Royal Holloway, University of London has participated in the Teaching Excellence Framework. These ratings were awarded in 2023, for four years.
Course summary
Our Integrated Foundation Year for Arts and Humanities will take you through a carefully-designed course to help you to progress confidently onto your undergraduate degree. Arts and Humanities subjects, like Music, provide key ways of understanding our complex world, its histories, and current debates facing contemporary society. Identity, political and social conflict, our interaction with new digital and genetic technologies, our stewardship of the environment are all issues where the voice of creative and critical thinking are key. Literary texts, films, plays and digital games offer important ways in which societies have debated - and continue to represent - their values and their futures. The Foundation Year provides progressive structures in which you are able to gain knowledge and understanding of approaches to humanities study and your chosen degree subject. All Foundation Year students take ‘Global Perspectives’, then four subject-based courses provide approaches to the study of arts and humanities subjects, giving you critical skills to explore a range of literary, visual, and cultural forms, including plays, films, and digital media. Once you have completed your Foundation year, you will normally progress onto the full degree course, BMus Music. There may also be flexibility to move onto a degree in another department (see end of section, below). BMus Music at Royal Holloway is a flexible degree, allowing you to tailor your degree to your own interests and passions. We have expertise spanning traditional, modern and world music. Through studying musical texts, practices, cultures and institutions you will explore issues in history, sociology, ethnology, and philosophy covering an exceptional geographical and chronological range. You will also be able to gain practical skills in composition, music technology and performance. You will join a music department that is among the very best in the country, ranked third in the UK for research quality (REF 2014) and the only music department in the country to hold a prestigious Regius Professorship. Our well-connected department means you have the opportunity to make valuable music industry contacts. Our staff are connected with musical networks such as Wigmore Hall, the BBC Proms, Royal Opera House.
- Choose from a wide range of performance opportunities including orchestras, choirs, jazz, pop, and world music ensembles.
- Learn from academics whose expertise spans music from the Middle Ages to the present and around the globe.
- Gain practical skills in composition, music technology or performance.
- Receive excellent tuition on your first instrument (or voice) at no extra cost to you.
- Apply for one of our choral, organ, orchestral or music scholarships.
- You will have access to our well-equipped studios, recording facilities, and incredible performance spaces, including the Windsor Auditorium, Boilerhouse Theatre, Victorian Picture Gallery and College Chapel.
- Work with professional conductors and receive coaching from leading professional groups such as the King's Singers and the London Mozart Players.
Modules
Please refer to our website for information: https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/undergraduate/music/bmus-music-with-integrated-foundation-year/
Assessment method
In the foundation year, you will spend the first two terms working on your academic study skills and key themes in the humanities. You’ll enjoy a wide variety of perspectives and approaches to topics designed to introduce you to all sorts of key ideas and methods of study. In the third term, you will specialize in music, focusing on foundational music theory skills, or sources and methods of studying music. You’ll also explore musical topics and discussions in depth. In the first year, you will learn the core elements of all aspects of music. You’ll gain a broad overview of music. Some will be familiar to you, some completely new. This year doesn’t count towards your final degree result, so you can relax and explore all sorts of new topics. In the second year, you will start to focus on areas most interesting to you with our ‘flexible core’, and start to take more specialist options as you explore more advanced topics and themes. In the final year, amongst other topics, you will undertake at least one Special Study in composing, performing or writing about music. This is your opportunity to explore a topic or your own practice in depth. You’ll still have space in your timetable for other topics, too. There are a wide variety of assessments and forms of delivery on this degree. Composition modules are assessed by coursework portfolios, but you’ll also perform, write essays, give presentations, and so on, depending on the options you take. Some courses are lecture-based, while others primarily use tutorials, one-to-one sessions, or seminars. On this degree, you’ll spend your time composing, playing music, writing, reading, watching/studying examples and experimenting with new approaches to music. You’ll join a vibrant School of Performing and Digital Arts. We have a huge number of concerts and events, giving you opportunities to perform, compose and listen to music of any style, both as part of the degree and beyond.
How to apply
29Jan
This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.
Application codes
- Course code:
- W30F
- Institution code:
- R72
- Campus name:
- Main Site
- Campus code:
- -
Points of entry
The following entry points are available for this course:
- Foundation
Entry requirements
Qualification requirements
UCAS Tariff - Not accepted
A level - CCC
Student Outcomes
Operated by the Office for Students
Employment after 15 months (Most common jobs)
Go onto work and study
The number of student respondents and response rates can be important in interpreting the data – it is important to note your experience may be different from theirs. This data will be based on the subject area rather than the specific course. Read more about this data on the Discover Uni website.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| EU | £27500 | Year 1 |
| England | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Northern Ireland | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Scotland | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Wales | £9250 | Year 1 |
| Channel Islands | £9250 | Year 1 |
| International | £27500 | Year 1 |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
The tuition fee for UK undergraduates is controlled by Government regulations. The fee for the academic year 2024/25 is £9,250 and is provided here as a guide. The fee for UK undergraduates starting in 2025/26 has not yet been set, but will be advertised here once confirmed.
This figure is the fee for EU and international students starting a degree in the academic year 2025/26.
Royal Holloway reserves the right to increase tuition fees annually for overseas fee-paying students. The increase for continuing students who start their degree in 2025/26 will be 5%. For further information see fees and funding and the terms and conditions.
These estimated costs relate to studying this particular degree at Royal Holloway during the 2025/26 academic year and are included as a guide. Costs, such as accommodation, food, books and other learning materials and printing, have not been included.
Sponsorship information
https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studyhere/undergraduate/feesandfunding/bursariesandscholarships/home.aspx
Provider information
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham
TW20 0EX