Bachelor of Music

• General information
• Course structure
• Admission requirements
• Specialisation in performance
  • Performance major
    • First year
    • Second year
    • Third year
  • Performance assessment
  • Performance minor
    • First year
    • Second year
• Specialisation in composition
  • Composition major
    • First year
    • Second year
    • Third year
• Specialisation in musicology or ethnomusicology
  • First year
  • Second year
  • Third year

General information

Course code: 0821

Course structure

The Bachelor of Music degree requires students to complete a major and minor in performance and a major in one other stream, ie composition, musicology or ethnomusicology. To complete a Bachelor of Music, students take subjects valued at a total of 144 points over three years of full-time study, comprising:

• a major sequence in performance
• a minor sequence in performance
• a major sequence in composition or musicology or ethnomusicology
• a first-year sequence in music or in a discipline other than music.

Admission requirements

Entry is made directly in first year, or by conversion from the BA at the end of the first year at an acceptable standard, normally at credit level or higher. For students wishing to specialise in musicology or ethnomusicology, there are no entry tests, but intending applicants should make an appointment for an interview with a staff member. Students intending to specialise in composition are required to submit up to three compositions that show the range and proficiency of their work, accompanied by a declaration that they are entirely their own work. Students intending to specialise in performance should prepare for audition not more than three pieces of music drawn from a varied repertoire, eg a work from the classical period, a work from the Romantic period, and another written in the 20th century. The standard is normally at least seventh grade AMEB (Performance) or equivalent. Non-pianists must provide their own accompanists.

Specialisation in performance

Coordinator: Andre de Quadros
Students with a strong musical aptitude undertaking this specialisation are expected to acquire an assured performance technique and an awareness of history of performance style. Students in the first year develop their chief practical study skills as well as interactive musical skills in orchestral, chamber or other ensemble groups and accompanying skills in appropriate cases. They are examined on both solo and ensemble or orchestral work, culminating each semester in ensemble or solo performance events which may be organised by the students. There is continuous assessment in performance units.
In fourth-year honours, each student is required to present a recital with his or her own program notes and a research essay on a topic related to the program or an associated aspect of performance practice.
The examination of the solo performance components of a subject, where relevant, will normally be carried out by at least two examiners, with equal weighting given to each assessment.

Performance major

First year

Students must take the core subjects:

• MUS1980 Solo and duo performance and literature I
• MUS 1990 Solo and duo performance and literature II

Second year

• MUS2980 Solo and duo performance and literature
• MUS2990 Solo and duo performance and literature II
• MUS2020 Practical musical skills

Third year

• MUS3980 Solo and duo performance and literature I
• MUS3990 Solo and duo performance and literature II
• MUS3510 Orchestral, chamber and choral performance studies
• MUS3520 Orchestral, chamber and choral performance studies

Performance assessment

The performance subjects MUS1160/MUS1170, MUS1980/MUS1990 and MUS2980/MUS2990 are all-year subjects and will be fully examined at the end of second semester each year. At the end of first semester, a technical examination hurdle assessment will be required with repertoire and technical examinations at the end of the year. The end-of-year examination will be given by two examiners, one of whom will be external. MUS3980/MUS3990 will be fully examined at the end of second semester by a panel consisting of three examiners of whom one will be external. At the end of the first semester, a hurdle requirement assessment consisting of part of the recital program will be required. In rare cases where a student needs to complete one of MUS1980/MUS1990 or MUS2980/ 2990 mid-year, he or she will be examined on his or her whole program by a panel of two examiners as is normally to occur at the end of semester two.

Performance minor

First year

• MUS1070 Orchestral and choral performance and repertoire I
• MUS1080 Orchestral and choral performance and repertoire II

Second year

• MUS2510 Orchestral and choral performance and repertoire
• MUS2520 Orchestral and choral performance and repertoire

plus

• MUS2030 Practical musical skills

plus one of the following:

• MUS2040 Music composition and technology ensemble
• MUS2485 Performance studies: Indonesian gamelan

Specialisation in composition

Coordinator: Thomas Reiner
Students undertaking this specialisation can expect to acquire the experience and skills to develop a career as a composer. The program offers individual supervision of students' compositional projects and encourages work in various media, including traditional, electronic, and contemporary solo and ensemble combinations. Honours students will prepare a folio of compositions and arrange an annotated concert performance of their works. The School of Music organises a number of large and small instrumental and ensemble choral groups and encourages performances of student compositions.

Composition major

First year

• MUS1100 Exploring music I
• MUS1110 Exploring music II

Those who do not have sufficient music theory knowledge should read about the ´bridging course' above or see the administrative officer at the School of Music.

Second year

• MUS2110 Analytical and compositional techniques I
• MUS2120 Analytical and compositional techniques II
• MUS2660 Music composition and technology workshop
• MUS2670 Music composition and technology workshop

Third year

• MUS3390 Music aesthetics, criticism, sociology and psychology
• MUS3310 Contemporary compositional techniques (including electronic techniques)
• MUS3665 Music composition and technology workshop
• MUS3675 Music composition and technology workshop

Specialisation in musicology or ethnomusicology

Western musicology stream coordinator: Margaret Kartomi Ethnomusicology stream coordinator: Reis Flora
Students who choose either of these specialisations or a combination of both can expect to develop their knowledge and understanding of music to prepare themselves as musicologists and/or ethnomusicologists, studying the music history of various genres, research methods and aspects of systematic musicology such as performance practice, analysis, aesthetics, criticism, music sociology and psychology of music. Students at honours level present a thesis of 15,000 to 18,000 words on an approved research topic in musicology. They may then proceed with masters-level coursework in other aspects of musicology.
In the ethnomusicology stream, students make detailed area studies of selected music cultures of Asia and/or Africa, and may learn to perform in an Indonesian gamelan and in other Asian and African traditions as appropriate for a particular unit for which a student enrols.

First year

• MUS1100 Exploring music I (6 points)
• MUS1110 Exploring music II (6 points)

Second year

• MUS2110 Analytical and compositional techniques I
• MUS2120 Analytical and compositional techniques II

plus

• MUS2140 Music of the Romantic ideal (for musicology majors)

or

• MUS2480 Performance studies: Indonesian Gamelan (for ethnomusicology majors)

Third year

• MUS3310 Contemporary compositional techniques
• MUS3390 Music aesthetics, criticism, sociology and psychology

plus

• MUS3190 Keyboard music

or

• MUS3580 Contemporary music (for musicology majors) or
• MUS3860 Music of Southeast Asia II: Thailand (for ethnomusicology majors)

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