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Music Performance at University of Huddersfield - UCAS

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2024 - 20252025 - 2026
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There are other course options available which may have a different vacancy status or entry requirements – view the full list of options

Course summary

This course is designed to enable you to pursue music performance at an advanced level, allowing you to specialise in particular areas and genres of music performance as well as develop your skills as a rounded and expert performer. You will do so as part of a vibrant, stimulating and energetic community for music performance at the University of Huddersfield. As well as advancing your technical skills and confidence as a performer, you will work to gain a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the repertoire you perform, develop your intellectual and creative skills required for a high level of performance, and apply research skills with a view to making an original contribution to the professional context of music performance. You may choose to specialise in the following areas, reflecting and drawing upon the expertise within Music and Music Technology at the University of Huddersfield:

  • Brass Band performance
  • Choral Conducting
  • Conducting (1 place per year)
  • Historically Informed Performance
  • Improvisation
  • New Music Performance
  • Organ Studies
  • Piano Accompaniment
  • Popular Music performance
Alternatively, you may also select to pursue a broad programme of study within classical music. Staff teaching on the MMus Music Performance are themselves active as performers, as soloists and ensemble members, giving regular live concerts and releasing recordings to international critical acclaim. We offer expert instrumental/vocal tuition appropriate to the specialisms from tutors who are experienced and highly regarded in their fields. Music at the University of Huddersfield has an international reputation, and hosts what is possibly the largest postgraduate community in music in the world. All students on the course will be part of the Research Centre for Performance Practices (ReCePP - https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/recepp/) which acts as a focus for staff and postgraduate community of performers in Music and Drama. ReCePP encourages Performance-as-Research and Performance Studies research across a range of disciplines. As well as being active as performers, all performance staff are leading researchers in fields of performance practice and performance studies. ReCePP maintains strong connections with other research centres, including the Centre for Research in New Music CeReNeM (https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cerenem/) and the Centre for Music, Culture and Identity (https://research.hud.ac.uk/institutes-centres/cmci/) which provides a focus for musicological research in the department. The University presents regular concerts throughout the academic year, hosting a wide variety of professional performers across a range of genres and styles. Additionally the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival and Electric Spring offer performances given by leading practitioners within the field of new music. Professional links and accreditations: Music staff are active across diverse professional contexts, including as performers, editors, and in publication. The department is actively involved with a number of ensembles such as Academy of Ancient Music, Apartment House, Boxwood and Brass, Gabrieli Consort and Players, Meiningen Ensemble and the Rose Consort of Viols, and numerous other ensembles and performers are invited regularly through each year for performances and workshops. Record labels with whom members of staff have recorded include Another Timbre, HatHut, Resonus Classics, Sub Rosa. The department also publishes on its own labels Huddersfield Contemporary Records and Pennine Records. Members of staff perform regularly at festivals and concert halls, including all the major London venues, and often feature on BBC Radio 3 as performers and guest speakers. We regularly host conferences and events in partnership with scholarly societies, such as the Performance Studies Network, and the Royal Musical Association.

Modules

Core modules Researching Music Performance 1 Performance in Context Performance 2

Assessment method

Teaching takes a number of different forms on this course, and you will benefit from a lively curriculum taught by leading performers and academics in their field. You will receive 26 hours of individual tuition across the duration of the course from expert instrumental/vocal tutors appropriate to your chosen specialism. Supporting these will be a series of performance workshops led by members of the performance team, held in our concert halls and supported by members of the technical team and our pianist-in-residence and Head of Keyboard. You will also benefit from concerts, masterclasses and workshops from visiting guest performers through the year. Other classes will take the form of seminar groups and tutorials, in which you will work alongside other performance postgraduates in exploring and developing research techniques appropriate to performance and wider research concerns and topics which address how performance and research connect. These will be led by members of the performance and musicology teams. In addition, you will attend regular seminars and colloquia featuring guest and local speakers about a range of research topics and activities that will provide you with good models and cause for further explorations in your studies. These are part of the department’s wider research activity and you will benefit from being a part of the active research community at Huddersfield. Assessed performances will be assessed by a combination of external specialists and internal staff, and feedback on each will be directed toward your improvement and development in future performances. Other assessments will be a combination of written work and review of literature and methods appropriate to performance and your specialism. All these have formative tasks in which you will be able to prepare well for the main assessment and receive support and feedback aimed at maximising your scholarship. All your work is moderated and subject to second marking and external examining. Your module specification/course handbook will provide full details of the assessment criteria applying to your course. Huddersfield is the UK's only university where 100% of the permanent teaching staff are fellows of the Higher Education Academy.* *permanent staff, after probation: some recently appointed colleagues will only obtain recognition in the months after their arrival in Huddersfield, once they have started teaching.

Entry requirements

You are required to have a minimum of a 2:2 honours degree from a recognised University or equivalent institution. Your application materials (or previous qualifications) and live audition (or documentation of your performance) should be able to demonstrate a strong understanding of performance and instrumental/vocal/other technique. Auditions should comprise of two contrasting pieces, one of which should relate to the your proposed specialism in performance.

English language requirements

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, or equivalent.

Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements pages.

https://hud.ac.uk/international/courses-and-entry-requirements/international-entry-requirements/

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

England £8900 Year 1
Northern Ireland £8900 Year 1
Scotland £8900 Year 1
Wales £8900 Year 1
Channel Islands £8900 Year 1
Republic of Ireland £8900 Year 1
EU £17600 Year 1
International £17600 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

Tuition fees for UK students will cover the cost of your study at the University. For more information about funding, fees and finance for UK students, including what your tuition fee covers, please see our Fees and Finance - https://www.hud.ac.uk/postgraduate/fees-and-finance/ Please note that tuition fees for subsequent years of study may rise in line with inflation (RPI-X). If you are an EU or international student coming to study at the University of Huddersfield, please visit the International Fees and Finance pages for full details of tuition fees and support available - https://www.hud.ac.uk/international/fees-and-funding/ Please email the Student Finance Office ([email protected]) or call 01484 472210 for more information about fees and finance.

Sponsorship information

For further information please visit https://www.hud.ac.uk/postgraduate/funding-studies/

Music Performance at University of Huddersfield - UCAS