2012
Course overview
This course focuses on developing advanced instrumental or vocal skills and techniques, and the areas of study are principally led by you and your interests, in conjunction with an experienced tutor.
During the third semester you will focus on a major individual project, giving you the opportunity to develop extensive research in an area of personal interest. You will be allocated a supportive supervisor who will be closely matched with your interests.
You will study in an environment where ideas can be researched and developed through practical research and reflective enquiry and you are encouraged to engage with a diverse range of creative ideas and possibilities.
Solent provides a supportive, stimulating and interdisciplinary postgraduate culture that will help develop your skills and direct your project or dissertation research and portfolio towards specific career opportunities.
Industrial focus
This MA will help you to 'hit the ground running' in the job market. Our national and local music and festival links, high profile guest speakers and experienced course tutors will ensure that you graduate with the knowledge, skills and contacts to excel in a wide range of popular music related careers.
Course content
The units for the MA Popular Music Performance draw on the performing and research strengths across the whole popular music team including the instrumental and vocal tutors.
Core units
Instrumental Studies
Performers will be able to continue their exploration of a first-study instrument: guitar, bass, drums, vocals, or keyboards. You will work towards an assessed recital and a reflective assessment of the recital and its preparation.
Style Studies
This unit brings together musical analysis, genre analysis and ‘informed’ performance. It includes the detailed study of an agreed genre or style leading to an assessed performance and a written analytical submission.
Professional Development and Research Skills
You will enhance your research skills, and provide the specific terms of reference for the successful completion of your major project. Emphasis is placed on research methods and techniques that can be used in the development of strategies for employment in the media Industries.
Master's Project
You will design, execute and present an individual piece of work that deploys a systematic and in-depth understanding of the skills and debates relevant to your particular discipline. You will be expected to present a project that critically synthesises approaches and methodologies in the discipline and demonstrates initiative and autonomy in its execution.
Optional Units (one to be taken)
Popular Music in Performance
This is an opportunity to evaluate the act of performance itself through engagement with themes emerging in the wider field of popular music performance studies. These could include: methodological issues in researching and evaluating performance; the examination of diverse social and cultural dynamics in differing performance modes; the role of the audience and performance interaction; researching performance spaces; examining issues concerning gesture and non-verbal modes of communication; technology and performance; genre norms and conventions.
Or you could take one of the following options from across the MA Media courses:
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Contemporary British Film and Television
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Contemporary Film and Culture
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Critical Issues in Popular Music
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Digital and Multi-platform Storytelling
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Digital Studio
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Documentary History, Form and Practice
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Experimental Film History, Form and Practice
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Global Popular Music
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Popular Music and Performance Producing Television
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Script to Screen.
Assessment
Assessment takes place through: performances/recitals, analytical essays, practical production projects, individual projects, learning journals and seminar presentations, portfolios and reflective writing projects.
Key career skills
Problem solving, research and analysis techniques, teamwork, written and oral communication, and managing projects from initial conception through to final presentation.
Projects/work experience
Wherever possible, you will be assessed in practical real-world situations and gain experience of live performance and working in the music industry.
Solent’s special features
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Industry links
The course has links with prestigious national and local live music venues and some of the UK’s biggest festivals, offering a range of work experience roles at:
• Association of Independent Festivals
• Bestival/Camp Bestival
• LarMac Live
• Blissfields
• Wilderness.
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Guest lecturers
High-profile music industry practitioners and professionals regularly visit to lecture, conduct workshops and offer industry-informed feedback on your work and opportunities for employment. Our high-profile visiting fellows include producer Trevor Horn CBE, Colin Lester, CEO of Universal Music Group, electronic music pioneer John Foxx, Carl Palmer of ELP and Feargal Sharkey, UK Music.
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Staff expertise
You will work closely with specialist tutors who match your research interests. Tutors have high profiles in the academic study of popular music and the music and media industries, and you will benefit from both their academic expertise and practical experience. The team uses its professional networks to attract other eminent practitioners, commissioners, agents and academics to support the course.
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Special facilities
All practice rooms and performance spaces are fully equipped with industry-standard back-line, keyboards, drum kits, and PA facilities. A range of guitars, basses, percussion instruments and acoustic pianos are easily accessible in the practice areas.
Entry level
An Honours Degree at 2:2 or above in a relevant subject and/or professional experience, together with a performance or academic portfolio that shows an appropriate skills base.
All candidates are also required to complete an audition, either in person for UK students, or by DVD submission for international students. Further details of this process will be supplied upon application.
International students are required to show evidence of their English language skills as part of their entry requirements. See English entry requirements.
Career opportunities
This MA combines vocational and academic approaches to popular music. As a critical practitioner and/or academic, you’ll be equipped with the relevant knowledge, skills and expertise demanded by a range of roles within the fast-evolving music and related media industries, as well as in popular music education.
Successful completion of the course would also allow for progression to further study including an MPhil and PhD.
Career paths include:
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performance
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teaching
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music publishing
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music promotion and retail
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music journalism
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arts and entertainment administration.
Fee
Fees for the 2012/13 academic year are:
Full-time
UK and EU students: £6,500 per annum
Overseas students: £10,000 per annum
Part-time
UK and EU students: £3,250 pa
Overseas students: £5,000 pa