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Postgraduate Diploma in Performance and MMus in Performance programmes

Introduction

The Postgraduate Diploma and MMus in Performance programmes aim to train aspiring professional performers who have normally completed an undergraduate course to a high level of performance before entry, and also to create a programme of study appropriate to an individual’s needs, in an environment in which students are able to reach the highest possible standards. The programmes aim to form a ‘bridge’ to a performance career and those who apply should have a clear idea of their future aims.

Students are involved in the full gamut of ensemble and complementary activities: chamber music, orchestras, opera, early music, contemporary music, church music etc, as arranged by faculty and monitored closely by the Postgraduate Tutors, who assist in balancing the work-load.

Students at this level are expected to perform regularly. There are opportunities to play in lunchtime and early-evening concerts, to perform concertos with the Academy’s orchestras, and to participate in performance classes and master-classes, in the annual Composer Festivals and the Academy’s wide range of competitive prizes and chamber music evenings.

The Postgraduate Diploma focuses on performance, and is designed to allow maximum flexibility for students to concentrate upon the range of activities offered within their faculty, and to develop their own performance initiatives.

The MMus programmes (MMus Concert Project and MMus in Performance and Research) have been created in response to the changing demands of the music profession and a shift of focus among concert promoters and recording companies to work on a project-by-project basis. The programmes are aimed at students who wish to expand and develop high-level performance opportunities with practically-orientated academic study and research. Students come from diverse backgrounds, and may be conservatoire or university graduates with a range of career aspirations.

The MMus Concert Project focuses on the development and delivery of a concert event in all of its aspects, specifically exploring the roles of research (in the widest sense) in creating and sustaining performance opportunities. Students follow the Presentation in Performance course (see Specialist Performance options) and explore their research interests through a concert event supported by a 5,000-word written component (see Project Work).

The MMus in Performance and Research aims to provide first-hand insight into the ways in which performance research is developing through different strata of the music profession, and to provide opportunities for students to explore a variety of projects (editorial, analytic/aesthetic, and a lecture-recital) under close supervision. Students follow the Musicology in Performance course as their Specialist Performance option, and ultimately submit a 10,000-word dissertation. All students’ work is focused directly on their developing performance profiles, with the aim of opening possibilities and supporting the highest aspirations.

Both MMus programmes are taught by a team within the Academy and visiting experts, and all students take part in a weekly Open Coaching session which provides opportunities to explore the implications of the research perspectives opened by the courses in a direct practical context.

Programme Summary

The PG Dip/MMus programmes can be taken over one or two years (or three years for conducting students).

All students are assessed in:

Core Performance (normally 80 credits in each year, but 100 credits on the 1-yearMMus Performance programmes) .
Specialist Performance (40 credits).

Students on the Opera and Conducting Programmes have a slightly different credit division, reflecting the distinctive nature of their studies.

MMus students, in addition to these, undertake:
Project Work (40 credits).

The one-year PG Diploma in Performance therefore attracts a total of 120 credits, and the two-year Diploma 200 credits; the one-year MMus in Performance programmes attract 180 credits, and the two-year programmes 240 credits.

Core Performance (PG Dip and MMus)

Learning Outcomes
Students will be equipped technically and musically to demonstrate a distinctive interpretative personality in both solo and ensemble live concert performances. They will have gained confidence and experience with the range of skills expected of them in their area of the music profession, and learned critically to evaluate their own performance.

Assessment
Final Recital (or equivalent), Concerto Assessment (or equivalent), Profile Report on Faculty Activity, including reports from individual lessons, concerts, performance classes, ensembles, etc.

Specialist Performance (PG Dip and MMus)

Learning Outcomes
Students will be equipped to perform to a high level in a ‘real-life’ performance context that is relevant to their interests. They will thus have demonstrated their confidence in adapting their presentational skills to the demands of a particular practical and, in some cases, academic context.
Presentation in Performance is a 16-week course run for all PG Dip and MMus (Concert Project) instrumentalists. It covers all communication aspects of concert-giving, including platform manner, verbal introductions, programme notes, evaluation of performances and self evaluations, repertoire, programming, auditioning skills, marketing and publicity.

PGDip Options
One of:
Presentation in Performance,
Faculty-specific course.

MMus Options
One of:
Presentation in Performance or facultyspecific course (MMus Concert Project),
Musicology in Performance (MMus in Performance and Research)

ProjectWork (MMus only)

Learning Outcomes
Students will have learned to establish research aims relevant to their development as musicians, and to draw on the research processes which allow such aims to be realised. They will have developed a critical awareness of the current debates within practice-based research and/or musicology. They will also have increased their effectiveness as researching performers and, in some cases, as academic musicologists.

Options
One of:
Dissertation,
Concert Project.