Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Study Details: MMus 12 Months Full-time, 24 Months Part-time, PgDip 9 Months Full-time, PgCert 4 Months Full-time
An innovative Masters Degree programme specialising in vocal and choral music, led by the distinguished Royal Wedding composer Professor Paul Mealor intended for composers, musicologists, performers and other interested parties in choral music
The course is aimed at composers, performers and musicologists with a real interest and passion for choral music. Under the expert guidance of choral-specialists, students will be immersed in the technical, historical and cultural aspects of choral music and will be guided and helped in the finding of their own distinctive voice through the study of the great choral masters, past and present. Students will work closely with a professional choir in residence, learning valuable practical skills in choral-orchestration, conducting and choir training, and hear their compositions or editions performed in concert.
Students benefit from having access to a full choir in residence. The Gramophone Award-winning, Dunedin Consort conducted by John Butt OBE will be on-hand to perform, workshop and rehearse student’s compositions, editions and offer help with performance issues. Alongside this, visiting specialists, James O’Donnell (Organist & Master of Music at Westminster Abbey), the composer James MacMillan CBE, and conductors Suzi Digby OBE and Ralph Allwood MBE, will bring professional, practice-led expertise to students’ work
Candidates must normally possess a degree in Music at 2.2 honours level or above, or an equivalent qualification or proven relevant experience in music.
Applicant’s must also meet the English Language Requirements of the University.
Full details of tuition fees are available here: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/tuitionfees/
There are three full UK and EU Fees only scholarships are available for this course. These may also be given to non-UK and EU applicants to help with the cost of fees. The Development Trust has further information on applying for these scholarships.
Prospective students should visit the University’s Postgraduate Funding Database: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/funding/
Careers
Graduates will be in a well placed for careers in fields such as:
Compososition
Conducting
Lecturering
Performance in choral and vocal music
Teaching
Pedagogy
Students will work on a substantial project in the second part of the course (either in composition, musicology or performance) one-on-one with a tutor and will supplement this work with a series of optional courses which include, ‘vocalstration’ – the study of choral orchestration; ‘words and music’ – the process of setting music to words; ‘voice and the machine’ – the history and science of the voice and, or specialise in earlier music in courses such as, ‘Renaissance Counterpoint’ or ‘Sacred Music from Italy’.
Project – Students work with tutors throughout the course on their project (either a portfolio of compositions, a dissertation, performance, or a combination of these)
Music Research Skills – this course presents the students with a number of important skills for research at masters level in music.
Music Research Seminar Series – students are expected to attend a weekly seminar series examining aspects of composition and recent musical thinking on all aspects of composition and musicology. This is delivered by staff, students and visiting professionals.
Students choose from a range of options examining the various aspects of choral and vocal music. These include: –
Words and Music – This course examines the setting of words to music and its importance within the genre of contemporary music.
Vocalstration – This course examines the ‘orchestrational’ aspects of composing for choir, with particular analyses on each section of the choir, their characteristics, compass and blend, and how each part relates to the whole.
Voice and the Machine – This course combines historical analysis with practical applications in the electroacoustic studio, with specific focus on the integration of the voice with technology, through composition.
Contemporary European Opera – This course introduces students to a range of recent European operas and music theatre from France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Sacred Music from Italy – This course introduces students to the principles of editing baroque music, taking as its starting point Vivaldi’s well known setting of the Gloria, RV589. Throughout the course students engage with primary source material in preparation of their own editions of music.
Renaissance Counterpoint – This course enables students to experience the many possibilities of invention within a very controlled compositional environment, and to acquire the basic tools of Renaissance composition and species counterpoint in two and the voices and beyond.
The course is led by the distinguished choral composer, Professor Paul Mealor, with teaching taking the form of one-to-one tutorials for the project, and small class groups for the options. Also, visiting specialists will lead extra, practical session with the choir in residence.
Visiting Fellows include:
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