
Overview
- Degree awarded
- Master of Music
- Duration
- 1 Year (full-time); 2 Year (part-time)
- Entry requirements
-
Applicants will be expected to hold a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree, or its overseas equivalent, in a relevant subject - normally Music, or with music as a substantial component of the programme. In exceptional circumstances we may consider appropriate professional experience as an alternative route to entry.
- How to apply
- Apply online .
Course options
Full-time | Part-time | Full-time distance learning | Part-time distance learning | |
---|---|---|---|---|
MusM | Y | Y | N | N |
Course overview
- Develop the skills and knowledge to forge personally satisfying and socially impactful portfolio careers as performing artists, educators, entrepreneurs, and researchers.
- Develop an advanced understanding of the interpretation of music through analysis, historical research, cultural critique, and performance.
- Study at a Top 5 UK University for Music (Complete University Guide 2023).
- Study in a city that is home to more professional music-making than any UK city outside of London, with three professional orchestras and internationally recognised institutions such as the BBC and Opera North.
- Engage in cutting-edge artistic research in music performance.
Open days
Fees
For entry in the academic year beginning September 2024, the tuition fees are as follows:
-
MusM (full-time)
UK students (per annum): £13,500
International, including EU, students (per annum): £27,000
Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.
All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of courses lasting more than a year for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.
Self-funded international applicants for this course will be required to pay a deposit of £1000 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. This deposit will only be refunded if immigration permission is refused. We will notify you about how and when to make this payment.
Policy on additional costs
All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).
Scholarships/sponsorships
Each year the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures offer a number of school awards and subject-specific bursaries (the values of which are usually set at Home/EU fees level), open to both Home/EU and international students. The deadline for these is early February each year. Details of all funding opportunities, including deadlines, eligibility and how to apply, can be found on the School's funding page where you can also find details of the Government Postgraduate Loan Scheme.
See also the University's postgraduate funding database to see if you are eligible for any other funding opportunities. For University of Manchester graduates, the Manchester Alumni Bursary offers a £3,000 reduction in tuition fees to University of Manchester alumni who achieved a First within the last three years and are progressing to a postgraduate taught master's course. The Manchester Master's Bursary is a University-wide scheme that offers 100 bursaries worth £3,000 in funding for students from underrepresented groups.
Postgraduate 1+3 funding is available from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) for students to pursue postgraduate study through a master's (one year) leading into a PhD (three years). It requires a project proposal as part of the application. Information is available on the NWSSDTP website.
Contact details
- School/Faculty
- School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
- MASALC@manchester.ac.uk
- Website
- https://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/music/
- School/Faculty
-
See: About us
Related courses
Courses in related subject areas
Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.
Entry requirements
Academic entry qualification overview
English language
An overall grade of IELTS 6.5 with 6.5 in writing and no skill below 6.5 is required or equivalent English language qualification.
If you have obtained a different qualification, please check our English language requirements to ensure that it is accepted and equivalent to the above requirements.
English language test validity
Other international entry requirements
Application and selection
How to apply
How your application is considered
IMPORTANT: Please note that we will only be considering applications where the English language requirement for at least entry onto our pre-sessional English course has already been met.
Minimum requirement for consideration is IELTS 6.0 with no component below 6.
Applications are mainly considered on the basis of an assessment of past and predicted academic achievements, the academic reference(s) and any other supplementary evidence that supports the application. Once we have an application that is ready for a decision, the admissions tutor (often the Programme Director) will relay the decision to the admissions team, who will send you this decision.
Please note that your application is usually received by the School 24 to 48 hours after the time you submit it. If you have not provided documentation that allows the admissions tutor to make a decision, we will contact you.
Skills, knowledge, abilities, interests
Overseas (non-UK) applicants
For these and general requirements including English language see entry requirements from your country .
If English is not your first language, please provide us with evidence of:
- an overall grade 6.5 (with a minimum writing score of 6.5) in IELTS; or 100+ in the IBT Internet-based TOEFL).
Exceptions to needing a language test (if English is NOT your first language) are:
- if you have successfully completed an academic qualification deemed by UK NARIC as equivalent to at least a UK Bachelors Degree or higher from one of the following countries:
Antigua & Barbuda; Australia; Bahamas; Barbados; Belize; Dominica; Grenada; Guyana; Ireland; Jamaica; New Zealand; St Kitts and Nevis; St Lucia; St Vincent and the Grenadines; Trinidad and Tobago; UK; USA.
Deferrals
Re-applications
Course details
Course description
The MusM Music (Performance) course will prepare you for a portfolio career in music performance in the rapidly diversifying post-pandemic music making scene. You will develop an advanced understanding of the interpretation of music and technical expertise, whether through analysis, historical research, cultural critique, artistic research or performance. You will develop as multifaceted musicians with pedagogical and professional skills, and also have the opportunity to engage in community music performance practices as socially conscious artists.
You will be able to choose units that best match your special interests and aspirations. Seminars allow for close collaboration between lecturers and students, with ample opportunity for you to present your own work and receive individual feedback. Discussion and debate form an important part of most course units.
Most taught course units are delivered via weekly seminars and/or tutorials. Full-time students take two 30-credit course units or equivalent per semester; part-time students take one.Seminars feature a range of presentation formats and activities, including presentations by course tutors, student presentations, discussion and debate based on prepared reading or coursework tasks, and workshop-style activities.
