BA Music and Drama / Course details

Year of entry: 2024

Course description

Our BA Music and Drama joint honours course is one of only a handful of such courses available at any university in the UK, providing you with a rare opportunity to pursue your passions for all aspects of performance and creativity in a world-class university environment. 

We attract many singers and actors, as well as students with passions in, for example, screen, film sound and digital media; the politics of avant-garde performance; performance, social policy and community arts; or the history of the voice and the body on a variety of theatrical and operatic stages. 

With a huge range of course units to choose from, this course is diverse and flexible, enabling you to build upon existing interests while allowing you the room to discover new forms and traditions of performance, practice and media. 

With a mix of academic and practical learning, you will be taught by internationally recognised academics, guest speakers and a roster of professional instrumental and vocal tutors drawn from Manchester and the north-west. 

All our teaching and practice takes place in the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama where you will rehearse, workshop and perform in the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall and the John Thaw Studio Theatre, and where you can get your hands on the latest digital-audio technology in the award-winning NOVARS studios for electroacoustic music and interactive media. 

The Martin Harris Centre itself is in the centre of the oldest part of the University, just 15 minutes on foot from the city centre and its many venues including The Bridgwater Hall, HOME, The Albert Hall, The Royal Exchange Theatre and plenty more besides. 

From there, it is a 20-minute tram ride to MediaCity in Salford, home to the BBC, ITV and The Lowry Theatre. 

Many of the performances that you'll be involved in are presented by one of our Music or Drama student societies, offering students opportunities in direction, production and management as well as performance, new writing, sound design and composition. 

The course requires you to achieve the same musical entry requirements as those on our single-honours MusB Music, enabling you to pursue any area of study in the Music department.  

Your first-year tutor group, peer support and academic advising will normally be provided by the Music department.  

Learn more on the Music  and Drama  websites.

Special features

Performance-focused environment

You will benefit from a combination of academic excellence and conservatoire levels of performance at Manchester and receive 18 lessons each year in one-to-one practical tuition on your first study (when taken for credit).

On our Conducting programme there are 6-7 student positions in the Music Society and four in University Chorus, all mentored by Rob Guy, Head of Conducting.

The Music Society and the Martin Harris Centre (including the superb Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall) presents many events annually.

We have many practice rooms, 13 with pianos, and specialist percussion and keyboard rooms.

There are over 60 performances each year by the Music, Drama and Music Theatre societies.

Composition training

We have six full-time composers with expertise in a range of styles, encompassing instrumental and vocal, interactive media, electroacoustic and film music composition with teaching focused on originality and professional training. Your work will be performed by fellow students in composition courses throughout the degree.

You can also benefit from our dedicated studio, with ProTools suite in electroacoustic composition, film composition and interactive media.

Musicological expertise

From early music to jazz, string quartets to African pop, we have expertise in a vast array of areas, including music theory and analysis, sketch study, reception studies, performance studies, aesthetics, critical theory, cultural studies, community music and ethnomusicology.

Placement year option

Apply your knowledge in a real-world context through a placement year.

Teaching and learning

With a mixture of lectures, seminars, tutorials, workshops and one-to-one performance coaching, our learning environment is open, friendly and designed to inspire. 

Our research-based teaching places students at the heart of the learning process, enabling you to ask complex, original questions and to apply different methods for answering them. 

We understand that making the step up to university study can be quite a challenge, especially if you have limited experience of independent study. We offer a range of support to help you make the transition:  

  • all academic staff run two weekly consultation hours, where the office door is open for any question relating to your studies, progress or university life;
  • we host an active peer support network, including weekly study sessions organised and run by Year 2 and 3 students;
  • you'll be assigned to a weekly tutorial group (7-8 students) in your first year to develop your academic independence, writing skills and critical thinking. The group is run by your academic tutor and provides you with an opportunity to try out new ideas and receive feedback on your progress.

Instrumental tuition is provided by the University for your first instrument or voice. 

Prominent players  from outside the University provide this tuition, and include visitors from the Halle Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and the Royal Northern College of Music. 

Eighteen hours of one-to-one tuition is provided per year, with 20 hours in the third year. 

Expert performers provide coaching on our ensemble performance units.  

You'll be encouraged to attend our weekly programme of Thursday research forums, including performance and composition masterclasses. 

You'll also be encouraged to develop knowledge and skills beyond your course, including extra-curricular opportunities with the Music Society.  

These range from performance and rehearsal to concert management and marketing. 

In Drama, Manchester is distinct from an acting conservatoire; rather than offering purely vocational training, we bring together theory and practice in the study of Drama as cultural process and artistic discourse. 

You'll study stage and screen, the ancient and the contemporary, the mainstream and the avant-garde.  

