As the first UK institution to offer pioneering and distinctive courses in Band Musicianship, and Popular Music and Recording, our reputation for innovation and excellence within music education has flourished. We have since launched courses in Popular Musicology, and Interactive Music and Studio Production. All of our courses are regularly enhanced and refined to ensure their relevance to current sector needs and requirements. The courses are now offered as a BA (Hons) Music programme with defined pathways in:
You can also choose to study BA Music with a Foundation Year. This four-year option offers training in Music Theory, Performance, Music Technology and Analysis.
The new BA Music course with pathways combines academic learning and practical application in performance, composition, arranging, music technology, musicology and professional practice. The precise nature of your engagement with these themes is dependant on your chosen pathway. They all provide a comprehensive and stimulating foundation from which to develop more specialised approaches in years two and three. Dedicated modules such as Music Journalism, Audio for Media, and Ethnomusicology are offered alongside negotiated project modules which encourage and facilitate self-directed learning and creative collaboration. The course retains a successful balance between your personal interest and academic enquiry to produce critically aware, creative, and well-informed music graduates.
We have a large and vibrant student body and welcome musicians from all musical backgrounds. With group activities available in the many Popular Music ensembles, as well as larger ensembles such as Big Band, Brass Band, Wind Band, Choir and the Adelphi Contemporary Music Group, our students engage in and benefit from a varied and extensive concert programme.
Salford’s proximity to Manchester city centre means you will be able to take full advantage of the region’s world-renowned music scene as both an active participant and an enquiring spectator. Professional guest speakers and visiting artists from the industry ensure you will gain an appreciation of Manchester’s historical importance within both traditional and contemporary/popular music idioms. Our annual Masterclass series involves leading professionals and is designed to assist you in your professional development and career management.
All pathways offer an initially broad-based curriculum during the first year, leading to increased opportunities for specialisation and professional development throughout years two and three. Below you will find a list of modules offered during each level of the course. Please click on the individual module titles for information on pathway availability and content.
Foundation Year
Semester 1
Foundation Musicianship Skills
This module develops both your individual and ensemble instrumental ability. You will receive weekly one-to-one instrumental tuition from a specialist tutor, focusing on technique and its application across a broad range of repertoire. You will also join one of the many Ensembles within the Directorate, including Popular Music Choir, Big Band, Brass Band, Wind Band and Classical Choir.
close
Introduction to Music Theory
This module aims to provide the theoretical foundations for all further areas of study. You will learn to recognise and confidently use fundamental theoretical terms in your work, notate all perfect, major, minor, augmented, diminished intervals, and identify and notate a range of basic chords and progressions. The assessment requires you to compose idiomatic music incorporating all these elements. You will also develop your Aural and Transcription skills with focused ear training tuition.
close
Case Studies
This module will equip you with the necessary analytical skills, IT skills and research techniques to complete written academic assignments. You will analyse a broad range of musical styles within the Popular, Jazz and Classical idioms. It will provide you with the appropriate reference framework from which to critically evaluate examples of these styles, as well as the use of harmonic and analytical terminology within the discussion of music.
close
Semester 2
Foundation Performance Studies
This module consolidates and expands the instrumental skills developed in semester one, with a continuation of the weekly one-to-one instrumental tuition with your specialist tutor. For your assessed Ensemble activity you will have the option to form your own Popular Music group, or join Big Band, Brass Band, Wind Band or Classical Choir.
close
Music Theory and Compositional Techniques
This module builds upon the theoretical knowledge from within semester one, introducing more advanced concepts and techniques including extended chord progressions, notation and recognition of diatonic melodic lines, moving bass lines, and complex rhythmic patterns, and SATB scoring. You will also receive further ear training within the Aural and Transcription tuition.
close
Introduction to Music Technology
This module introduces software based solutions for recording and composition. You will learn to notate musical ideas appropriately with respect to instrumentation and genre and to identify appropriate software pathway to communicate musical ideas effectively. You will work with notation, sequencing and recording interfaces and interrogate the relationship between them.
close
Year One
Semester 1
'
You will study two core modules:
Musicianship Skills
Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module focuses on your instrumental proficiency, developing your skills across three different assessed activities. Individual Performance consists of weekly one-to-one tuition with a specialist tutor, based upon an instrumental syllabus (pieces, technical exercises and sight reading). The Ensemble component requires you to join either a Latin Percussion group (Rhythmic Awareness), Big Band, Brass Band, Wind Band or Classical Choir. Students will also choose an Associated Study, either Session Musicianship (a tutor led group rehearsal focusing on a broad range of Popular Music styles) or Classical Conducting.
close
Fundamentals of Composition and Technology
Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module provides core skills and knowledge necessary for composing and arranging music in a variety of styles. You will gain a working knowledge of the key aspects of instrumentation voicing, score layout, formal design and the manipulation of texture. The module also provides an introduction to location recording techniques, appropriate sequencing software, musical acoustics and their relationship to music technology.
close
You will choose one of the following options:
Music and Society: Antiquity to Enlightenment
Available in the IMSP and M pathways, this module engenders a sense of history and an awareness of significant cultural epochs and the music associated with them. It relates performance styles, compositional techniques and musicological discourse to particular historical periods.
