Music (MA)

How will I be taught?

Our learning and teaching methods are thoroughly inclusive. 

Academic modules are primarily taught through workshops, masterclasses, seminars and small-group or individual tutorials and supervisory meetings. You’ll have the opportunity to develop your own interests through fieldwork, interdisciplinary study, and other areas of work. You’ll also have the opportunity to work directly with distinguished visiting musicians from a wide range of backgrounds. 

All postgraduate taught students are expected to attend and participate in a regular postgraduate forum and to attend our research lecture series, which attracts visiting speakers from around the world.

In addition, you’ll be expected to pursue private reading, listening, instrumental/vocal practice.

There are opportunities to participate in a range of ensembles to complement your studies. Please visit our website for more information.

How will I be assessed?

Modules are assessed in a variety of ways and in some instances, a range of options are available. Assessment methods across all modules include: 

• Oral presentations and/or lecture recitals;
• Group tasks (e.g., ensemble performance, group presentations); 
• Solo performances/recitals;
• Written reports, essays, video essays, commentaries, scholarly programme notes;
• Digital portfolios (video-based tasks);
• Practical, composition or studio-based portfolio work;
• Reflective diaries and lesson plans;
• Major project options include: public recital, education project, portfolios and dissertation (or equivalent).

How will I be supported?

At the start of the year, you’ll be given a guide to module aims, learning outcomes, methods of assessment, module syllabuses, and reading and listening lists. Your allocated Personal Tutor will be able to provide advice and guidance on module choices and you'll have regular meetings with them.

For the stage 2 projects you’ll have a supervisor to monitor progress and provide individual consultations by arrangement.

Instrumental tuition for students specialising in performance is fully funded on your principal study instrument, including accompaniment at recitals. You’ll receive 24, hour-long lessons over the duration of the course.

You’ll have access through the Learning Central website to relevant multimedia material, presentations, lecture handouts, bibliographies, further links, electronic exercises and discussion circles. You’ll also benefit from our excellent libraries and resource centres. 

The University offers a range of services including Student Futures (careers and employability) and the broader Student Life services which include support related to health and wellbeing, disability and dyslexia, equality, diversity and inclusion, and advice related to money matters. 

Feedback

You’ll receive written feedback on all summative assessments. Written and/or verbal feedback is provided on formative work at every stage of your programme. The opportunity to test knowledge and understanding will also be provided through the weekly seminars of the postgraduate forum.

What skills will I practise and develop?

You'll acquire and develop a range of valuable discipline-specific skills, as well as employability, research, communication, and fluency with mixed-media presentation skills.

The full range of modules on offer ensure that students are exposed to advanced knowledge, skill development and specialisation in the discipline of Music and have the opportunity to:

• improve instrumental/vocal skills as soloists and/or in ensembles;
• understand the relationship between the history and practice of music;
• acquire knowledge of historical and recent developments in performance practice;
• develop independent and collaborative group work in a public setting;
• explore educational practices and disciplines, professional development and engagement skills;
• link pedagogical theory and research with practical skills;
• consider adaptability, flexibility and safeguarding;
• develop advanced technical skills in an area of specialisation;
• experiment with contemporary composition and/or production and recording techniques;
• pursue creative goals to a professional level with confidence and imagination;
• explore new ways of communicating ideas effectively through various media platforms;
• develop solid research and scholarly methods;
• encounter a diverse range of musical styles and traditions, and from historical, analytical and/or theoretical perspectives;
• analyse complex texts, ideas and concepts;
• develop different forms of academic writing, undertake field work and interpret a range of quantitative and qualitative data.

The Learning Outcomes for this Programme describe what you will achieve by the end of your programme at Cardiff University and identify the knowledge and skills that you will develop. They will also help you to understand what is expected of you. 

On successful completion of your Programme, you will be able to:

Knowledge & Understanding:

• Demonstrate in-depth and rigorous specialist knowledge, creativity, imagination, flair, skill and understanding in one of the following: performance, composition, music studies or music education.
• Possess a critical awareness of, and sensitivity towards the component sub-disciplines within their specialist field of music.
• Demonstrate a broad contextual knowledge relevant to a specialist discipline within music, including the relationship to wider historical, philosophical and cultural issues and practices.
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of techniques and scholarship with analytical and critical awareness.

Intellectual Skills:

• Demonstrate the ability and confidence to see a major project through to completion while being aware of intellectual or artistic growth to ensure continuing creativity and scholarship.
• Develop reasoned, coherent arguments about specific problems, utilising and applying methodologies, evidence, appraisal techniques and skills effectively in order to carry out tasks.
• Think critically, analytically, sensitively and reflectively about music, identifying significant formal, historical, and cultural patterns in the way it is performed, composed, or used. 

Professional Practical Skills:

• Have a strong ability to find creative links between the results of personal research or scholarship, textual and musical analysis, reflection and listening skills.
• Demonstrate the relationship between theory and practice in music, using relevant techniques and methods to explain and exemplify interrelationships.
• Demonstrate a confident ability to work closely with other musicians in the preparation and delivery of collaborative projects.
• Exercise initiative and personal responsibility in planning and implementing tasks, and demonstrate enterprise skills such as creativity, problem-solving and independent learning.
• Display artistic, technical and/or critical skills in planning, evaluating and reflecting critically on work in progress, with an ability to assimilate and summarise complex information and ideas.

Transferable/Key Skills:

• Communicate intentions clearly, economically and persuasively in a variety of formats including written, oral and/or notated work.
• Engage effectively in debate in a professional manner and prepare and present work to a professional standard for a range of assessment types and formats.
• Possess academic and personal skills such as critical thinking, writing, oral presentation, problem solving, collaborative group work, time-management, and the use of information and/or digital technologies.
• Have the capacity for problem-solving and originality in thinking by using knowledge and skills to tackle familiar and unfamiliar problems.

Other information

Our Postgraduate Suite provides dedicated, 24-hour study facilities for postgraduate students, including computer workrooms with networked Macs and PCs, Sibelius notation software, listening rooms, photocopying facilities, a kitchen, and a social space.