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Explore our Music facilities with Guildhall students

Guildhall has a unique buzz and vibe to it…a great sense of community and friendliness

Rebecca Carson
BMus Flute

Rebecca Carson
Guildhall has prepared me for a career in music therapy from searching for jobs to having brilliant work experience from the placements they chose for me

Emma Barber
MA Music Therapy

Emma Barber
Guildhall had a crucial role in my success. The very high quality orchestral projects and masterclasses prepared me for professional life

Joao Seara
BMus Double Bass

Joao Seara
Studying at the Guildhall School has been a life-changing and unforgettable adventure

Rebekah Carpio
MMus Clarinet (Orchestral Artistry)

Rebekah Carpio
The strong collaboration between departments has created a very special and supportive atmosphere

Meili Li
MMus Opera Studies

Meili Li
The teaching staff encourage the diversity that Guildhall is known for…there is something for everyone, regardless of style and influence

Oliver Leith
MMus Composition

Oliver Leith
Such incredible musicians and inspiring teachers and the opportunity to hear from world-class visiting artists has been invaluable

Vijay Prakash
MMus Jazz Trombone

Vijay Prakash
During my time here, I organised an international conference based around my subject involving delegates from 4 continents

Emily Baines
DMus, ‘Mechanical Musical Instruments as a Source for Historical Performance’

Emily Baines
In my first year, I was given the opportunity to play with the Britten-Pears Orchestra. We performed a number of concerts and our CD, recorded at one of those concerts, went on to win the BBC Music Magazine Award for Best Opera Recording.

Andrew McCoy
BMus Tenor Trombone

Andrew McCoy
Working in pairs during the MA has helped me developer a deeper understanding of how opera composers work and how to spark their imaginations with a libretto.

Zoe Palmer (writer)
MA Opera Making and Writing

Zoe Palmer (writer)
The relationship between the Barbican, BBC, and Guildhall is absolutely invaluable as it provides opportunities for students that cannot be found elsewhere.

Emiko Edwards
MPerf Piano

Emiko Edwards
I feel that the people here really make the institution. I found Guildhall to be a really supportive environment that gave me room to explore, take risks, and mature as a mucisian, and as a human being.

Francesca Chiejina
MPerf Vocal Studies

Francesca Chiejina
Writing music for theatre has been a highlight of my time at Guildhall, as it has allowed me to explore an art form in which I have a great amount of interest and to work towards a professional finished product.

Alexander Hall
BMus Composition

Alexander Hall
Barbican is a key partner of Guildhall, and we can often get artists who perform there to do a masterclass or project with us, and we often do performances at Barbican events.

Ieva Vaitiekunaite
BMus Electronic Music

Ieva Vaitiekunaite
Whether it is in sit-in rehearsals, side-by-side projects or chamber orchestra sessions, the LSO players offer invaluable guidance and provide a glimpse of the exceptional standards we aspire towards.

Rees Webster
MPerf Oboe (Orchestral Artistry)

Rees Webster
I was excited to cover a role in the UK premiere of Andrew Norman's 'A Trip to the Moon' in the Barbican, have a solo recital at LSO St Luke's and also to sing on the stage of Wigmore Hall.

Mirjam Mesak
MPerf Vocal Studies

Mirjam Mesak
I knew about the fantastic tutoring and resources, but the friendly and stimulating environment clinched it for me.

Eden Lonsdale
BMus Composition

Eden Lonsdale
I had the opportunity to play percussion with the Guildhall Studio Orchestra which gave me the chance to learn from, and play alongside, amazing senior players, as well as to perform with the incredible Liane Carroll.

Dave Adsett
BMus Jazz Drums

Dave Adsett
Guildhall is an institution that knows it has to be connected to the outside world - that's the key thing. It's not a bubble. It has roots in the city and in the world.

Jonathan Ferrucci
Artist Diploma Piano

Jonathan Ferrucci
One minute you could be playing in the Guildhall Studio Orchestra with jazz musicians, the next you could be playing in the opera pit, then the next minute you'll b e with actors doing the musical and then playing a symphony in the orchestra.

Millie Ashton
BMus Violin

Millie Ashton
The departmental philosophy of returning opera back to something that is essentially produced as part of a company is a really great thing.

Klara Kofen (writer)
MA Opera Making and Writing

Klara Kofen (writer)
The quality of teaching is amazingly high. With the guidance and help that I've been given, I feel my work has got dramatically better over a short space of time.

Lucy Armstrong (composer)
MA Opera Making and Writing

Lucy Armstrong (composer)
I set up a piano trio when I arrived, and we have weekly coaching with members of the Endellion Quartet and the faculty. It has been very rewarding.

Leo Popplewell
MMus Cello

Leo Popplewell
It seemed like this was a place to go and experience a complete world of art and performance and see what happened - a place that really encouraged you to make things that you want to make.

Vittorio Angelone
BMus Percussion

Vittorio Angelone
Home > Music > Courses > Undergraduate > Bachelor of Music honours degree > Academic Studies

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) (led by the Creative Learning Division and Principal Study departments)

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