close
Popular Music Style and Genre
Available in the PMR, PM and IMSP pathways, this module provides an overview of the history of English-language popular music and interrogates the concept of genre in popular music. You will develop an understanding of music style analysis and improve your aural skills.
close
Semester 2
You will study two core modules:
Performance Studies
Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module is a continuation of the work undertaken in Semester 1 Musicianship skills, consisting of Individual Performance (weekly one-to-one instrumental tuition), Ensemble Musicianship, and an Associated Study (either Session Musicianship or Classical Conducting). Within the Ensemble component, you will have the opportunity to form your own Popular Music group (writing and rehearsing original material to be presented at a concert at the end of the semester), or join Big Band, Brass Band, Wind Band, or Classical Choir.
close
Applied Composition and Technology
Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module establishes knowledge of advanced diatonic harmony, melodic writing, fundamental musical forms, and practical skills concerned with rhythm as applied to the broad field of composition. You will explore the creative uses of a range of microphones in relation to musical instruments and acoustic environments, and be introduced to techniques of sound synthesis using a range of hardware and software based synthesisers.
close
You will choose one of the following options:
Music and Society: The Modern Era
Available in the M and IMSP pathways, this module explores the continual interaction between “art” music and “popular” music. It demonstrates the relationship between musical techniques/practices, ideology and historical contingency. You will be introduced to a broad range of repertoire and explore the historical development of competing canons in relation to social class, available technologies and prestige.
close
Interpreting Popular Music
Available in the PMR, PM and IMSP pathways, this module explores the social, political, and economic contexts impacting upon the production of popular music. It presents key ideas from Culture Theory, Critical Theory, and Postmodernism in order to understand popular music in these various cultural contexts. You will be introduced to a systematic and rigorous method by which to critically examine popular music and develop abstract thinking.
close
Year Two
Semester 1
Studio Composition
Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module introduces you to the creative use of sound produced using a range of hardware and software interfaces. It instils a flexible and considered approach to musical interface by introducing a range of studio composition techniques, (synthesis, sampling, interactive and generative) and various sonic installation possibilities.
close
Audio for Media
Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module introduces you to the creative use of sound and music within a range of media. You will explore techniques for recording stereo drama in a recording studio; sound and image synchronisation techniques; and how to apply and develop audio digital editing techniques.
close
Studio Recording and Production
Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module explores the ways in which the needs and demands of technology and of performing artists can best be reconciled. It develops facility in the use of sound mixing consoles, audio recorders, signal processing equipment, Digital Audio Workstations and software audio applications. You will develop strategies for analysing existing recordings in order to appreciate (and then utilise) the technology involved in the recording process.
close
Semester 2
Professional Development in the Creative Industries
Core to all pathways, this module provides an in-depth examination of the UK creative economy, focusing on current economic and professional structures and potential development. You will explore concepts of copyright, authorship and ownership and gain an understanding of the processes involved in successful personal development planning.
close
Advanced Studio Composition
Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module instils a flexible and considered approach to musical interface. It aims to develop fluency across a range of studio composition techniques, (synthesis, sampling, interactive and generative) and a range of sonic installation possibilities. The integration of live sound, live instrument recording, and signal processing within studio composition is also explored.
close
Advanced Studio and Location Recording
Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module explores the ways in which the needs and demands of technology and of performing artists can best be reconciled. It aims to develop confident, genre-appropriate mixing, mastering and signal processing skills. You will develop a range of detailed recording strategies in relation to acoustic considerations.
close
Year Three
Semester 1
You will study one core module:
Project Scope
Available in all pathways, this module is designed to enhance an artistic skills base in two areas of specialist study. It assists the realisation of creative work that will feed into the negotiated major project and encourages the exhibition of a high level of individuality, versatility and confidence within the chosen fields.
close
You will study one core module:
Sound Reinforcement
Available in the IMSP pathway, this module provides a theoretical understanding of live sound and informs a creative interpretation of musical material and situation. You will gain practical experience of rigging, sound checking, and be exposed to a range of setups, instrumentation and problematic scenarios.
close
Web Design and Streaming Media
Available in the IMSP pathway, this module explores the organisation of multi-media elements into electronic form for online delivery. It explains how an online broadcast / music site is designed, constructed and managed. You will gain experience of web construction, planning and delivery, and work with a variety of online media formats.
close
TV Studio Programme Management
Available in the IMSP pathway, this module provides an understanding of the management of programme production and the key creative and technical posts. You will gain experience of programme construction, planning and execution in television, audio or video.
close
Music Video Production Management
Available in the IMSP pathway, this module develops the necessary skills required to coordinate a wide range of creative and technical expertise in the production of a music video. It introduces the methods of organising the production processes from planning to final delivery. You will gain knowledge and understanding of production and technical basics, technical language and communication of requirements.
close
Semester 2
Negotiated Major Project
Core to all pathways, this module enables the completion of a comprehensive project encompassing two areas of specialist study. It assists the realisation of creative work (practical and/or written), encourages the development of a personal style within the chosen fields of study, and hones your artistic and academic skills base.
close
