Music BMus (Hons)

Here is a guide to the subjects studied on this course.

Courses are continually reviewed to take advantage of new teaching approaches and developments in research, industry and the professions. Please be aware that modules may change for your year of entry. The exact modules available and their order may vary depending on course updates, staff availability, timetabling and student demand. Please contact the course team for the most up to date module list.
Year one
Musicology 1
Year: 1

Musicology 1 introduces students to the nature of musicological enquiry. Its purpose is to develop students' familiarity with important areas of musical activity, trends and genres, and to address some of the major issues in relation to the study and performance of Western Art and Popular Music. The module also enables students to develop fundamental skills in the study of tonal harmony.

Performance Studies 1
Year: 1

This module introduces the student to a variety of approaches relating to the study of musical performance, promotes self-awareness and provides a broad context for further development. It is designed to develop current levels of aural awareness and serve as an introduction to improvisation as a means by which musicians may generate and develop musical ideas spontaneously, without reliance on a score

Performance Studies 2
Year: 1

This module builds on the skills acquired in MUS102, develops self-awareness, and encourages students to advance their understanding and appreciation of artistic qualities that characterise musical performances. Students are encouraged to make relevant connections between the skills developed here and within other areas of the programme

Musicology 2
Year: 1

In this module students will be introduced to the study of Irish traditional music and the evolution of early jazz.The study of fundamental harmony introduced in Musicology 1 will be continued with emphasis on early jazz.

Music Technology 1
Year: 1

This module provides an introduction to the creative applications of a desktop-based Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) alongside providing a basic understanding of key digital audio procedures and techniques.

Music Technology 2
Year: 1

The module introduces students to the techniques and underpinning principles of contemporary electronic music production, including sequencing, sound synthesis and audio effects and associated audio file management and workflow-related issues.

Composition & Orchestration 1
Year: 1

This module essentially provides students with the necessary capabilities for composing in a free contemporary style and to arranging for small ensemble

Composition and Orchestration 2
Year: 1

This module is geared towards developing the student's compositional and arranging skills, enabling them to approach and produce a more developed range of musical canvasses

Year two
Musicology 3
Year: 2

This module engages with a cross-section of musicological and performance-practice issues in the study of nineteenth-century Western Art Music and Contemporary Classical Music.

Musicology 4
Year: 2

This module builds on the perspectives established in Musicology 3, and provides students with both a broad appraisal of Irish traditional music, song and dance and specific explorations of music in a variety of styles as well as advanced harmony skills and an insight into popular music aesthetics/experimental pop.

Interactive Systems (Music, Media and Performance)
Year: 2

This module is optional

This module is designed for students who wish to develop their practice in interactive systems for live digital music or visual performance, application prototype and/or installation work.

Electronic Music, Sonic Arts and Sound Design
Year: 2

This module is optional

This module introduces students to the key theoretical principles, creative practices and tools for electronic/electroacoustic music production, in addition to other sonic arts and sound design activities.

Performance studies 3
Year: 2

This module is optional

In this module students increase their knowledge of repertoire and performance styles and develop a range of performance and performance-related skills.

Performance studies 4
Year: 2

This module is optional

In this module students develop their individual strengths in performance, their critical faculties and their awareness of the visual dimensions of performance

Composition and Orchestration 3
Year: 2

This module is optional

This module develops students' composing and orchestrating skills, provides opportunity for them to engage with, focus their study on, a range of 20th century and contemporary scores, and facilitates their composition of original musical works

Composition and Orchestration 4
Year: 2

This module is optional

This module is geared towards consolidating and developing composing and orchestrating skills as acquired in Composition and Orchestration 3, and channelling them towards the production of a large-scale original composition and orchestration.

Sound Recording and Studio Techniques
Year: 2

This module is optional

This module provides an overview of the studio environment and of the techniques involved in the different stages of modern music production.

