BA (Hons) Music Technology with Popular Music Performance

Course detail
Course overview
The music technology and music disciplines overlap in many of the modules and very few are exclusive to one subject.

The course covers both practical and theoretical approaches and aims to integrate them, thus providing you with a rounded educational experience, which is vital if you are to succeed in a demanding world.

Modules
Year One (Level 4)
Audio Theory
Desktop Composition
Introduction to Sound
Music Video Production
Pop Performance Studies 1A and 1B.
Year Two (Level 5)
Composition and Arranging
Composition and Arranging Workshop
Creative Sound
Music in Industry
Music Technology 2
Sound Technology.
Year Three (Level 6)
Audio Post-production
BA Music Technology Project
Experimental Sound
Future Media
Performance Project
Showcase Studies.
Modules
Year One (Level 4)

Audio Theory
This is largely a theory-based module designed to give you a solid grounding in the theory and practice of appreciating and recording audio at a professional level. There will be an introduction to the physics and propagation of sound - designed to familiarise you with the terminology professional audio engineers and record producers use. In addition, there will be a tour of the multi-track recording environment, covering all the fundamental aspects of theory and technique. A programme of 'Production/Audio Analysis' will also help you develop a greater appreciation and understanding of audio recording and production.

Audio Theory is a broad module that introduces a range of topics you will encounter throughout your studies. It also serves as a base for the more practical and technically orientated modules later in the course. The module aims to provide you with a solid grounding in the theory, technique and terminology of modern acoustic and digital recording.

Desktop Composition
This module looks at composing and creating music on computer-based systems. It examines theory and practice in the composition and production of popular electronic music through the analysis of historical examples and discussion of musical genres. It also examines the principles of sound synthesis, sampling, sequencing and music production. It is designed to help you become confident in composing instrumental tracks and creating remixes, using professional MIDI sequencer programs, hardware and software synthesizers and samplers, applying production techniques, and the publication of finished mixes for CD and online formats.

Introduction to Sound
This module is a basic introduction to sound design, with a 'hands-on' approach designed to encourage understanding and critical awareness of the subject through creative practice. You will be introduced to hard disc recording, editing and sound manipulation systems, as well as basic location recording techniques. 'Ear training' and developing critical listening skills are key features of this module.

Music Video Production
Here we provide a basic introduction to digital video production, taking you through the process of contemporary creative practice, from storyboarding to final edit. The module's 'hands-on' approach is designed to help you develop an understanding and critical awareness of the subject, and encourages you to work effectively in teams.

Pop Performance Studies 1A and 1B
The Performance Studies modules represent the core learning experience for performers. In them, we give you individual tuition on your instrumental or vocal specialism, and assess a solo performance by exam at the end. The emphasis in both modules is on individual technical work and repertoire. We continuously revise and update the syllabus content to reflect ongoing changes in the music industry.

We provide lots of involvement with ensembles, whose leaders will assess your progress continuously. We also teach general musicianship as part of these modules, during which you keep a journal that collates performance activities and allows you to develop skills for reflective appraisal and accurate record keeping.

Year Two (Credit Level 5)

Composition and Arranging
This module covers basic composition and arranging concepts for a small ensemble in the popular music idiom. It will help you arrange in a variety of popular music styles for a group comprising guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals. The module takes a practical 'real world' approach to the learning experience, and will give you valuable knowledge of how to compose, structure and arrange contemporary music.

Composition and Arranging Workshop
This module focuses on the analysis, performance and composition of popular music in various generic styles, and examines the compositional techniques contemporary songwriters use. It further develops the arranging skills you will have gained in the Composition and Arranging module, and your performance skills, and enables you to use theoretical and analytical composition skills in a range of popular music styles, using a small ensemble of guitar, bass, drums, keyboards and vocals. Assessment is through group performance of your own original compositions. You must include scores, reflective statements and listening diaries for this assessment.

Creative Sound
Through creative practice, this module gives you an understanding of sound production as a basic skill that can be applied to many other media. Assessments are by a portfolio, in which you must show your awareness of audio construction, manipulation and imagination. The relationship of sound to the moving image is a key part of this module.

Music Technology 2
Here we help you develop knowledge and experience of using digital sampling systems, MIDI, sequencing platforms, and graphical programming environments for audio. This module is both practical and theoretical, and designed to give you the opportunity to develop a comprehensive understanding of digital sampling and MIDI sequencing, and how they fit into contemporary music recording and production. We also look at how these technologies are used in a variety of creative and commercial situations. Finally, we explore the close relationship between sampling and MIDI relevant to all modern electronic musical instruments, and help you develop creative musical techniques for a range of applications.

Sound Technology
This is a practical studio-based module, designed to help you develop further competence in MIDI sequencing, sound sampling and digital recording thorough the creative production of musical and sound applications. The module will examine the fundamentals of how digital audio technologies work, and we will ask you to experiment with microphone techniques and take part in location recording of musical performances.

Year Three (Level 6)

Audio Post-Production
This module gives you practical experience and detailed technical knowledge of the systems and practices used in audio post-production. You will have the opportunity to explore and refine creative techniques to produce, record and mix sound for a range of post-production and sound-to-picture applications. You produce work in the 5.1 surround sound format.

BA Music Technology Project
In this module, you conduct a self-managed piece of work related to the development and construction of a mixed media artefact. Specifically, you will have the opportunity to put a range of personal skills, such as planning, self management, communication, and creative and problem solving, to show how you have developed knowledge and skills from the modules you will have studied so far and put them to use.

This project work is likely to be in an area you wish to pursue after you have graduated, so it is a great opportunity to produce a piece of professional work for your portfolio.

Experimental Sound
An understanding of the sound-making processes is enhanced when allied to experience of the creative process. In this module, we ask you to design an experiment that generates an audio experience. This gives you the freedom to explore and develop individual ideas and abilities in a range of ways in the context of sound. You will produce a portfolio that shows confident expression and creative risk-taking, but with technical accomplishment.
Future Media

Performance Project
Using your proven expertise in musical performance, you will now instigate, plan, rehearse and perform a short programme of popular music and produce programme notes and lead sheets. You must not only perform this programme to a suitable level, but also investigate the background of the music you perform and show knowledge and understanding of its context and content. We also expect you to reflect on key personal attributes necessary to perform the style and genre of music you have chosen.

Together, our broad range of modules and state-of-the-art facilities provide the opportunity, stimulus and support for high standards of research. We have seven professionally equipped studios with live rooms to record bands and ensembles, as well as numerous smaller studios and programming suites, each loaded with the latest industry software.

Throughout your course, you will have access to all the facilities you need to explore, experiment and develop your skills and thinking.

Showcase Studies
This module follows on from the Year Two (Credit Level 5) modules Composition and Arranging, and Composition and Arranging Workshop, and you will now focus on promoting yourself and your composition. The emphasis here is on self-sufficiency, and you will learn how to attract and impress potential promoters and distributors by producing an effective and eye-catching press pack containing vital promotional material. This pack will include, among other things, press releases, reviews, artist biography and colour posters. You will also perform a showcase gig.