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Learning and teaching

Areas of study​

The MMus/MA is structured into twelve 'strands', each of which leads to a different named award:

  • Performance
    • includes all string, woodwind and brass instruments, guitar, harp, timpani and percussion, piano solo, piano ensemble, harpsichord and voice
  • Chamber Music
  • Composition
  • Conducting
  • Historically Informed Performance Practice (MA only)
  • Jazz
  • Opera
  • Performance and Pedagogy
  • Piano for Dance
  • Piano Accompaniment
  • Repetiteurship
  • Traditional Music

Each strand is distinguished by its own Principal Study and Supporting Studies modules: the Practice Research module is common to all strands with the exception of Opera, where it is replaced by the Role Study module.

Principal Study and Supporting Studies​

The Principal Study and Supporting Studies modules are co-requisites. Taken together, they encompass many of the distinctive features of musical study in a Conservatoire environment at masters level. There are however distinct differences between these two core modules in both their learning and teaching methods, and in modes of assessment.

The Principal Study is the primary focus of your learning experience, supported by regular individualised learning in your discipline. These lessons will form part of an ongoing cycle of individual practice and reflection, and will require you to devote a substantial amount of time to independent learning. Alongside this individual activity, there will in many strands of the programme be time allocated to taught and/or supervised group activity. This includes, for example; the participation of instrumentalists in large ensemble activities; the work of singers, players, and repetiteurs in opera productions; chamber music, band, and small ensemble coaching; and ensemble podium time for conductors.

The Supporting Studies module comprises a wide range of individually tailored activities designed to meet the needs of each individual student. This may include: performance classes; seminars, workshops and masterclasses; attendance at concerts; rehearsals; performances, solo or group, where not assessed as part of the principal study; additional study of a related instrument or instruments; and taught classes specific to the discipline/department.

What all of these learning opportunities have in common is that they look beyond your individual development as a musician. The Supporting Studies module will ask you to work collaboratively in a widening circle of peers, potentially encompassing your colleagues within your own discipline, other musicians within the School of Music, fellow students from the Undergraduate and Research cohorts, staff and students from other Schools within the Conservatoire, and professionals from a range of disciplines both close to and far from the discipline of music.

The Principal Study and Supporting Studies modules are further differentiated by their modes of assessment. The Principal Study represents the primary locus of your development as a musician, and therefore offers two or three individually negotiated assessments in each year of the programme. These are not 'examinations', but will in every case represent proto-professional opportunities to demonstrate your musical skills, whether through playing, singing, conducting, composing or research; either solo or, in many cases, in a collaborative setting.

The Supporting Studies module is assessed on the basis of a profile of indicative grades and feedback across all of the activities undertaken. The indicative grade for a particular activity may be recorded as pass/fail, or there may be an alphanumeric grade, as appropriate: the final module grade is a pass or fail. It should be noted that, in cases where a particular activity is shared with Undergraduate students, you will still be assessed according to SCQF Level 11 (Masters) Learning Outcomes. This flexible approach to assessment allows us to reliably assess that the module outcomes have been achieved, while offering maximum flexibility in tailoring both the activities and the feedback to your individual musical goals.

Practice Research​

This module challenges you to examine critically an aspect of your arts practice by means of an individually-negotiated portfolio of research, reflection and/or documentation. Over the course of your studies, with the support of a supervisor, you will assemble a portfolio of documentation and reflective writing that interrogates a self-chosen research focus and communicates your findings. There are two negotiable deadlines for the Practice Research module, one in February and one in May. The majority of students will submit for the February deadline.

(If you are a Repetiteur student you will take the Practice Research module, but in most cases base your portfolio on work alongside Opera students in the Role Study module. You can choose which part of your work on the Role Study you wish to write about in the submission – for instance, you might study a role; an opera or a series of operas (eg the three da Ponte operas); look at the continuo in Mozart recit etc; or write about some other area of interest to your discipline.)

Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy​

The MMus Performance and Pedagogy strand offers the opportunity to develop the knowledge, understanding and skills related to learning, teaching and assessment in music education as an instrumental (or vocal) teacher. The programme emphasises the value of learning and teaching as a professional activity; supports the development of your identity as an instrumental teacher and explores teaching as a key component of your continuing growth as a performing artist.

Core to the Performance and Pedagogy strand are the two 30-credit Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy modules. Module 1 is studied in the first year – unless it has been completed as part of your BMus 4 education at the Conservatoire. The second module, Instrumental and Vocal Pedagogy 2, forms part of the studies in the second year of the MMus. This second module, together with Module 1, forms the core components of the professional pedagogical education required of instrumental teachers.

Negotiated Study (or HIPP Dissertation)​

The Negotiated Study module, distinctive to the MA programme, invites you to synthesise a range of skills and experiences into a largely independent and self-defined project. Learning outcomes and assessments are negotiated individually between you and your supervisor, drawing on a range of suggested projects. The potential scope of the module is broad: you might choose to undertake a performance project, initiate a creative collaboration, or research and produce a conventional dissertation. The flexibility offered allows you to demonstrate a high level of independence in pursuit of self-defined artistic and professional goals.

For students on the MA in Historically Informed Performance Practice strand, this module is replaced by the HIPP Dissertation. This module allows you to demonstrate a critical knowledge and understanding of an identified research area in the form of a 10-20,000 word written dissertation.

Options​

Options give space within the curriculum for you to engage in studies which enhance professional versatility, by pursuing areas of interest either close to or far away from your core discipline. The choice includes modules drawn from the undergraduate programmes in the School of Music as well as Interdisciplinary and Extended Practice (IXP) modules that are collaborative with the School of Drama, Dance, Production and Film.

The design of the programme puts no restrictions on the level of the options chosen. There is a significant amount of choice available in the amount of credit taken in this way: you are free to choose pathways which place greater weight on Supporting Studies.

(The Opera and Repetiteur strands include a comprehensive range of specialist activities within the Supporting Studies module that are central to the work of the Department. For this reason, participation in Options modules for students on these strands is highly exceptional, and may only take place with the prior agreement of both the Head of Opera and the Head of Programme.)

Deadlines for option modules will be notified to you by the relevant Module Coordinator, and usually also noted in your Asimut calendar.