Music – (B.A.)

The BA (Hons) Music course engages you both practically and intellectually in the study of this discipline, through a consideration of music in a variety of styles, approaches and contexts. The course focuses on the concept of 'learning by doing' and provides a range of opportunities to experience live musical performance, from solo work to large-scale orchestral and choral productions. With a curriculum that integrates theory and practice in dynamic and productive ways, you are able to specialise in areas such as performance, composition, music technology, jazz studies and music education.

Individual instrumental and vocal tuition is included within the course for students enrolled on performance modules, delivered by a large team of visiting tutors of international reputation.

We are especially proud of our extensive and stimulating programme of public concerts, theatrical performances and workshops. On-campus, we host a series of weekly lunchtime concerts given by professional musicians. Large-scale orchestral and choral concerts are mounted at venues throughout the city, together with a variety of smaller ensembles, from early music groups to jazz bands. Membership of the Cambridge University Musical Society and the Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra is open to Anglia Ruskin students via audition and many of the chapel choirs and college orchestras in Cambridge include Anglia Ruskin musicians.

Outstanding facilities within music and performing arts offer you the chance to gain the sort of skills much valued by prospective employers. Accommodation includes a purpose-built music centre with lecture and practice rooms, recital hall, five state-of-the-art computer music studios, plus the Mumford Theatre, a full-size receiving house for professional touring companies.

One aspect of the Music course at Anglia Ruskin that is particularly distinctive, and about which we are especially enthusiastic, is our emphasis on what we call issue-based modules. We have moved away from the idea of teaching topics which are defined by historical period or arbitrary geographical location to a broader contextual consideration of music and its relationship to society, other art forms and other disciplines.

The course includes, for example, modules such as Intertextuality in Music, in which we discuss ideas and principles through a consideration of a wide range of different musics.

Topics in this module include: Music, Form and Identity, which examines the influences of other art forms on musical composition (art, architecture, visual images, etc.) and the interrelation of different composers' music; Music-Text-Voices, which examines the close relationship between the human voice, language and communication, and vocal music. In a similar vein, the modules Music in Context 2A & B include Music and the Enlightenment, which explores social, political and cultural influences on music in the 18th century; the Romantic Generation, which focuses on the interaction of music and literature: and, the Modernist movement.