MusM Music (Performance Studies)

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2027, the tuition fees are as follows:

• MusM (full-time)
  UK students (per annum): £14,400
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £29,800

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

International student CAS deposit

Self-funded international applicants are required to pay a deposit of £2500 towards their tuition fees before a confirmation of acceptance for studies (CAS) is issued. Some applicants will be required to pay a higher deposit. More information on tuition fee deposits .

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).

We know that student finance can be complicated. The links below provide further information to help guide you.

• Learn more about - student finance options for UK students .
• Learn more about - fees and finance for international students .
• Graduates of The University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University can receive a 10% discount on their master's degree tuition fees as part of our Manchester Alumni Loyalty Discount scheme.

In this course unit students work collaboratively to devise and deliver a performance project, either as a public performance in an ensemble, or as part of a community music workshop in a placement within the city. Alternatively, they may opt to work closely with a composer to develop and perform a new piece of work, or suggest an alternative project (for example, conducting) to be negotiated and agreed with the course unit director.

Once options have been chosen, preparations begin in the Autumn, with teaching scheduled from late Semester 1 and throughout Semester 2. Students work collectively to develop self-directed organisational and professional skills, supported by lectures, specialist coaching, group seminars, supervision, and peer feedback, and benefit from the opportunity to attend regular workshops and masterclasses with invited guest musicians from across different areas of the music industry. 

• Demonstrate an ability to work collectively and self-sufficiently in planning, organising, and delivering a performance project  
• Present a collaborative performance or community project at or approaching professional levels of skill and public engagement.   

A Performance Project is to be devised in collaboration with the academic supervisor. Indicative projects may include:  

• Ensemble performance (2-8 performers)  
• Community music leadership  
• Composer collaboration  
• A negotiated option

Students must not perform repertoire on which they have been assessed in terms of performance elsewhere during  the course. 
 

• Show an effective understanding of the relevant collective working practices, with an appropriate level of commitment and respect.  
• Balance due considerations of programme design, effective and timely preparation, stage management, professional stagecraft, and presentation.  
   

• Demonstrate a critical awareness of a range of performing approaches and strategies
• Show an awareness of adapting to a variety of leadership and supportive roles in working as an ensemble  
• Perform with a professional level of absorption in musical materials, and in the sounding and shaping of a live performance.  
   

• Demonstrate advanced levels of embodied technique on their chosen instrument or voice, with acute and sensitive levels of listening, artistry, and musicianship.
• Articulate and effectively summarise the processes of planning, developing, and delivering a long-term project, in writing or verbally.  

• Collective decision-making, negotiation skills, and adaptability  
• Project management skills  
• Event management, public engagement, and community building 

RE-SIT ASSESSMENT 

Oral tutor and peer feedback - Formative

Written feedback - Summative

Aszodi, J. A brief proposition for orienting collaborative acts (June 2021), <https://www.10statements.com/portfolio_page/jessica-aszodi/>.

Bartleet, Brydie-Leigh, and Lee Higgins (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Community Music (Oxford University Press, 2018).  

Booth, Eric, The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible: Becoming a Virtuoso Educator (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).

Keller, Peter E., Giacomo Novembre, and Janeen Loehr, ‘Musical ensemble performance: representing self, other and joint action outcomes’,in S. S. Obhi & E. S. Cross (Eds.), Shared representations: Sensorimotor foundations of social life (Cambridge University Press, 2016): 280-310.

McCaleb, J. Murphy, Embodied knowledge in ensemble performance (Routledge, 2017).