Members of the academic staff are also available for individual consultations during designated office hours.
Alongside your taught units, you will have access to a range of non-assessed seminars, workshops and training sessions offered by the Graduate School.
All postgraduate students are expected to undertake their own programme of self-directed learning and skills acquisition. This may also involve wider reading, language work, computer training and attendance at research seminars in other parts of the University.
Special features
Music in Manchester
Manchester is home to more professional music-making than any UK city outside of London. There are three professional orchestras, as well as internationally recognised institutions such as the BBC, Bridgewater Hall, Opera North and The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM).
Cultural Manchester
Manchester is increasingly becoming one of the UK's most important cultural hotspots. Now positioned as the engine room for the Northern Powerhouse, the city is benefiting from massive investment in its cultural infrastructure such as MediaCityUK, the award-winning Whitworth and HOME.
Department of Music
The Department of Music in Manchester aspires to provide music performance students at the graduate level with cutting-edge opportunities to develop portfolio careers as performing artists, educators, entrepreneurs, researchers, community leaders and public scholars, combining these roles in flexible and individual ways.
Performance
Staging over one hundred live music events each year, the Music department is unique in its combination of academic excellence and conservatoire levels of performance. Watch examples of our previous performances by visiting the Music department YouTube channel .Teaching and learning
Seminars feature a range of presentation formats and activities, including presentations by course tutors, student presentations, discussion and debate based on prepared reading or coursework tasks, and workshop-style activities.
Members of the academic staff are also available for individual consultations during designated office hours.
Alongside your taught units, you will have access to a range of non-assessed seminars, workshops and training sessions offered by the Graduate School.
All postgraduate students are expected to undertake their own programme of self-directed learning and skills acquisition. This may also involve wider reading, language work, computer training and attendance at research seminars in other parts of the University.
Coursework and assessment
The precise nature of the assessment varies according to what is appropriate to the course unit in question. In most cases, a choice of questions or topics is offered. All taught units must be satisfactorily completed.
The Performance Portfolio assesses a range of performance work. It includes a Performance Project that may consist of ensemble performance, accompanying, community music-making, conducting or practical pedagogy.
Course unit details
The dissertation or critical edition offers the opportunity to work with world-leading experts in a range of specialist areas.
Core Units:
- Advanced Music Studies: Research Skills in the Digital Age (15 credits)
- Researching Performance: Issues and Approaches (15 credits)
- Professional and Pedagogical Skills (30 credits)
- Performance Portfolio (60 credits)
Optional units:
- Historical or Contemporary Performance (30 credits)
- Historical and Editorial Skills (30 credits)
- Advanced Analysis (15 credits)
- Aesthetics (15 credits)
- Contemporary Music Studies (30 credits)
- Advanced Orchestration (30 credits)
- Business Strategies for the Arts (30 credits)
- Popular Music and Identity (30 credits)
Optional units build on the knowledge and understanding you have gained in Semester 1, and enable you to develop expertise in a particular disciplinary area.
Full-time students take 60 credits of optional course units. Part-time students take 30 credits of optional course units each year.
Course unit list
The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.
Title | Code | Credit rating | Mandatory/optional |
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Performance Portfolio | MUSC40140 | 60 | Mandatory |
Advanced Music Studies: Research Skills in the Digital Age | MUSC60061 | 15 | Mandatory |
Researching Performance: Issues and Approaches | MUSC60401 | 15 | Mandatory |
Professional and Pedagogical Skills | MUSC60402 | 30 | Mandatory |
Contemporary Music Studies | MUSC40061 | 30 | Optional |
Advanced Analysis | MUSC60011 | 15 | Optional |
Studying World Music Cultures: Themes and Debates | MUSC60021 | 30 | Optional |
Ethno/Musicology in Action: Fieldwork and Ethnography | MUSC60032 | 30 | Optional |
Advanced Orchestration | MUSC60042 | 30 | Optional |
Historical and Editorial Skills | MUSC60091 | 30 | Optional |
Displaying 10 of 14 course units | |||
Display all course units |
Facilities
The Martin Harris Centre offers students an exceptional home equipped with state-of-the-art facilities.
Alongside teaching rooms and practice rooms, the building houses the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall (capacity 350, with a stage large enough to accommodate a full symphony orchestra), the John Thaw Studio Theatre, the Lenagan Library and a postgraduate suite consisting of a common room and computer room.
The Lenagan Library is a small reference library housed in the Martin Harris Centre that includes major scores, reference tools and a large collection of recordings, together with listening rooms and a spacious work area.
The Henry Watson Library is located in Manchester's Central Library and is renowned for its Handel and Vivaldi manuscripts, and the library of the nearby Royal Northern College of Music.
Find out more about our facilities .
Disability support
Careers
Career opportunities
Other areas of work for which advanced musical training has been directly relevant include arts management and the culture industries, producing, music publishing, music, journalism, librarianship, music therapy and performance.
Careers outside of music have included accountancy, law, social work and human resources.
Some graduates have gone on to work for companies that include The Old Vic, NHS, Orchestras Live, and the BBC.
The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate. At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help boost your employability .