BA (Hons) Music for Education and Community Practice

The Music Department is working in partnership with the ABRSM to deliver the Certificate for Music Educators (CME) as part of the degree programme. We also have strong links and a history of collaboration with a variety of organisations including English Touring Opera, the NHS Wolverhampton and Turtle Key Arts to deliver community operas with school children and workshops to dementia patients across the Black Country Region. Choosing Wolverhampton allows you to participate in this wide-ranging approach to practical music-making, honing your skills in performance, leadership, pedagogy and community music.

The course will be taught in the state of the art Performance Hub at the University of Wolverhampton. This landmark £18m building which opened in 2011 has featured in Gareth Malone’s BBC TV series The Naked Choir (2015) and has been used as the location for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain’s Summer School.

• The university is a Steinway School with pianos by Steinway, Boston and Essex in multiple rehearsal rooms located in the purpose-built Performance Hub.

• Two state-of-the-art recording studios based around SSL consoles (an AWS948 in Studio 1 and a Matrix2 in Studio 2), Avid HD interfaces, and outboard by Lexicon, SSL, Audient, Bricasti, Empirical Labs and Universal Audio.
• PMC monitoring in the studios - 5.1 surround in Studio 1 and stereo in Studio 2. A PMC 5.1 array in a dedicated listening room designed for laptop-based mixdown and mastering, with additional PMC monitoring in teaching spaces.
• Mac labs containing 60 iMacs running Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Sibelius, Pure Data, SuperCollider and several other pieces of specialist music and audio software.
• Performance students have access to five ensemble rooms, each with a full PA, as well as a full range of ethnic and percussion instruments.
• The Black Box theatre, a performance space containing an Allen and Health iLive console

Who will teach you on this course?

Anne-Marie Beaumont is the Course Leader for the BA (Hons) Music for Education and Community Practice. She has over 20 years of teaching experience in H.E., and, in recognition of this, has been awarded a Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Authority. She has presented her research on pedagogy in Irish music, early music and poetry, and seventeenth-century liturgical composition at international conferences in Europe, South-East Asia and the US.

With a lifelong passion for Early Music and Traditional Irish music, fostered by Prof. Mícheál O’Súilleabháin and Mel Mercier in UCC, she has conducted choirs, chamber ensembles and is the current musical director of the Hub Ceílí Band. As a practitioner/conductor Anne-Marie has performed in Ireland, the UK, the US and with her student chamber choir, Réaltanna, was invited to perform at the “Twin Towers” of KLCC in Malaysia in 2006.

As a composer for the stage, in collaboration with the playwright Peter Cann, Anne-Marie has been commissioned to write original soundscapes for productions including The Happy Prince (2016), Frankenstein by Nick Dear (2016), Play the Man (2015), andThe Black Country Mystery Plays (2011).

Anne-Marie is an active researcher and is currently engaged in “The Lichfield Part-Books’ Auralisation Project” which launched at Lichfield Cathedral in July 2017. With research partner Dr Aglaia Foteinou, this interdisciplinary project will bring to light some of the forgotten music of the seventeenth-century and the post-Restoration period.

Anne-Marie Beaumont is the Module Leader for the CME modules “Professional Values and Practice” and “The Music Educator”.

Kevin Stannard has performed as a pianist, organist and conductor across the UK for over thirty years and more recently his interests in music education have taken him to conferences in Malaysia, China and Australia.

He began directing choirs in 1980 and has worked with all ages including massed choirs of school children at the Wembley Conference Centre; adult choirs such as the North Cotswold Chamber Choir and close harmony group Two-Apart which he founded in 1987; student choirs such as the Oxford Gargoyles and the Howlin’ Wolves (University of Wolverhampton Chamber Choir) who won the regional heat of the Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year competition in 2002.

Kevin has taken student choirs to perform in a number of cathedrals in the UK and on tour in Amsterdam. In 2008 he secured £25k funding to enable the Sneyd School Choir to go to Graz, Austria, for the World Choir Olympics involving two former University of Wolverhampton music students on the teaching staff. Kevin’s work with children’s singing is widely recognised and his music is published by Oxford University Press, Faber and the ABRSM.

Other work of note includes being Musical Director for CoMA East Midlands, Contemporary Music-Making for Amateurs, (1999-2002) producing a concert of songs by Pixell & Gunn at the Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton (2004) and Kevin’s debut as organ soloist at Symphony Hall (2006).

Kevin will be teaching the CME modules “Professional Values and Practice” and “The Music Educator” as well as on the Community Practice modules.

Dr Chris Foster lectures on the undergraduate and postgraduate music programmes. He studied composition with Richard Steinitz and John Casken at Huddersfield Polytechnic in the 1980s, and later with Michael Finnissy at the University of Wolverhampton, with whom he gained his PhD in composition. He also studied flute with David Haslam (Northern Sinfonia), Alan Lockwood (BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra) and Ron Marlow (Halle Orchestra). He is also a trained teacher of the Alexander Technique and a qualified music librarian.

