Our Music undergraduates benefit from some of the best facilities for music study and practice in the country, including state-of-the-art facilities in our new Bramall Music Building along with practice rooms, electro-acoustic music studios, early instruments, computer workstations and the Barber Institute Concert Hall and Library. As you progress through your degree, you’ll find a greater emphasis is placed on option choices and independent work. You may specialise more in musicology, performance or composition, or some combination of the three.

First year

Your foundation courses will be on Historical Musicology, Instrumental/Vocal Performance and Composition (both paper and studio). Everyone participates in ensemble performances and you’ll also take one module outside the main discipline.

Second year

In this year you have a wide choice of optional modules, ranging from aspects of western art music, through to modules such as Sound Recording, Classical and Romantic Performance, Film Music, and Analysis. Individual Performance (including fully funded instrumental lessons) and a Music History course continue as core modules for Single Honours students. 

Third year

While taking more of the optional modules, you can also specialise: in solo performance by giving a recital; in composition by preparing a portfolio; in musicology by writing a dissertation; or in any two of these. 

As a final-year student you’re reqiured to take an independent study module. In the past these have included Classical Form, Form and Syntax in Post-Tonal Music, Songs and Sagas, American Experimental Music, Italian Vocal Music in the 17th Century, Romantic Harmony, Tonality, Words and Music, Later Baroque Opera, Stravinsky, Solo Performance, Studio Composition, Paper Composition, Orchestration, Recording Techniques, Conducting, Baroque Performance Practice, Film Music, Music and Fascism, The Blues, 18th-Century Counterpoint, and Interactive Music and Creative Computing.

How will I be taught?

As a Birmingham student, you are joining the academic elite and have the privilege of learning from world-leading experts in their fields. Throughout your studies, you’ll be encouraged to become an independent and self-motivated learner, thriving on challenge and opportunities to think for yourself. At first, you may find these new ways of working and learning a challenge, but we’ll help you to make the transition and you’ll soon be benefiting from some of the most highly regarded teaching in this subject in the country.

Support

Personal Tutor

From the outset, you will be assigned your own Personal Tutor who will get to know you as you progress through your studies, providing academic and welfare advice, encouraging you and offering assistance in any areas you may feel you need extra support to make the most of your potential and your time here at Birmingham.

Student Mentor and Buddy Scheme

Our enthusiastic established students act as mentors to our new Music students.  This provides you with a friendly face to help you settle in. 

Academic Writing Advisory Service

The Academic Writing Advisory Service (AWAS) will provide you with individual support from an academic writing advisor and postgraduate subject-specialist writing tutors.  You’ll receive guidance on writing essays and dissertations at University-level which can be quite different from your previous experiences of writing.  Support is given in a variety of ways, such as small-group workshops, online activities, feedback through email and tutorials.

Learning settings

Lectures explore a particular text, topic or context, often involving brief factual descriptions and outlining major questions and interpretations. Their main purpose is to challenge and stimulate, encouraging you to come to your own conclusions based on further reading and seminar debates.

Seminars, workshops and studio work are interactive sessions that develop subject-specific skills such as harmony, counterpoint, composition, analysis and historical understanding, as well as generic skills such as communication and essay writing.

Instrumental and vocal lessons are one-to-one and usually take place at the Birmingham Conservatoire. All our students receive a scholarship for lessons on two instruments.

Supervised self study.In your final year you’ll undertake your independent self study module. We support you in this through a series of workshops, as well as one-on-one supervisions with a tutor who’ll be an academic expert in your chosen topic

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) is an excellent tool for supporting our academic modules, allowing you to share thoughts on assignments with other students via the discussion group facilities, and even submit your work electronically.

Enquiry Based Learning (EBL) means that learning is driven by the shared enquiry of students and tutors. This places you, the student, at the centre of your own degree: you learn through involvement and ownership, not simply by being a passive recipient of information thrown at you.  We believe that this is the best way of learning while you’re at Birmingham as it’s very effective in enabling you to acquire the key skills and attributes that are valued by employers: creative and independent thinking, self-motivation, self-organisation, team-working, goal-setting and problem-solving. 

Our Music graduates have a range of general skills that are highly prized by graduate employers. The study of musical performance and musicology develops analytical skills, lateral thinking and your creative imagination. The process of performing itself helps to develop skills in personal organisation, event management, teamwork and entrepreneurship to succeed in a competitive field.

Music graduates often go on to pursue highly successful careers with employers including: City of London Sinfonia, Purcell School, the Royal Academy of Music, local government, schools, colleges and universities. Many have taken management jobs in orchestras, music venues and other arts and performance organisations, with specific job titles including Accompanist Composer, International Events Manager, Lecturer Music Teacher, Orchestra Administrator, Trainee Orchestra Manager, Performance Music Assistant, Piano Teacher and Professional Musician. Some also decide to pursue graduate study in music and other fields.

The University of Birmingham's music graduates are very successful after graduation. Ninety-five per cent of our Music graduates go into work or study within six months of graduation. This compares well with similar universities and is well above the national average.

Famous former Music students of Univeristy of Birminghamn include:

• Natasha Marsh, BA Music and Drama, 1996 - highly regarded and well-known operatic soprano
• Gabriel Prokofiev, BMus Music, 1997 - well-known composer and DJ with works performed at the Proms (Sergei was his grandfather)
• David Murray, BMus Music, 1975 and 2012 Honorary Graduate - Director of the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales

Whether you have a clear idea of where your future aspirations lie or want to consider the broad range of opportunities available once you have a Birmingham degree, our Careers Network can help you achieve your goal. This is a unique careers guidance service tailored to your academic subject area, offering a specialised team who can give you expert advice. This includes individual careers advice and events to give you insight into the professions and employers of interest to arts graduates, and access to internships (including some at summer music festivals) and job vacancies. Events that might appeal to Music students include the 'Careers in Music' and 'Careers in Event Management' workshops that are held as part of the Creative Careers Series.

Extra-curricular activities

To enhance your career prospects even further, you will need to think about engaging in some extra-curricular activities while you're at university to broaden your skills and your network of contacts. This can include the many societies at the Guild of Students and also the many voluntary opportunities offered with local arts organisations. Our employer-endorsed award-winning Personal Skills Award (PSA) recognises your extra-curricular activities, and provides an accredited employability programme designed to improve your career prospects.

Our College of Arts and Law undergraduate research scholarship scheme enables interested students to work on a current academic research project being run by one of the College's academic researchers. Undergraduate research scholars gain work experience over the summer after their first or second year and have the chance to develop skills in both collaborative and independent research.

Cultural Internships

Our innovative Cultural Internships offer graduates the opportunity for a six month paid internship at a leading cultural institution in the West Midlands. These internships are a unique opportunity to learn fundamental, transferable business and interpersonal skills, through experience of real work in an established cultural institution. Our current partners include Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham Royal Ballet, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust and the Library of Birmingham. We have plans to expand the scheme to include our own major cultural assets, such as Winterbourne House, the Lapworth Museum, and the Barber Institute of Fine Arts. This scheme will give you professional experience to set you apart in a competitive graduate market.