You'll develop skills in critical thinking, creative problem solving, and the clear articulation of ideas.  

You will learn through lectures, seminars, practical workshops, masterclasses and group work, and engage with the theories and techniques of practitioners past and present in our dedicated studio spaces. 

Drama practical work is generally workshop-based, and not all projects culminate in public performance.

Coursework and assessment

Coursework is regularly assigned and assessed either continually or at the end of the semester, depending on the course units taken.

Students have opportunities to take classes in which presentations may count as an assessed element.

In Music, some musicology and music analysis units are assessed by a combination of written essay and written exam, some by coursework essays only, and others by analytical study (as appropriate).

Practical classes in musicianship, harmony, and aural skills are assessed by examination.

In Drama, units tend to be assessed by a combination of different written assignments.

In practice-based units, practical assessment is typically combined with written assignments, whereas in Music practice-based units in solo or ensemble performance and composition tend not to require written assignments.

Course content for year 1

You'll be introduced to the core disciplines of performance practice and theatre studies in Drama, and to musicology and ethnomusicology in Music.

You'll then select the remaining credits from a breadth of optional courses.

You will take a minimum of 40 credits in Music and a minimum of 40 credits in Drama, with 40 credits in areas of your own choice (including units from elsewhere in the University).

Course units for year 1

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Theatre & Performance 1 - Texts DRAM10001 20 Mandatory
Approaches to Musicology MUSC10511 20 Mandatory
Theatre & Performance 2 - Concepts DRAM10002 20 Optional
The Art of Film DRAM10031 20 Optional
Performance Practices 1 DRAM10101 20 Optional
Performance Practices 2 DRAM10102 20 Optional
Introduction to Early Film Histories DRAM13331 20 Optional
Tonality: Form and Harmony MUSC10011 20 Optional
Tonality: Theory and Analysis MUSC10022 10 Optional
Techniques of Tonal Harmony MUSC10112 10 Optional
Sonic Invention A MUSC10311 10 Optional
Sonic Invention B MUSC10312 10 Optional
Music and Its Contexts MUSC10512 20 Optional
Introduction to World Cinema SALC11002 20 Optional
Displaying 10 of 14 course units for year 1

Course content for year 2

Continue to tailor your studies by selecting from a huge range of optional course units offered by the Music and Drama departments.

You will take a minimum of 40 credits in Music and a minimum of 40 credits in Drama, with 40 credits in areas of your own choice (including units from elsewhere in the University).

Course units for year 2

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Screen, Culture and Society DRAM20041 20 Optional
Theatres of Modernity DRAM20051 20 Optional
Black on Screen DRAM20092 20 Optional
Post-Thatcher British Theatre: New Writing Since 1992 DRAM20102 20 Optional
Performing America DRAM20221 20 Optional
A Score is Born: History and Ideology in Hollywood Film Music DRAM20711 20 Optional
Devising for Performance DRAM21041 20 Optional
Introduction to Documentary Film Practice DRAM21091 20 Optional
Varieties of Shakespeare DRAM21131 20 Optional
Playmaking DRAM21141 20 Optional
Audio Project 1: The Audio Feature DRAM21222 20 Optional
Solo Performance B DRAM21232 20 Optional
Drama in Education DRAM21252 20 Optional
Horror Film: Genre, Periods, Styles DRAM21261 20 Optional
Social Acts: Applied Theatre and Socially Engaged Arts Practice DRAM21272 20 Optional
Virtual Reality (VR) Film Making DRAM21282 20 Optional
Television Drama DRAM21291 20 Optional
Cultures of Performance Training DRAM21302 20 Optional
Theatres of Spontaneity DRAM21401 20 Optional
Introduction to Screenwriting DRAM21551 20 Optional
Introduction to Screenwriting DRAM21552 20 Optional
Performance and Climate Change DRAM21882 20 Optional
Discipline and Punish: The Modern Prison on Stage and Screen DRAM21902 20 Optional
Fixed and Electroacoustic Composition MUSC20061 10 Optional
Interactive Media Composition Environments MUSC20072 20 Optional
Music post 1900 MUSC20222 20 Optional
Instrumental Composition MUSC20321 20 Optional
Vocal Composition MUSC20362 10 Optional
Solo Performance II MUSC20600 20 Optional
Ensemble Performance A (10 credits) MUSC20611 10 Optional
Ensemble Performance A (20 credits) MUSC20621 20 Optional
Ensemble Performance B (10 credits) MUSC20650 10 Optional
Ensemble Performance B 20 Credit MUSC20660 20 Optional
Conducting MUSC20670 10 Optional
Music Cultures of the World MUSC20721 20 Optional
Introduction to Participatory Music MUSC20802 20 Optional
Early Opera MUSC20932 20 Optional
Jazz Improvisation, Theory, and Analysis MUSC21500 20 Optional
God at the Movies RELT20632 20 Optional
Displaying 10 of 39 course units for year 2

Course content for year 3

Select at least one option from the following: Long Essay (Drama), Dissertation (Drama), Dissertation (Music), Composition Portfolio, or Recital, and you may opt to take two options if desired.