Chris Foster has had a varied career as a composer, music teacher and teacher of the Alexander Technique. He has also worked in the field of music librarianship. Chris has taught at the University of Wolverhampton since 2004 and lectures in a range of areas including composition, orchestration, analysis, styles and genres, music theory, music in its cultural contexts and academic skills. He also directs the University of Wolverhampton Contemporary Music Ensemble and Orchestra.

Dr Richard Glover, Reader in Music, has a wide range of experience as a performer, composer and writer in many different areas of music, from experimental and contemporary music to Jazz, electronic and pop. As an educator he has taught at various HE and FE institutions, covering composition and computer composition, musicology, performance interpretation and study skills.

As a composer he has received performances internationally from ensembles based in the UK, Europe and North America, and his portrait cd Logical Harmonies was released in late 2013 to widespread national and international acclaim. He writes and presents on issues relating to contemporary and experimental musics, and in particular the auditory and temporal experience of sustained tone and process music.

The BA (Hons) Music for Education and Community Practice will provide a breadth of practical skills and facilitate your involvement in a wide range of musical styles and contexts. This may lead you into performance work as an instrumentalist or singer, or perhaps as leader of groups in professional, community or educational settings. You may develop your creative skills towards work as a songwriter/composer or workshop facilitator aimed at encouraging others to explore music, or prefer to work behind the scenes in music publishing and journalism or agencies, marketing and logistics. You will gain particular experience of teaching music throughout this degree and upon successful completion of Level 4 and Level 5 modules you will achieve the ABRSM Certificate for Music Educators. The opportunities and activities that you will undertake during your studies will enable you to explore new and existing areas of interest and find avenues to pursue and apply these in your future career in Music.

Location Mode Fee Year Home/EU Full-time £9250 per year 2020-21 Home/EU Part-time £3050 per year# 2020-21 Home Full-time £9250 per year 2021-22 Home Part-time £3100 per year# 2021-22 International Full-time £12250 per year 2020-21 International Full-time £12950 per year 2021-22 International Part-time £6125 per year# 2020-21 International Part-time £6475 per year# 2021-22

Additional Course Costs

Additional Materials - Nil

Additional Field Trips - £1000 - All Performing Arts students will have an opportunity to partake in the bi-annual trip to New York, costs vary according to cohort size and programme of events but can be expected to be in the order of £800 - £1,000. There will be opportunities to attend Musicals and Theatre performances in London and across the UK, recent examples: Hair, Kinky Boots, Hamilton, Rent

Additional Events/Performances - £250 - Final performances and productions are by individual design as as such costs in this area are difficult to quantify. Potential spend areas: venue hire; props; costumes; choreographers; sets etc

Further information on these additional costs will be provided prior to the start of your studies

The University is committed to a transparent fee structure, with no hidden costs, to help you make an informed decision. This includes information on what is included in the fee and how fees are calculated and reviewed

Applicants are required to hold 120 credits at Level 4 (for Year 2 entry) or 120 credits at Level 4 and Level 5 (for Year 3 entry) from either a HNC/HND or a Foundation Degree in a Music related subject

• If you've got other qualifications or relevant experience, please contact The Gateway for further advice before applying.
• International entry requirements and application guidance can be found at

Other Requirements

Those meeting the entry requirements may be shortlisted to attend an Audition. Further details can be found at

Students must have studied a minimum of two years post GCSE level. However, it is expected that some applicants will be mature students with work experience, who wish to further their career development. These applicants will be processed through standard procedures, which may involve an interview as part of the process. Please see for further information.

Tuition Fees Loan (Home Fee Status):

Most students will be able to apply for a loans to pay for these subject to eligibility. To find out more information please refer to the government Student Finance website.

Changes for EU students:

The UK government has confirmed that EU students starting courses from 1 August 2021 will normally be classified as having Overseas Fee status. More information about the change is available at UKCISA:

EU citizens living in the UK with 'settled' status, and Irish nationals living in the UK or Ireland, will still be classified as Home students, providing they meet the usual residency requirements, for more information about EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) click here.

Self-funding:

If you don’t want to take out a loan to pay your fees or if you aren’t eligible to receive a loan, you might want to take advantage of the University’s scheme to pay by instalments: See How to pay.

For more information please contact the Gateway.

Your employer, embassy or organisation can pay for your Tuition fees:

If your employer, embassy or organisation agrees to pay all or part of your tuition fees; the University will refer to them as your sponsor and will invoice them for the appropriate amount.

We must receive notification of sponsorship in writing as soon as possible, and before enrolment, confirming that the sponsor will pay your tuition fees.

Financial Hardship:

Students can apply to the Dennis Turner Opportunity Fund.

for help with course related costs however this cannot be used for fees or to cover general living costs.

Bursaries and Scholarships:

In addition the University also offers a range of Bursaries and Scholarships packages

You can find more information on the University’s Funding, cost, fee and support pages.

Telephone

01902 32 22 22

Email

Online

Order a prospectus