M.Mus Music and Sound

This is a student-led, individually negotiated project. The module allows students an opportunity to devise and execute an ambitious and personal, self-managed project that expands and enhances the knowledge and many of the skills acquired during their course. It allows students to explore and research some of these ideas and techniques in a more focused and detailed way. The exact brief is up to the individual, but a named project supervisor will guide students.

This module is designed to help you develop an understanding of key critical, analytical and reflective approaches to the study of popular music through examination of key literature and the application of those approaches.

Through analysis, critical thinking, the study of creative and reflective practice, and reading and discussion of a number of enlightening texts, you will learn to develop your status as an informed practitioner, greatly expanding your awareness of your own work and the social, political, and musical contexts that which it inhabits.

This module takes as its starting point the idea that musical performance for a recorded output is very different from concert performance. The Record Producer and the Performer not only have to be aware of what those differences are but also of what is required in the studio and how to achieve it.

Alongside the technical issues of recording sound are all the psychological and interpersonal issues of creating the right atmosphere for the communal activity of creating recorded music to happen. How do these participants engage with one another? How are the critical evaluations arrived at? What kinds of methodologies and theoretical frameworks are available for studying these phenomena?

This module aims to enhance technical, creative and innovative production skills, as well as consolidating and heightening your evaluation of stylistic and technical issues. You will be expected to achieve and maintain a high level of advanced production skills in order to fulfil your potential and develop practical skills to a professional level.

You are encouraged to challenge yourself through tackling musical styles and creative techniques which are not your home territory. Use your relationship with your specialist supervisor as an opportunity to explore new ground and broaden your production skills.

The purpose of this module is to train you in research methods and critical methodology as preparation for undertaking research and is designed to support and advance the project work produced during the rest of your study through a developed investigation of research methods.

You will define, articulate and critically reflect upon the research concerns of your own practice during this unit, thereby underpinning and enhancing your knowledge and understanding of the chosen field of study, as well as developing your ability to communicate this in a variety of ways.

This module will build on skills gained in the Music Production Skills and Production Portfolio-1 modules. The module aims to enhance technical, creative and innovative production skills, as well as consolidating and heightening your evaluation of stylistic and technical issues. The focus of this module is to select a commercially viable repertoire.

In addition to your development as a producer, there will be a practical element aimed at developing your skills in organising and promoting yourself as a producer/artist. The aim is to provide you with a real-world experience of recording and producing music with commercial viability.

The Songwriting module gives you the opportunity to engage in the development, management and execution of a high-quality song portfolio. Applying a myriad of songwriting techniques and conventions, you will create a song portfolio realised via basic recordings and lead sheets.

This module provides an excellent opportunity for students to test their potential as music educators. It is intended that the module gives students a flavour of working in education and also equips them with valuable skills that are transferable to their careers.

By engaging in parallel with analogue & digital, software & hardware, hybrid-production workflows (recording, sampling, synthesis, programming, mixing and mastering), this module offers opportunities for original application of advanced audio techniques, pushing the expressive boundaries of the sonic medium, and contextualising current practice through the lens of forward-thinking (auto)ethnographic analysis