You will take a minimum of 40 credits in Music and a minimum of 40 credits in Drama, with 40 credits in areas of your own choice (including units from elsewhere in the University).

Course units for year 3

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Dissertation in Drama/Film (Semester One) DRAM30001 20 Optional
Dissertation in Drama/Film (Semester Two) DRAM30002 20 Optional
Docufiction Filmmaking DRAM30062 40 Optional
Applied Theatre: Theatre in Prisons DRAM30111 40 Optional
Writing For Performance DRAM30212 40 Optional
Queer Bodies and the Cinema DRAM30331 20 Optional
Directors Project DRAM30412 40 Optional
Social Lives of Cinema DRAM30842 20 Optional
Extended Dissertation DRAM30990 40 Optional
From Documentary to Mockumentary DRAM31011 20 Optional
Falstaff and Gandalf go to the Movies: Adapting Fantastic Texts to Screen DRAM31042 20 Optional
Contemporary Theatre-Making DRAM32001 40 Optional
Global Television Industries DRAM32012 20 Optional
Contemporary Documentary Film Making DRAM32102 40 Optional
Performing England: Race, Class and the English Nation from 1945 to the present DRAM33001 20 Optional
Screen Acting & Stardom DRAM33301 20 Optional
Theatre, performance and care: studying artful care and careful art DRAM33462 20 Optional
Postcolonial African Theatres DRAM33541 20 Optional
Screening the Holocaust GERM30482 20 Optional
Advanced Analysis MUSC30011 20 Optional
Composition Portfolio MUSC30300 40 Optional
Dissertation MUSC30400 40 Optional
Aesthetics MUSC30502 20 Optional
Advanced study in Musicology A MUSC30510 20 Optional
Advanced Study in Musicology B (40) MUSC30520 40 Optional
Composition for Film or Game Audio MUSC30540 20 Optional
Recital MUSC30600 40 Optional
Music Performance Studies MUSC30711 20 Optional
Early Opera MUSC30932 20 Optional
Displaying 10 of 29 course units for year 3

Scholarships and bursaries

New for 2024/25 - Exceptional Performer Music Bursary

The Department of Music will provide first-year bursaries to support undergraduate students who have demonstrated exceptional levels of achievement in their instrumental and/or vocal studies. These £1000 bursaries will be awarded in the first year of study (2024/25 academic year), paid direct to students in two instalments.

More information, including eligibility criteria, can be found here

Facilities

The Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama  

Home to Music and Drama at Manchester, this purpose-built creative facility includes: 

  • the Cosmo Rodewald Concert Hall - an acoustically designed auditorium seating up to 350 people;
  • the Lenagan Library - our dedicated performing arts library;
  • the John Thaw Studio Theatre - a flexible, fully equipped performance space with seating for 150 people;
  • specialist rehearsal and practice spaces.

NOVARS Research Centre  

NOVARS boasts state-of-the-art facilities for composition and performance, including award-winning electroacoustic composition studios. 

Studios are equipped with digital recording equipment, Yamaha, Emagic, Akai, Alesis, Max/MSP and GRM technology, as well as Apple Mac workstations. 

We own many specialist percussion and keyboard instruments, including a chamber organ, harpsichord, Gamelan Degung and a five-octave marimba. 

We also own a full suite of replica Baroque instruments, and we offer tuition and performance opportunities on these instruments as part of the Baroque Orchestra concerts which we present every year. You'll also have access to: 

  • Manchester Central Library's Henry Watson Library - known for its Handel and Vivaldi manuscripts;
  • the nearby Royal Northern College of Music Library;
  • the Delia Derbyshire Collection of digitised reel-to-reel tapes, electronic scores and manuscripts. 

Technical resources for Drama include camera kits, sound-editing and video-editing suites within the John Thaw Studio Theatre. 

You'll also benefit from the departments' close links with the neighbouring Contact Theatre and the Royal Exchange Theatre. 

Globally renowned for its arts and cultural offer, Manchester is home to the second highest concentration of theatres in the UK, the largest multi-arts centre outside of the capital, Manchester International Festival and brand new £110 million arts development, The Factory. 

Find out more about Music  and Drama  facilities.

Disability support

Practical support and advice for current students and applicants from the Disability Support Office. Email: disability@manchester.ac.uk