Introduction to Music Business
Year: 2

This module is optional

This module will give students an understanding of key working practices, skills and national and international organisations relevant to the music business. It will provide students with a set of practical skills to equip them as professional practitioners within the music industry

Introduction to Music in the Community
Year: 2

This module is optional

This module will introduce the role of the musician in community arts, exploring skills which will equip students to participate in all aspects of community-based arts projects

Music and Moving Image
Year: 2

This module is optional

This module provides students with a historical, theoretical, stylistic and aesthetic study of music and moving image and the opportunity to compose for the screen. The module focuses primarily on film music and its genres but also covers other screen media, in particular music video and music for television. The module is divided between theoretical and analytical work, including the discussion of selected case studies, and practical work composing and editing in the lab.

Year three
Industrial Placement
Year: 3

This module is optional

This module provides students with the opportunity to experience life as a professional in the creative industries as a paid employee of a company. They will be expected to conduct themselves professionally being an employee of a company and an ambassador for the University during this period. They will be supported by an academic coordinator.

Year four
Interactive Systems 2 (Arts and Media Technologies)
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module is designed for students who wish to pursue advanced study in interactive media systems for installation and/or performance applications.

Sound Theory/Sound Practice
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module develops the learner's understanding of the key role the `forgotten' medium of sound has in contemporary media and in our everyday lived experience. Learning will be grounded in an historical overview of the development of sound study, sound technology and the principal sound art projects of the last 150 years. This grounding will be used to encourage students to develop their own analyses of the ways in which sound frames and permeates our everyday lives and to create their own sound productions informed by these perspectives.

Project 1
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module will allow students to develop the skills necessary to undertake and complete a research project, allowing them to pursue in depth a particular topic, agreed with a supervisor, in which they have a particular interest.

Project 2
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module will allow students to develop the skills necessary to undertake and complete a research project, allowing them to pursue in depth a particular topic, agreed with a supervisor, in which they have a particular interest.

Jazz in the United States
Year: 4

This module is optional

This modules explores the development of Jazz in the United States in the twentieth century using a range of critical and analytical techniques.

Double Project
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module will allow students to develop the skills necessary to undertake and complete a research project, allowing them to pursue in depth a particular topic, agreed with a supervisor, in which they have a particular interest.

Music and Moving Image
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module provides students with a historical, theoretical, stylistic and aesthetic study of music and moving image and the opportunity to compose for the screen. The module focuses primarily on film music and its genres but also covers other screen media, in particular music video and music for television. The module is divided between theoretical and analytical work, including the discussion of selected case studies, and practical work composing and editing in the lab.

Performance Studies 5
Year: 4

This module is optional

In this module students may focus on repertoire/styles in which they have demonstrated particular strengths. They enhance their performance profile through involvement in a range of performance-related activities.

Performance Studies 6
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module is designed for students who have displayed the potential to pursue performance to a level of artistic excellence.

Conversations in Irish Traditional Music
Year: 4

This module is optional

The module will provide students with an overview of the sounds, conversation, communities and contexts of traditional musics in Ireland with a view to developing critical thinking and commentary skills in relation to issues raised.

Composition Portfolio 1
Year: 4

This module is optional

This Module is intended to encourage and empower the student to compose medium scale (6-10 minute) works demonstrating a variety of creative approaches and skills.

Composition Portfolio 2
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module is geared towards developing compositional skills the student has acquired in MUS517 Composition Portfolio 1, and channelling them towards the production of two large scale pieces of music.

Advanced Audio Production
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module is designed for students who wish to pursue advanced study in audio production.

Placement 1
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module allows students to spend a period of time working outside the university in a suitable music or arts organisation.

Placement 2
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module allows students to spend a period of time working outside the university in a suitable music or arts organisation.

Experimental Music
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module will introduce students to the key historical, practical, theoretical, and aesthetic themes associated with experimental music composition and performance.

Teaching Music in the Community
Year: 4

This module is optional

This module introduces students to the practice of teaching music outside the formal school environment. It considers practical supports to help build skills in the planning, delivery and monitoring of teaching, and to encourage future teachers to become reflective in their practice. It also introduces students to the entrepreneurial context in which such teaching in the community is often situated.