BA (Hons)

Music

3 good reasons to study Music at Salford:

You will be taught by practicing professionals on a course well-known for producing graduates who excel in their chosen careers
We have an international reputation for innovation and distinction in band musicianship and popular music
You’ll be part of a large and vibrant music department, and benefit from numerous performing and showcasing opportunities in Manchester and beyond

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:

Popular Music and Recording
Popular Musicology
Interactive Music and Studio Production
Modular

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.

Course details

Students select one of four study pathways: Popular Music and Recording (PMR), Popular Musicology (PM), Interactive Music and Studio Production (IMSP), and Modular (M). All pathways allow for study flexibility and collaborative opportunities (see below for pathway descriptors, details of course structure and module content).

The Modular pathway has its roots in Salford's long-established Band Musicianship course. This pioneering course bound together musicians with a shared passion for band music of all kinds, from brass and wind through big band jazz and popular. Building upon these foundations the modular pathway offers further opportunities for the study of traditional and contemporary music styles. A wide range of modules offered include jazz, pop and electro-acoustic composition, brass and wind arranging, band and classical historical studies and ensemble musicianship, performance and conducting. This blend of academic and practical skills provides a broad knowledge base appropriate to the development of well-rounded musicians.

Course Structure

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Year One

Semester 1

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.

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.

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.

Critical Thinking and Writing

Available in the PM and M pathways, this module develops reading and writing skills appropriate for academic work using a variety of core musicological texts. You will be introduced to key issues in the subject of contemporary popular musicology and gain practice in the evaluation of arguments and evidence.

Semester 2

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.

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.

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.

Introduction to Research

Available in the M and PM pathways, this module introduces a variety of materials available for research in music. You will be given practice in the use of these materials for academic work and develop independence in matters of research and problem solving.

Year Two

Semester 1

Music and Context: German Romanticism

Available in M pathway, this module places developments in musical form and musical language within the context of complex technological and sociological changes. You will explore the links between contextual, sociological, historical, biographical and analytic aproaches through the study of the music of 19th century German speaking culture.

Advanced Musicianship Skills

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.

Compositional Practice

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.

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.

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.

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.

Music and Modernisms

Available in the M pathway, this module provides analytical techniques to assess the use of the compositional techniques of 20th Century music. You will critically engage with themes and ideas of versions of modernism in music and explore the intellectual and socio-economic background that contributed to these movements.

Popular Music and Technology

Available on the PM and M pathways, this module provides an historical overview of developments in music technology since 1877, explaining how those developments have influenced the artistic and commercial production of popular music. It facilitates the analysis of popular music recordings from a technological perspective.

Music and the Media

Available in the PM and M pathways, this module explores the relationship between various forms of music and the media. You will examine music within a variety of media contexts and apply media theories to everyday examples.

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.

Creative Compositions and Arranging

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.

Music and Context: 20th Century Symphony

Available in the M pathway, this module introduces the wide range of musical styles and contexts found in the symphonic writing of the 20th Century. It places the developments in musical form and musical language within the context of complex technological, political and sociological changes.

Advanced Performance Studies

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.

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.

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.

Music Journalism

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.

Ethnomusicology

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.

Collaborative Practice

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.

Audio for Media

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.

Year Three

Semester 1

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.

Professional Practice

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.

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.

Course Enquiries

For course enquiries please call us on:

T: +44 (0) 161 295 4545

Or Email us at:

Home/EU students
E: enquiries@salford.ac.uk

International students
E: international@salford.ac.uk