Composition (Sound and Image)

Our innovative MA in Composition covers areas of instrumental, vocal, electronic, digital and multimedia composition. The course offers opportunities for students to work across these areas, or to specialise as appropriate. We support work in a wide range of styles and genres, whilst maintaining an experimental and exploratory approach. Delivery is tailored to students' needs, centred around small-group seminars and tutorials. The course runs within a vibrant music department with a lively community of undergraduates, postgraduates and staff and excellent facilities.

MA Composition: Sound and Image

Students are encouraged to look far beyond traditional paradigms of sound design, and actively engage with aspects of multimedia creation in their own work, whether this be in screen, interactive or performance-based work. In an age of media convergence, where creative tools are becoming more intuitive and skills more transferable, increasing numbers of artists are looking to work across traditional disciplines – this course offers a unique grounding in interdisciplinary practice that gives students what they need to engage with these exciting developments.

Students will be given a thorough foundation in the skills required to
produce innovative multimedia work as well as a grounding in
postgraduate-level research methodology. They will also be given
opportunities to collaborate with students engaged in other areas across the spectrum of music and performing arts. The course will explore the history of visual music, from pre-cinema artists such as Kandinsky and Klee, through Early Abstract Cinema pioneers such as Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling and Oskar Fischinger, to the modernist, Fluxus and underground artists of the 60s and 70s (the Whitney Brothers, Mark Boyle, Glenn McKay, Nam June Paik etc.). It will also cover contemporary artists such as Kurt Ralske, Jeremy Goldstein and Scott Pagano, as well as more commercial practitioners such as Chris Cunningham, Alex Rutterford and the Pleix and Shynola collectives, and New Media creatives. However, the primary emphasis of the course will be practical work, with students given ample opportunities to build up a substantial portfolio of multimedia compositions over the duration of the course.

Course Structure

In full-time mode, the course runs over three trimesters, September to September. The first trimester gives a thorough grounding in research methodology and core compositional techniques, and offers a toolkit of optional skills-based projects designed to allow students to improve on specific technical and creative skills as required. The second trimester offers modules specific to the three pathways. Students on the Composition pathway take the Commission Project, which explores the challenges of writing to a brief and the opportunities of ensemble performance. Students on the Audio Technologies pathway take Sound Processing Techniques, which takes an in-depth, hands-on look at technology-based composition, exploring everything from classic techniques developed in the 1950s to cutting-edge digital techniques. Students on the Sound and Image pathway take Visual Music, which explores the history of sound-led multimedia and corresponding practical techniques. Alongside these modules, all students take Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Practice, which gives an opportunity to work with peers and across subject boundaries, with the possibility of working with other creative disciplines (film- and theatre-makers, dancers and choreographers etc.) as well as musicians. The third trimester is research-based, with students undertaking an individual Major Project which allows them to explore a chosen area in depth.

Teaching methods and resources

Modules are normally taught via lectures, seminars and practical workshops. A particular feature of the course is regular tutorial support. The Major Project is research-based and student-led, with supporting tutorials. Visiting speakers and other activities are arranged as appropriate. You are encouraged to make full use of library and IT resources within the University, and ample time will be scheduled in studios and workstation labs for independent study.

Assessment

Assessment takes the form of individual assignments for each module. These generally consist of a portfolio of practical work with supporting written documentation. Context and Methodology and the Major Project also involve small-scale dissertations.