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Aimed at performers and composers with outstanding potential, creative flair, and a hunger for musical adventure, the BMus (Hons) programme will prepare you for the diverse demands of the music profession.
Key Features
- create music as an instrumentalist, vocalist or composer at a level that will prepare you to enter the profession on graduation
- establish a secure artistic identity and develop a range of sophisticated professional skills
- perform as a soloist, in small and large ensembles, to a diverse range of audiences
- gain an understanding of the music profession and its audiences in contemporary society
- develop collaborative, innovative and entrepreneurial skills
- develop your communication skills to a professional level as an artist through your instrument/voice/compositions
- engage audiences through informed discussion and written work
The BMus is a modular degree centred on the core elements of Professional Studies and Academic Studies.
Course Details
By the end of four years of professional training, you will have an established individual musical identity underpinned by strong technique and musicianship. You will have developed keen awareness of a range of performing practices and traditions as required by the contemporary music profession. You will have the opportunity to develop supplementary musical skills and knowledge which will enhance your employability and support you in entering the career pathway of your choice. There is an emphasis on learning through practical activities in all elements of the programme.
Course Structure:
| Year of Study | Credits | Weighting |
| Year 1 | 120 | Pass/Fail |
| Year 2 | 120 | 10% |
| Year 3 | 120 | 30% |
| Year 4 | 120 | 60% |
Modules:
Professional Studies
This core module is offered throughout the four-year programme. One-to-one tuition is central, and Principal Study can be used flexibly depending upon the departmental syllabuses and student needs. Offered alongside this is an extensive array of departmental classes which provide supplementary knowledge and skills. Department-specific teaching skills are included in the second year of departmental classes. Provision for small and large group and ensemble performance also form part of this module.
Cross-departmental provision includes classes on informed performing practice, musicians’ health and well-being, movement for musicians and technology for learning.
Academic Studies
These core modules support the learning in Professional Studies through the provision of knowledge and skills that enable graduates to be thoughtful, informed and articulate musicians.
Students of the classical pathway will receive classes which deal with music history and context in Western classical music, form and analysis, presentation and research skills, aural training, harmony, improvisation, and arrangement.
(See the Jazz pathway).
The Artist as…
In each year students receive classes that relate to the broader professional landscape. From the first year, students begin to develop the essential leadership skills required by the profession, and begin to explore and orientate their professional aspirations.
The second year focuses on teaching and community career opportunities, which have become a highly significant feature of today’s music profession. Alongside this students explore how repertoire can be presented creatively to potential audiences.
Entrepreneurialism and business skills are a central feature of the provision at year 3, and are essential navigational tools for the freelance musician.
The final year gives students the opportunity to explore their own musical aspirations, personality and domain through individualised project work, often in an external setting.
CoLab
CoLab is a unique module to Trinity Laban that you will take in each year of the programme. CoLab is an exceptional learning space in which you will be encouraged to take creative risks and explore the boundaries of your art form in collaboration with staff and students from both the Faculties of Dance and Music at Trinity Laban, other leading artists from across the artistic spectrum and many of our professional partner organisations. The range of projects is both extensive and eclectic including a wide-range of musical styles and genres, interdisciplinary work with dance, art and theatre and creative discipline specific options. Projects may be proposed and led by staff (internal and external) and students alike.
Find out more about CoLab.
Electives
Students may select one elective in each of years 3 and 4.
Please note: The folowing is an indicative list; not all electives will necessarily run every year.
If you have a query about electives please contact the programme leader: A.Szram@trinitylaban.ac.uk
Year 3
Options may include:
- Analysis for Performance – Communicating Form
- Arranging for Small Ensembles
- Collaborative Composition for Performers
- Conducting
- Critical Popular Music
- Digital Musicianship for Performers
- Essential Performing Practice
- Improvisation and Interpretation
- Instrumental and Vocal Teaching
- Introduction to Music Psychology
- Neglected Repertoires: Taste, Formation and the Canon
- Opera and Theatre
Year 4
Options may include:
- Advanced Instrumental and Vocal Teaching
- Advanced Conducting
- Advanced Orchestration
- Arranging for Large Ensembles
- Capstone Project
- Colab Creative Project
- Composing for Media
- Creative Leadership
- Fourth Plinth
- Music and Dance
- Music, Gender and Sexuality
- Cultural Perspectives on Music (Musicology)
- Opera and Musical Theatre
- Jazz Perspective on Counterpoint and Harmony
Students who take both Instrumental and Vocal Teaching electives are eligible to take the externally offered L.T.C.L. (offered by Trinity College London) at no cost.
