BA (Hons) Music: Popular Music and Recording

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Available in the PMR and M pathways, this module consolidates and expands your performance development within the three assessed areas of Individual Performance (weekly one-to-one Instrumental lessons with your specialist tutor, based on an advanced syllabus), Ensemble Musicianship, and an Associated Study (either Session Musicianship or Classical Conducting). The Ensemble component allows you to form your own Popular Music group, or join Big Band, Brass Band, Wind Band, or Classical Choir. The Session Musicianship component now places the emphasis on you  to bring in prepared scores and lead the band through the arrangement, guided by your tutor.

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Available in the PMR and M pathways, this module examines theoretical issues and practical skills concerned with the manipulation and control of modal harmony and melody within composition. It provides you with the opportunity to explore and experiment with harmonic and melodic processes and introduces the principles of contrapuntal composition.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Available in the PMR and PM pathways, this module explores ways in which gender and ethnicity are constructed in popular music texts and develops an awareness of international music, including instruments, styles, and patterns of organisation. You will apply analytical critique to a range of repertoire and engage with cross-disciplinary approaches to the study of music.

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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.

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Available in PMR and M pathways, this module encourages more specialised forms of composition and arrangement through the introduction of theoretical and analytical issues concerned with the articulation of form and structure, and an advanced study of harmony. It also explores the ways in which the colouristic, formal, harmonic, textural and rhythmic aspects of a given work may be reconsidered within the context of the creative arrangement.

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Available in the PMR and M pathways, this module aims to fully prepare you for Elective Performance study at third year level. The Individual Performance aspect (weekly one-to-one tuition) requires you to undertake a formal exam based on your instrumental syllabus (pieces, scales and sight-reading).  Ensemble Musicianship provides the opportunity to develop specialist skills in either Latin Percussion, Improvisation, or Vocal Harmony, or join the Big Band, Brass Band, Wind Band, or Classical Choir.  The Associated Study component allows you to choose between Classical Conducting, or Musical Directing which focuses on aspects of band leadership such as score preparation, arranging, and conducting a Popular Music ensemble.

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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.

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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.

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Available in the PMR, PM and M pathways, this module provides an overview of journalistic methodologies as applied to the fields of music and the music industry. You will examine and construct a variety of forms of journalistic output as related to music and  develop a critical understanding of the interrelationship between market, industry and culture.

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Available in the PMR, PM and M pathways, this module develops an understanding of the scope, methods and aims of Ethnomusicology with reference to the historical development of the subject; the analysis of music in culture and music as culture with special reference to enculturation and acculturation, the stature of the musician in society and cultural identity. You will develop performance skills and an understanding of a musical tradition from outside your own practical musical experience.

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Available in the PMR and M pathways, this module explores and promotes collaborative practices of which music forms a part (theatre, dance, digital theatre, contemporary music theatre, media, new media, internet art, installation, interactive art, and other creative environments real or virtual). It encourages interdisciplinary practice and assesses the skills needed when collaborating with other artistic disciplines.

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Available in the PMR and PM pathways, this module consolidates and extends ideas and theories introduced in Interpreting Popular Music. It develops skills in research methodology and in self-management and provides practice in the presentation of short papers. You will apply theoretical models and methodological techniques to investigative research and learn how to defend critiques and analyses.

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Available in the PMR, M and IMSP pathways, this module introduces students to the creative use of sound and music within a range of media. It explores techniques for recording stereo drama in a recording studio and introduces sound and image synchronisation techniques. You will develop audio digital editing techniques, and techniques of sound design and music integration.

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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.

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Available in the PMR, PM and M pathways, this module develops professional practices by broadening work experience in areas requiring a leadership and/or team role. You will gain experience in one of the following areas of professional practice: band management and promotion, arts administration, musical directing, business enterprise and community music in its broadest sense.

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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.

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