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BA (Hons) Music

Edinburgh Napier University, United Kingdom
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Course Overview

Delivered by a diverse range of industry and research-experienced lecturers, this course will enable you to respond to the changing landscape of the music and broader creative industries, making you adaptable and employable.

This course is designed to support you in following pathways that reflect your specialist interests in performance, composition, production, or other areas such as education, management, and research.

You will have the opportunity to develop and demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of your creative and scholarly intentions and mindset, with music as the primary medium for exploration and expression across a range of genres, including Classical, Jazz, Contemporary Commercial, Avant Garde and Popular Music styles (including Hip Hop, and Electronic Music).

You will explore music from practical and contextual perspectives and domains to develop your helpful, critical, and analytical skills and attributes. Depending on your specialism, you will experience performance in a solo or ensemble/band context with accompaniment provision (where appropriate). In addition, the practical application of orchestration/arranging and composition is emphasized through collaborative projects and workshops with instrumentalists. With modules that prepare you for careers in education and community music, we are also one of the few music departments in the country to offer an undergraduate module in Music Therapy.

General Eligibility

Our entry requirements indicate the Standard (minimum) qualifications with which we usually accept students. Competition for places varies yearly, and you aren't guaranteed a business if you meet the minimum qualifications.

Minimum Year 1

 

SQA Higher

Standard Entry Requirement

ABC 

Grades AB must be from the following subjects: English, Music or Music Technology, Modern Studies, History, Psychology, Theology, Media Studies, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, Geography, Latin, or Classics.

Minimum Offer Entry Requirement

ABC 

Grades AB must be from the following subjects: English, Music or Music Technology, Modern Studies, History, Psychology, Religious, Moral and Philosophical Studies, Theology, Media Studies, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, Geography, Latin, or Classics.

A Level 

BCC

Grades BC must be from the following subjects: English, Music or Music Technology, Modern Studies, History, Psychology, Theology, Media Studies, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, Geography, Latin, Classics, or Government and Politics.

 

Irish Leaving Certificate

H1/H3/H3/H4 at HL.

Grades H1 and H3 must be from the following subjects: English, Music or Music Technology, Modern Studies, History, Psychology, Theology, Media Studies, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, Geography, Latin, or Classics.

 

International Baccalaureate Diploma

Award of Diploma with 27 points overall, including three HL subjects. 

HL Grades 6,5 must be from the following subjects: English, Music or Music Technology, Modern Studies, History, Psychology, Theology, Media Studies, Philosophy, Politics, Sociology, Geography, Latin, or Classics.

T Level

Grade Merit 

T Level must be completed in an English/Literary subject, or an A Level in an English/Literary subject may be required.

Minimum year 2

HNC

Pass HNC in a related subject with A in the graded unit.

Minimum year 3

HND

Pass HND in Music or Music Performance with A in the graded unit.

Part Time Work Details

20 hours per week

What You'll Study

1 Year 1

Compulsory modules:

• Contextual Studies: Sampling Musical Worlds

• Technologies: Making Music with Technology
• Introduction to Musicology

 

Optional modules:

• Score Interpretation

• Organising Sound
• Performance Studies: Integrated Musicianship
• Western Art Music 2
• Recording Studio Theory and Practice 1

2 Year 2

Compulsory modules:

• Contextual Studies 2: Music in its Social and Cultural Context

 

Optional modules:

• Performance Studies: Interpretive Musicianship

• Composition, Signs, and Meaning 
• Music Technology and Live Performance
• Composition and Orchestration
• Music Industries
• Applied Musicology
• Recording Studio Theory and Practice 2
• Techniques of Score Analysis 1

 

3 Year 3

Compulsory modules:

• Music and Praxis

• Contextual Studies: Research in Music

 

Optional modules:

• Contexts of Music Education

• Contexts of Practical Musicianship: Technique and Applications
• Music and Modernisms 1890-1945
• Techniques of Score Analysis 2
• Introduction to Music Therapy
• Lyrics: Narratives and Prosodies
• Music Software Applications
• Contexts of Practical Musicianship: Creative Parameters
• Music Industries: Entrepreneurship

 

4 Year 4

Compulsory modules:

• Major Music Project


Optional modules:

• Contexts of Practical Musicianship: Identity, Persona, and Promotion
• Practical Musicianship: Improvisation
• Music Research Project
• Contexts of Music Education: Project
• Contexts of Practical Musicianship: Live Performance
• Music Psychology
• Music and Modernisms 1945-1990

Language Requirement

  • IELTS5.5
  • TOEFL59
  • PTE50
  • Duolingo69

IELTS (Academic)

6.0 overall, with no component below 5.5

TOEFL Internet-Based Test

80 overall, with a minimum of 17 in listening, 18 in reading, 20 in speaking, and 17 in writing

Pearson’s Test of Academic English

56 overall, with a minimum of 51 in each component

Cambridge C2 Proficiency (formerly Cambridge English Proficiency (CPE))

169 overall, with a minimum of 162 in each component

Cambridge B2 First (formerly Cambridge English First (FCE))

169 overall, with a minimum of 162 in each component

Cambridge C1 Advanced (formerly Cambridge English Advanced (CAE))

169 overall, with a minimum of 162 in each component

Trinity Integrated Skills Test (ISE)

ISE III, ISE III, & ISE IV with a pass in each component

LanguageCert English language qualification

B2 Communicator Test with an overall 39 or above and 25 or above in all skills

Ready to get started?

For any enquiries or further details, please don't hesitate to contact us. Let's take the next step in your academic journey together.

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