Teaching and Learning
Hours
The programme comprises approximately 4800 learning hours, and this will include both contact time and self-directed learning.
Contact time is defined as learning delivered by a member of Trinity Laban teaching staff, a visiting lecturer, practitioner or artist. Contact and self-study time is itemised in module descriptions.
Rehearsal and performance contact time will vary according to the instrumental discipline.
How will I learn?
The programme aims to enable you to develop independent learning strategies for lifelong learning.
Learning takes place through a combination of formal tuition, experiential learning and personal study. Instrumental/vocal tuition is the central element of provision consisting of individual tuition, group tuition, rehearsals, workshops, seminars and masterclasses. You will develop and contextualize your individual tuition within a broad range of solo, small group/chamber and large ensemble activities. Visiting artists, ensemble directors and lecturers will expose you to a variety of views and approaches current within the profession. Most tuition in academic study is delivered in small groups where practical experience is blended with theoretical knowledge to develop musicianship, informed performers and employability skills. Large lectures are also given in some components such as the History and Context of Music, The Artist as Educator, and The Artist as Entrepreneur.
CoLab is an integral element of performance studies and is a ring-fenced period of the academic year where students work together to create and develop creative projects and where artistic risks and innovation are encouraged.
View the list of music Teaching staff.
How will I be assessed?
Assessment methods mirror professional contexts as far as possible. In Professional Studies, assessments include a combination of solo, chamber/small ensemble, large ensemble performance, and technical work. These will be supplemented by written/oral assignments that require critical reflection on a range of contextual matters (such as the wider profession, audience, or the concept of the informed performer).
Other modules including The Artist as Citizen, The Artist as Educator, The Artist as Entrepreneur, History in Context, Applied Musicianship and Electives feature a blend of written and practical assessments (including, but not exclusive to: arrangement, written essays, written exams, verbal presentations, composition, improvisation, and performance.) Some elective assessments will focus on employability skills and knowledge.
Alumni Destinations
Our graduates go on to follow careers in solo, ensemble and orchestral performance, composition and arranging, creative project work, instrumental/vocal teaching, community project work, collaborative projects with other media/art forms, postgraduate performance/composition study, other related postgraduate study or PGCE.
For more information on the successes of Trinity Laban music graduates, visit our Alumni Profiles.
Entry Requirements
- Grade 8 standard in Principal Study
- 3 GCSEs (including English Language) at Grade C or above
- Two A level passes (of which one should normally be Music) or Equivalent qualifications and/or relevant prior experience may be considered
Entry to the programme is dependent upon selection at audition. The audition comprises a performance / composition audition.
If you are interested in the Performer/Composer pathway, please note that this is available for year 3 and there are no specific audition requirements for this.
English language Requirements:
- IELTS (General or Academic Training) minimum 5.5 in all four areas; or B2 First (Cambridge English) minimum 160 in all four areas; or Trinity College London – Integrated Skills in English level II or above.
- If you require a Student visa to study in the UK you may require a Secure English Language Test (SELT). More information can be found at gov.uk.
Fees and Finance
Home student tuition fees are aligned with the maximum tuition fee cap set by the UK Government. International tuition fees are subject to annual inflationary increases based on RPI-X.
Accommodation and Living Costs
This information can be found on our Accommodation and Costs of Living pages.
Financial Support
Read about financial awards and external funding opportunities in the Fees and Finance section.
Key Facts
| UCAS | Composition / Performance: 300F Jazz: 310F |
|---|---|
| Location | King Charles Court |
| Duration | 4 years (full time) |
| Start Date | September |
What our students say
Jess Tomlinson, Clarinet