Music Technology and Composition BMus(Hons)

This module will introduce you to relevant techniques and technologies for computer-based music production, including sequencing, sampling, arrangement, and a variety of other sound processing techniques. A range of practical work - both technical and creative - will develop your critical listening and production skills, and seminars will support you in applying these techniques to your own creative work.

The module is intended to enable you to develop your compositional abilities, through the exploration of a range of compositional techniques, with particular reference to acquiring a better understanding of rhythm, timbre, melody/contour, harmony, texture, form and notation. You will also explore the basics of instrumentation. Your creative aural imagination will be stimulated by studying and employing a variety of expressive musical languages.

You will gain hands-on experience of a variety of key musical skills: improvisation; aural awareness; ensemble performance; and evaluating your own and others' performances. A wide range of styles and genres will be explored, and you will work with musicians relevant to your specialism as a pop, classical, or jazz performer.

This module aims to provide you with an overview of the technologies found in a modern audio recording environment. The module will introduce you to audio principles such as signals, acoustics, hearing, basic electronics and digital audio. These principles will be used to develop an understanding of audio technologies found in music production, such as studio spaces, microphones, mixing desks, amplifiers, audio processors and speaker systems.

Building on the skills and knowledge acquired in Desktop Music Production 1 or AFM1208 Technology for Music, this module will provide further study of the techniques of computer-based music production. Techniques examined in-depth will include synthesis, sequencing, sampling, editing, processing and mixing techniques, as well as their creative application. Issues of pre/post production and arrangement will also be explored. You will also continue to study musical arrangement within a computer-based production context. You will explore these topics through practical technical and creative work that will improve your techno-fluency and abilities in detailed critical listening. Seminars will support the application of production techniques and ideas.

You will explore a variety of techniques, resources, and notational skills to enhance and extend your work as a composer, including guidance on writing creatively for voices, mixed ensembles, percussion, invented instruments and electronics. With support provided by classes, tutorials, and workshops in a range of musical styles, you will work towards the production of a unique coursework portfolio of compositions.

Building on the technical skills and knowledge acquired in Desktop Music Production 1, this module will develop your ability to work creatively with sound, as well as your knowledge of electronic musical practices and thinking. You will be introduced to a broad range of new electronic music and models for thinking about sound as a creative medium. You will listen to, and practically explore, electronic music from a range of contexts, including electronica, EDM, IDM, acousmatic music and sound installation work. Drawing on ideas and music explored in class you will create your own original electronic compositions, showing an awareness of contemporary and historical thinking and techniques.

As both a musical researcher and creative practitioner you will undertake an in-depth exploration of a particular area of music by choosing one specialist topic from a range on offer. Using musicological study to underpin and inspire artistic activity, you will engage with current issues in practice research, discover new repertoire and approaches to creativity, and reflect on research as an element of your own creative practice.

Working towards a coursework portfolio of your own creative work, you will learn about a range of a range of approaches to orchestration from the Baroque to the present day. Classes will explore the characteristics of individual instruments and strategies for combining them, including issues of balance, voicing, doubling, and effective control of orchestral textures.

This module will provide a strong understanding of methods for creating, processing and integrating audio into games. You will be able to apply these techniques to a variety of simulated games environments. Generative techniques will be applied to produce music tracks, sound effects associated with objects within games and environmental sound (such as water, wind etc). You will also gain understanding of software commonly used in this area.

You will be introduced to advanced concepts, theory and practical use of a broad range of equipment used for recording, editing and mixing sound. You will gain practical experience of sound recording in analogue/digital recording studios, in a concert hall and on location. Your ability to edit multitrack audio using advanced post production techniques will be developed, as will the skills required to capture accurate stereo and multichannel recordings in a concert hall environment.

You will build on the experience you have gained previously in composition, production, and/or songwriting modules to produce a sophisticated piece (or small set of pieces) of music based on a set of staff-led options relevant to your compositional practice. Examples might include multichannel audio composition, instrumental composition, songwriting, music production, and audiovisual composition. Tutorial support for this creative work will be provided. You will be introduced to relevant techniques such as spatialisation, the use of complex orchestration/arrangements, advanced studio production, video, interactive or mixed media work. You will develop your ability to work with such techniques creatively.

After an initial lecture and seminar programme covering aspects of professional practice, you will complete a work-related project. Typical work-related projects include: documented placement work (for example, as a classroom assistant in a school; membership, administration or promotion of a non-university music ensemble; assisting in concert management; work as a music copyist and/or editor; music journalism; studio management etc.); researching and building a professional work-related website; releasing music commercially with associated promotion or an industry showcase event . Although there is no requirement for the work-related project to be music-specific, it should provide the student with sufficient opportunity to develop graduate and transferable skills for the workplace and must be agreed with the module leader prior to commencing assessment work.

As an advanced and increasingly independent musical researcher and creative practitioner, you will undertake an in-depth exploration of a particular area of music by choosing one specialist topic from a range on offer. Using musicological study to underpin and inspire artistic activity, you will engage with current issues in practice research, discover new repertoire and approaches to creativity, and reflect on research as an element of your own creative practice.

This composition module equips you with the skills needed to write original scores for film, television, and videogames. Working towards portfolios of original compositions, you'll receive tuition in the technical practices of soundtrack composition: spotting cues, creating live soundtracks for film, arranging and orchestrating pre-existing music, and working with technology to create realistic instrumental sounds and effects.

You will learn the skills needed to produce and design sound for film, television, video games, and mobile devices, working towards a coursework portfolio of practical work accompanied by professional technical documentation. The module provides practical training in location recording, dealing with equipment, making sound effects, sound design, preparing layers of audio for post-production, and the skills needed for soundtrack compilation.

This module permits students to select an additional project option to broaden their study alongside the Composition Project module. Please view that description for further details.