School of Music

Taught Programmes

The School balances musical studies of performance, composition & critical & historical studies, with developing areas such as popular music, world musics & music technology.

There are five modular MMus programmes (180 credits), available full-time or part-time in the School of Music, which provide opportunities for specialist study at postgraduate level.

On completion of the programmes, students will be able to demonstrate in-depth, specialist knowledge and understanding of concepts, information and techniques at the forefront of their particular discipline. In addition to completing a discipline-specific form of project work (Portfolio, Recital, Dissertation or Edition), students take a core module focusing upon their primary interests, explore generic research skills in the module Introduction to Musical Scholarship, and attend a series of research seminars given by academic staff and invited visiting speakers.

One particularly distinctive feature of the MMus programmes is that in each, it is possible to take either 30 or 60 credits of options from our range of postgraduate modules, allowing students to tailor their studies to reflect their own particular interests.

• MMus Applied Psychology of Music
  • The Psychology of Music has relevance to many aspects of modern life, including education, advertising, therapy, and music technology. This new masters programme examines the applications of such research to everyday life, encouraging students to reflect on issues of purpose, value and responsibility. The interdisciplinary and modular programme draws on a number of fields, including psychology, musicology, sociology, cultural studies, the physical and biological sciences, and music technology, and combines theoretical and empirical approaches to the discipline.
    
    The University of Leeds is the only higher education institution offering music psychology at all three levels of undergraduate of study, and the School of Music has excellent facilities including its own dedicated centre for Scientific Research in Music and Psychology of Music Laboratory. Supported by the research strengths of staff in this area, this makes the School one of the leading exponents of applied research in music psychology in the UK.
    
    Click to view full details
• MMus Composition
  • The stimulating compositional environment at Leeds, which includes the Group for Research in Improvised Music (GRIM), and FOCAM, a student-led new music group, allows numerous opportunities for composers to have their music performed. Recent composition events in the School of Music have included seminars by James Dillon and Rohan de Saram, workshops/concerts by the London Sinfonietta and Ian Pace, and performances of student compositions by LSTwo, LUUMS Symphony Orchestra, and Leeds University Liturgical Choir. The School of Music is in partnership with the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival; four composers per year are nominated to their Yorkshire Composers' Professional Development Programme who then apply for the chance to work over the next year with the Nieuw Ensemble in Amsterdam and have their work performed at the Festival.
    
    Focusing primarily on contemporary music, the MMus Composition programme allows students to develop a distinctive compositional personality. Submission of a portfolio of compositions (which may include acoustic and electro-acoustic elements) is a compulsory element, supplemented by modules exploring arrangement, orchestration and multimedia/collaborative works.
    
    Click to view full details
• MMus Music Technology & Computer Music
  • The Music Technology and Computer Music programme provides a rigorous study of fundamental principles in the field of music technology and computer music, directed towards trained musicians. It covers a number of specific topics which focus upon experimental use of music technology and computer music software (including experimental sound recording, mastering, surround sound, Max/MSP). Students also have the opportunity to design individual projects in a field of their choice which are supervised via personal tutorials. Four studios and a computer cluster are provided for sound recording, sound design, music software programming or audio-visual and links with the Interdisciplinary Centre for Scientific Research in Music (ICSRiM) are encouraged.
    
    The programme of study focuses on research-led investigation which distinguishes it from similar programmes in other higher education institutions. Its flexible curriculum allows students to take options in other disciplines, including composition, performance and musicology, and students are encouraged to expand their horizons through contact with the wider postgraduate community in the School.
    
    Click to view full details
• MMus Musicology
  • The MMus Musicology is a flexible programme that allows students to explore topics associated with 'historical' musicology and 'critical/new' musicology, depending upon their particular enthusiasms. Individual research interests can be explored through the options of Dissertation or Editorial Project. Staff members in the School of Music are active in a wide range of fields, many of which are reflected in the School of Music's distinctive research centres; these include centres for Historically-Informed Performance (LUCHIP), English Music (LUCEM), the World's Popular Musics (PopuLUs), Scientific Research in Music (ICSRiM), and the Group for Research in Improvised Music (GRIM).
    
    The School also regularly hosts and organises international conferences in a variety of disciplines; recent examples include the 13th Biennial Conference on Baroque Music, Music and the Idea of the North, The Composer-Performer at the Keyboard, and The Music of Emmanuel Nunes. In 2009 the School will host a conference on Louis Spohr and German Romantic Opera and the LUCHIP Conference on Tempo and Rhythmic Gesture 1700 – 1950.
    
    Click to view full details
• MMus Performance
  • The School of Music has a particularly vibrant performing environment which supports a range of performance initiatives at all levels – from the undergraduate BMus performance programme to distinctive practice-based PhD studies. The Masters programme includes a compulsory 40-50-minute Final Recital, where students can develop their repertoire interests and artistic personalities, and opportunities to demonstrate and apply ensemble and pedagogical skills, where appropriate. Research centres with strong performance interests include LUCHIP (Leeds University Centre for Historically Informed Performance), GRIM (Group for Research in Improvised Music), CePRA (Centre for Practice-Led research in the Arts) and LUCOS (Leeds University Centre for Opera Studies) which is the focus for projects arising from the University's exciting new partnership with Opera North, England's premier regional opera company.
    
    Recent and forthcoming performance events in the School include a BBC Radio 3 lunchtime recital series, the annual Contemporary Music Festival, and the visit of the Grimethorpe Colliery Band; preliminary stages of the Leeds Piano Competition are also held in the Leeds University Great Hall.
    
    Click to view full details
• Graduate Diploma
  • The Graduate Diploma programme may be used as a stepping-stone from an undergraduate to a Master's degree; it also stands as a creditable and respected award in its own right. The programme is suitable for International students who are not fully confident in spoken English or the UK education system, or UK graduates whose first degree was not in Music, but who nevertheless possess a high level of musical expertise as scholars and/or practitioners.
    
    Click to view full details