival, Secret Garden Party, Greenbelt, Truck and I Kärlekens Namn (Sweden) as well as on BBC Radio1 and Radio3, BBC2, BBC Wales, Radio Cymru and Bayern 2 (Bavaria). His interests encompass composition, musicology and criticism, and his writing projects include articles and criticism for Tempo and M magazine and copy for the BBC Proms. His recent and current projects include a piano music album Living Stones (Sargasso); a chapter on classical music and copyright for The Classical Music Industry (Routledge); and an edition (with Barry Smith) of the letters of Kaikhosru Sorabji to Peter Warlock (Routledge).
Dr François Evans
Associate Professor in Music
Trained at IRCAM, Paris, Dr Evans is a film composer, a specialist in electro-acoustic music production and an award-winning teacher. He wrote the music for Edgar Wright’s first feature film and has composed and produced the soundtracks to many other films since. In 2008 he conducted the Philharmonia Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in London for the Barry Gray Centenary Concert in aid of the Cinema & Television Benevolent Fund. He has taught at the Royal College of Music, and runs a hybrid analogue-digital recording studio in West France. Evans is one of the few players of the French ondes Martenot instrument. His research interests involve electro-acoustic music for screen, sound languages and spectral music composition.
Professor Peter Fribbins
Director of Music programmes
Professor Fribbins is a composer, artistic director and academic in music. His compositions are performed, broadcast and recorded internationally and include two string quartets (recorded by the Allegri and Chilingirian Quartets), two piano trios, various sonatas (including the Cello Sonata recorded by Raphael Wallfisch and John York), the Piano Concerto (recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra), and the Violin Concerto (recorded by Philippe Graffin and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra). Dr Fribbins studied with the German composer Hans Werner Henze in London and Italy, and at the Royal Academy, Royal Holloway and Nottingham universities. He is the Artistic Director of the London Chamber Music Society, a weekly series of concerts that traces its history back to the South Place Sunday Concerts in the 1880s. This celebrated concerts series has been resident at Kings Place in London since 2008, during which time Peter has curated more than 250 concerts with a range of famous artists, ensembles, choirs and chamber orchestras.
Dr Fiorenzo Palermo
Dr Palermo studied sonic art with the composer, performer, instrument inventor and musicologist Hugh Davies. After obtaining an MA in Sonic Art researching concrete and sound poetry, he catalogued the Hugh Davies Collection at the British Library with the support of the Saga Trust. He was awarded a PhD on Davies's work in 2015, supervised by Dr John Dack. Dr Palermo has presented his research internationally and has been invited by a number of institutions such as the British Library and the V&A to discuss his research. In 2012, he co-curated the Sho-Zyg exhibition at Goldsmiths College which saw some of Davies's instruments and archival items displayed, as well as the performance and presentation of some of his pieces.
Professor Benjamin Dwyer
Professor of Music
Professor Dwyer is a guitarist and composer and has given concerts worldwide and has appeared as soloist with all the Irish orchestras, the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra (Germany), the Santos Symphony Orchestra (Brazil), Ensemble VOX21, the Vogler String Quartet (Germany) and the Callino String Quartet (UK). His recent recordings include Twelve Études (Gamelan Records, 2008), Irish Guitar Works (El Cortijo, 2012), Scenes from Crow (Diatribe Records, 2014), Umbilical (Diatribe Records, 2017), The Alchemia Sessions Live from the Autumn Jazz Krakow 2014 (Notwo Records, 2016), Barry Guy, The Blue Shroud (Intakt Records, 2016) and KnowingUnknowing (Farpoint Records, 2018). Professor Dwyer is an elected member of Aosdána (the Irish Academy of creative artists) and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London (ARAM).
Student profiles
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Other courses
Music Business and Arts Management BA Honours
Start: October 2020, EU/International induction: September 2020
Duration: 3 years full-time, 4 to 6 years part-time
Code: W3N2
