Music

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The UWA School of Music offers professional programmes in performance, composition, music education and musicology, aiming to prepare well-trained musicians for a wide range of future career possibilities. The courses are underpinned by four principal areas of study: performance, music language, music education and music literature.

Performance tuition is provided on all orchestral instruments, piano, organ, harpsichord, fortepiano, guitar and voice. Alternatively you may wish to study selected music units as part of another degree course such as the Bachelor of Arts.

Course Outline

You can study Music in a specialist Music degree or as a major in the Bachelor of Arts.

If you are interested in entering the professional music courses—the Bachelor of Music, the Bachelor of Music Education and the Bachelor of Musical Arts - you are expected to have a performance level equivalent to at least AMEB Grade 7 and AMEB theory of around Grade 5.

The School of Music auditions all students interested in applying to study music and this audition takes place immediately after the TEE exams each year. The audition is not an ordeal!  We like to hear two contrasting pieces, and we give a few aural tests. Then we talk with students to see what their plans for future music study might be.

BACHELOR OF MUSIC (PERFORMANCE)
This course is for students wishing to advance their performance studies to the highest level and is especially appropriate for those who wish to have careers as performers and performance teachers. It is a four year course with a strong focus on solo performance as well as orchestral experience and chamber music. You are required to have a high level of performance skill when applying for this degree. While this is a degree in classical music performance, you are able to undertake classes in jazz improvisation and elective units in jazz studies and other popular music styles. You can also study performance on classical and baroque instruments as well as contemporary music.

BACHELOR OF MUSIC (COMPOSITION)
This course is for students who wish to pursue studies in musical composition and includes some performance studies. You are able to explore a wide range of compositional genres including instrumental and orchestral music as well as music for film, theatre, TV and radio. As part of this course, you have the opportunity to work with student performers and visiting composers. Applicants for this degree should also submit a composition portfolio.

BACHELOR OF MUSIC (MUSICOLOGY)
This course is for students who wish to specialise in the study of musical forms and styles or aspects of music history and is especially appropriate for those who may wish to have careers in areas requiring excellent communication skills, such as journalism, arts promotion and management or careers in the public sector. If you wish undertake this degree, you must select another Bachelor of Music course initially and transfer to musicology at the beginning of level 3.

BACHELOR OF MUSIC EDUCATION
This course provides you with the necessary skills and knowledge to operate as multi-skilled and versatile professional in areas such as performance (both choral and instrumental), conducting, composing/arranging, improvising, and utilising music technology.  Graduates from this course are qualified to teach classroom music at both primary and secondary levels as well as in a second teaching area, which may be either instrumental music or an approved non-music subject such as English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Computer Science or Vocational Education.

BACHELOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
The Bachelor of Musical Arts degree combines music studies with a parallel study in one or two different areas. This course is intended for students who seek to continue their musical training at a high level but who also wish to have a broader focus in their University studies. You may be interested in a wide range of careers including those related to music such as arts management, promotion and marketing, or more varied options depending on the other subjects studied during the course.

Other subjects that you may pursue include: languages, fine arts, psychology, computer science, English, anthropology, political science, Asian studies, theatre studies, women’s studies, archaeology, history, mathematics, philosophy and linguistics.

This course also includes music performance studies and ensembles such as orchestra, chorale and chamber music.

BACHELOR OF ARTS - Music Major
The Bachelor of Arts degree with a music major is taken by students who wish to include some music studies within a multi-disciplinary, liberal arts education and can lead to similar career paths such as the Bachelor of Music (musicology).

The Bachelor of Arts does not contain any individual performance or composition units, however, you are encouraged to participate in individual performance and ensemble activities within the School of Music.

Duration

Bachelor of Music: 4 years full time, up to 10 years part time
Bachelor of Musical Arts 3 years full time, up to 10 years part time
Bachelor of Music Education 4 years full time, up to 10 years part time

COMBINED COURSES: The Bachelor of Music can be taken as part of a combined course with Arts. The Bachelor of Musical Arts can be taken as a combined course with Law. Once you complete a combined course you will be awarded two degrees. You must meet prerequisite requirements for both degrees.

Career Opportunities

These days the list of careers open to university music graduates is full of interesting possibilities. Consider just some of the positions held by UWA music graduates: orchestral musicians, arts administrators, community music officers, music producers, radio announcers, concert programmers, professional musicians in chamber ensembles around Australia, freelance composers, university lecturers, music librarians, music teachers and studio teachers.

A UWA degree in music is like a passport to a good job in the music profession. It is recognised nationally and internationally and can provide the opening to scholarships, study grants and bursaries for further training or study overseas.