Academic Studies
The Academic Studies department is here to support your Principal Study development in a variety of ways and to enable you to become an enquiring, articulate and well-informed musician. Our emphasis is on promoting the integration of practical and theoretical aspects of music-making, by developing necessary musical knowledge and skills, and by supporting your development in areas of particular individual interest and strength.
Our programme offers a combination of core subjects and specialist electives, and we also offer additional support in English as a Second Language where necessary.
Core subjects for Classical students:
Integrated Studies in Music (Year 1)
Integrated Studies in Music in Year 1 is made up of two parts: Musicianship and Creating and Performing Knowledge.
In Musicianship, you will develop your understanding of musical language through courses in Ear-Training and Musical Materials. Ear-Training develops aural awareness, which is relevant to performers and composers, through practical class work, aural analysis and individual computer-assisted coursework based on specialised online ear-training software (e.g. Auralia).
You will progressively develop your ability to memorise, understand and notate music, to recognise intervals and rhythmic patters, to sing/play back accurately what has been heard, and to recognise mistakes. In Musical Materials, you will deepen your understanding of tonal harmony in Western music by studying a variety of repertoire from the common-practice period; this may be explored through analysis or pastiche composition.
Creating and Performing Knowledge facilitates students accessing the highly creative intersection between their instinctive knowledge as performers and their expanding, explicit understanding of music. In doing so it not only supports students' developing musicianship, but also allows them to develop a language with which to understand and communicate their identity as musicians. Creating and Performing Knowledge additionally assists students in contextualising their academic work within their principal study practice and vice versa.
In Year 1, Creating and Performing Knowledge is delivered through a mixture of whole-cohort lectures, principal study tutorial groups, and individual coaching. In addition, first year students take Professional Studies 1 which aims to produce an informed, open, flexible musician with an awareness of the psychical and psychological demands of conservatoire education, of the professional aspects of music making, and who is able to engage in a variety of contexts and collaborative creative processes.
It encourages students to examine their practice holistically, introducing concepts relevant to a variety of professional contexts. The content is divided into three areas: Health and Wellbeing; Performance and Communication Skills; Professional Skills.
Integrated Studies in Music (Year 2)
In Year 2, students continue with Creating and Performing Knowledge, which begins to offer a more individualised curriculum in preparation for Year 3’s research and dissertation. Students may also continue with Ear-Training and/or Musical Materials if necessary. Otherwise, they have a choice of two electives (see below).
They also take Conducting; the aim of this module is to enable students to perform in a competent manner when faced with a situation in which they have to lead/direct/conduct a group of musicians. Students learn the foundational skills and principles of conducting in a practical setting appropriate to their individual disciplines, whereby they gain experience in rehearsing effectively and efficiently whilst remaining under the guidance of the module tutor. From term two, jazz students and electronic music students join a specialist class.
Professional Studies (Year 4)
This module explores and equips students with a range of skills related to working in the performing, creative and educational industries. Taught classes, seminars, mentored sessions and practical tasks will help you create three portfolios relevant to the main career paths for music graduates. The module is delivered through four areas: Teaching Skills, Independent Performance Project, Professional Portfolio and Cross-Departmental seminars.
Elective subjects
Year 2 students may choose one or two electives, if they are not required to continue with Ear-Training and/or Musical Materials classes. The range of electives encompasses Analysis, Collaborative Skills, Composition, Electronic Music, History, Jazz, Keyboard Musicianship and Second Study.
View description of year 1 & 2 electives
Year 3 and 4 choices include Brass & Wind Arranging, Body Matters, Techniques in Composition, Conducting, Interpretation through Improvisation, Introduction to Music Therapy, Music Philosophy and the Arts, Research Project and others.
Students in years 3 and 4 who achieve high results in Principal Study can also do Advanced Principal Study and Advanced Ensemble.
View description of year 3 & 4 electives
Core subjects for Jazz students:
Integrated Studies in Music (Year 1)
Integrated Studies in Music in Year 1 is made up of two parts: Musicianship and Creating and Performing Knowledge.
