Graduate destinations
You will graduate from the programme as a highly skilled and well rounded musician. Whatever your discipline, the programme will have equipped you with the skills and abilities needed to take on high-level professional work. You will have developed a critical and autonomous approach to your principal study, which will enable you to continue to develop your musicianship as your career unfolds. Statistically, the prospects are good, with the great majority of graduates from postgraduate programmes in music progressing either to employment or further study.
It is important to remember, however, that the profession of music is continually changing and evolving. For classically trained instrumentalists in particular, the outlook is challenging, with large numbers of extremely well-qualified musicians from around the word chasing a dwindling number of traditional positions.
The portfolio career
'There is no such thing as a typical musician. The blend of roles, patterns of paid and creative work, employment status and working hours vary across musicians and across different periods in their careers. Developing a portfolio career, made up of a number of different jobs, is a necessary characteristic of many musicians' careers; this invariably involves developing non-music skills such as business, marketing, teaching and community engagement.' – The Working Musician Musician's Union 2012
The quote above is one of the key findings of an extensive research project recently undertaken by the Musicians' Union. It accords well with the experience reported to us by our recent graduates, and is a realistic picture of the lives of many of the part-time staff who teach on the programme.
There are a number of opportunities within the programme which will help you prepare for a varied career path. The Graduate Seminars which form part of Supporting Studies are designed to expand your outlook beyond the principal study, with a particular emphasis on employment and entrepreneurship. These seminars will support you in areas such as tax and self-employment, understanding the funding landscape, self promotion, building a web presence, forming an ensemble, collaborating with artists from another field, preparing for auditions, and sustaining a career through safe and healthy working practices.
The options which form part of the programme also offer a very significant opportunity to develop complementary skills which will make you more employable.
Further study
After completing our programme you may decide to proceed to further study, either here or at another institution. Many students choose to deepen and enrich their artistic practice by further study at a higher level, perhaps through the DPerf offered by the Conservatoire in association with the University of St Andrews. You may also be interested in pursuing research at PhD level, perhaps as a route to an academic career.