Pursue your passion for music with a Music BA (Hons) at Northumbria University and get career-ready!
With a sector-leading 20 hours per year of weekly individual instrumental or vocal tuition, modules in instrumental or vocal teaching, and ear-opening music history modules which will broaden your musical horizons, this course allows you to pursue your passion for music in ways that lead to many career pathways.
The music facilities at Northumbria situate brand new musical instruments inside carefully considered spaces. Our world-class Steinway Model B piano is in The Great Hall, located in the Grade II Listed Sutherland Building, which is also where new and spacious practice facilities are to be found.
Facilities are shared between small class sizes, meaning that you can readily access practice rooms to play, compose, critique, conduct, plan, prepare, experiment, coordinate, and improvise.
Why choose Northumbria to study Music?
Performance modules offer 20+ hours per year of weekly 1-to-1 tuition, provided by highly qualified and experienced tutors, as well as seminars covering performance anxiety, how to practise, how to work with an accompanist, and many opportunities to perform in front of others in a supportive environment.
You will learn in a close-knit community of staff and students where all teaching is interactive and takes place in small groups, often of no more than ten.
Modules in teaching your instrument are designed in association with the Education Department at Northumbria University, with the opportunity to go on placements supported by Music Hubs in the North East of England.
Fresh, new facilities include the new Steinway grand piano in the Great Hall, which hosts the weekly Northumbria Lunchtime Concerts series, and large practice rooms for individual practice that can also accommodate groups of students working together.
You will broaden your knowledge of music from medieval times to the present day, getting ‘hands on’ experience of doing music history, visiting libraries and museums, working with our world-leading Montagu Collection of global musical instruments, and being supported to research the music that you’re passionate about.
You will develop musical skills such as theory, techniques of composition, piano-playing/keyboard skills, and conducting.
You will find out more about working as a freelance musician and will be able to access entrepreneurship support.
Employability: How does this BA (Hons) Music course prepare me for my career?
Northumbria’s Music learning experience
See other similar courses you may be interested in: BA (Hons) Theatre and Performance
How will I learn during the Music BA (Hons) degree course?
In performance, 20 hours per year of weekly one-to-one teaching on your instrument or voice is complemented by seminars which cover areas such as practising, performance anxiety and interpretation, as well as providing a forum in which you can perform to your peers. There are opportunities to perform both on campus and further afield, to attend concerts and open rehearsals, and to participate in masterclasses.
There is a practical dimension to studying music history at Northumbria, which introduces you to how to research music. You will find yourself off-campus, visiting libraries, archives and other institutions where you will engage with original source materials. More traditional teaching methods still have their place: interactive lecture/seminars provide you with information and prompts for further reading, and involve group discussion of musical texts or broader questions which are often led by students.
The course allows you to develop the practical skills required for a portfolio career, and includes modules in instrumental teaching as well as those which include personal enterprise and the business-related skills you need for careers in performance and teaching. Our course embeds these skills from the outset, which will prepare you for a future professional career in music. You will be encouraged to identify the skills required in both musical and non-musical careers
Who teaches the BA (Hons) Music course?
Our staff are internationally renowned specialists in their fields and, having previously held positions in various other top universities across the UK, they are all highly experienced in undergraduate teaching. With their areas of expertise ranging from sixteenth-century music and performance practice to nineteenth-century opera, from the history of instruments to American popular music, you will benefit from learning from outstanding scholars. You will also engage with external professionals working in various areas of music and the arts who will be involved with classes, recitals and masterclasses to enhance your performing and professional skills. You will receive tuition from one of our highly accomplished and experienced instrumental and vocal specialists.
A personal tutor will be assigned to you during induction week who will help you manage the transition to university smoothly and successfully. They will continue to provide support for both your personal and academic development throughout the course of the degree programme.
The programme leader and module tutors also play active roles in guiding you through your degree with specific time allocated to students to allow for private feedback and consultation, giving you a great deal of individual attention.
Where will I learn, practice, and perform throughout my Music degree?
Music is situated in the Sutherland Building and St James, which is immediately opposite. The Great Hall contains a new Steinway Model B grand piano and is used regularly for concerts and for end-of-year student recitals. Larger scale concerts take place in venues such as Newcastle Cathedral, with which we have a close relationship. Teaching spaces include another large space for performance classes as well as smaller rooms for other teaching. There are practice spaces large enough to take a small ensemble and for instrumental/vocal teaching to take place in them, and some further spaces including a sound-proofed practice studio. The ratio of practice spaces to students is currently around 1:5.
You will have provided with music software such as Sibelius to use on your own laptop and there are computer suites across campus for the completion of written work.
The University library, including books, reference works and a range of digital resources, will be available to you throughout the entirety of your study. You will benefit from our state-of-the-art electronic reading lists, which allow you to access resources for each module directly, and our electronic learning platform, Blackboard, will help you make the most of your independent study time.
How is research applied to teaching throughout my degree?
All music staff at Northumbria are engaged with producing research in their respective fields at an international level, and the team contains active professional performers. Their research is embedded into the degree at every level, which greatly enriches the study of music. As a student, you will be taught by everyone in the team right from the start of your degree. You will have opportunities to develop an understanding of how to research music through visits to libraries, archives and other institutions containing original source materials. This brings music history to life, and provides an opportunity for you to discover music that you can develop through your own performances.
Throughout the duration of this course, you will experience research- and practice-informed teaching, which is both contemporary and innovative and will allow you to develop your musical skills and academic knowledge
Our aim is to produce graduates who are creative thinkers, with the ability to apply their in-depth knowledge of music in a professional setting. At Northumbria, our partnerships with cultural organisations, such as Newcastle Cathedral, the Samling Institute for Young Artists and Newcastle Lit & Phil, expose you to real working and performance environments. We work with music hubs (which deliver instrumental/vocal teaching to schools), such as Music Partnership North, to provide you with opportunities to go out on teaching placements. In collaboration with Trinity Exam Board, we have hosted several events relating to music teaching and graded examinations. Your engagement with teaching opportunities, and your growing understanding of the music industry, will shape you into a musician ready for a freelance portfolio career and to set yourself up in business.
How can I gain professional experience during my degree that will prepare me for work?
You will be able to gain experience valuable to the world of arts administration, and there is an additional option to take a year of work experience, or study abroad, in the middle of your degree.
Embedded throughout the degree are modules that will prepare you for the world of work. All musicians will at some point teach their instrument, which is why we provide modules that prepare you for music teaching. Today’s musicians are generally self-employed, undertaking a range of different kinds of work. The modules offered on this course will prepare you with the skills necessary for managing your career as a musician. You will develop a historical understanding of music past and present, and skills in theory, techniques of composition and keyboard playing, which you will need to succeed as a creative musician in the twenty-first century.
When you graduate, you will be in an ideal position to go on to postgraduate study. The teaching components of the degree provide an excellent preparation for a PGCE in primary or secondary classroom teaching, and you will be well equipped for a Master’s degree in Creative and Cultural Industries Management or the MRes at Northumbria. Performers may be in a position to audition for postgraduate study at music conservatoires in the UK and abroad, and other students will be able to continue their musicological studies at Master’s level.
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