In Musicianship, you will develop your understanding of musical language through courses in Rhythm and Aural/Transcription. Jazz students will be streamed into different levels on entry, and classes will alternate weekly. Jazz Rhythm is a practical class developing rhythmic skills for performance, exploring the rhythmic vocabulary of jazz music from its origins through the integration of world and other rhythmic genres.
Topics include time feel, accuracy, pulse, groove, motivic development and displacement, less common time signatures and metric modulations. Aural/Transcription classes aim to equip students with the core aural skills necessary to absorb music, both in terms of personal study and in order to heighten real-time performance interaction and awareness. A foundation of key aural skills, from interval and chord recognition to aural assimilation of cadence and harmonic structures, feeds both the compositional and performance outputs of the student.
Creating and Performing Knowledge facilitates students accessing the highly creative intersection between their instinctive knowledge as performers and their expanding, explicit understanding of music. In doing so it not only supports students' developing musicianship, but also allows them to develop a language with which to understand and communicate their identity as musicians.
Creating and Performing Knowledge additionally assists students in contextualising their academic work within their principal study practice and vice versa. It is delivered through a mixture of principal study tutorial groups and individual coaching which run back to back with the Principal Study improvisation class. The combined length of both classes is nominally three hours. Half of this time is devoted to academic work and leads to the completion of the ISM module assessment, and half is devoted to improvisation and supports preparation towards Principal Study assessment. The balance and relationship between these two areas may vary from week to week.
In addition, first-year students take Professional Studies 1 which aims to produce an informed, open, flexible musician with an awareness of the psychical and psychological demands of conservatoire education, of the professional aspects of music making, and who is able to engage in a variety of contexts and collaborative creative processes.
It encourages students to examine their practice holistically, introducing concepts relevant to a variety of professional contexts. The content is divided into three areas: Health and Wellbeing; Performance and Communication Skills; Professional Skills.
Integrated Studies in Music (Year 2)
In Year 2, students continue with Creating and Performing Knowledge, which begins to offer a more individualised curriculum in preparation for Year 3’s research and dissertation. Students may also continue with Rhythm and Aural/Transcription if necessary. Otherwise, they have a choice of two electives (see below). They also take classes in Composition, Arranging and Conducting.
Elective subjects
Year 2 students may choose one or two electives, if they are not required to continue with Rhythm and Aural/Transcription classes. The range of electives includes Analysis, Collaborative Skills, Composition, Electronic Music, History, Keyboard Musicianship and Second Study.
View description of Year 2 electives
In Year 3, Creating and Performing Knowledge, following on from the Creating and Performing Knowledge elements of ISM1 and 2, culminates with a personal research project which offers the student an opportunity to explore and communicate aspects of their identity as a musician. This may, for example, reflect the integration of academic studies and Principal Study, allowing the student to investigate areas that are supportive to their developing career in music, or provide the opportunity for a student to engage in study of a genre of particular of interest to them.
Year 3 of Creating and Performing Knowledge will introduce students to a variety of research techniques, including elements of practice-led research; the scope of the projects, however, are carefully circumscribed by the tutorial team. The module develops students’ ability to independently collate and critically evaluate material, and to synthesise this material with their own arguments.
Year 3 and 4 elective choices include Big Band Arranging, Body Matters, Composition for Media, Electro-Acoustic Music, Introduction to Music Therapy, Jazz Performance, Music Philosophy and the Arts, Research Project, Second Study and Workshop Skills. Some of these choices require successful audition or completion of relevant electives in Year 2.
Students in years 3 and 4 who achieve high results in Principal Study can also do Advanced Principal Study.
View description of Year 3 & 4 electives
Staff
Department of Academic Studies teaching staff
Contact:
Department Manager
Brendan MacDonald
Tel: 020 7382 6159
brendan.macdonald@gsmd.ac.uk
