Composition

Composition students

Express yourself through multiple musical genres

Now, more than at any other time in history, composers can express themselves in any number of musical and artistic genres.

In contrast to most other composition courses at this level we at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire celebrate this diversity and make it our mission to foster artists who challenge, innovate and transform notions of artistic practice today.

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Our approach

Through individual tuition and small classes you will develop an understanding of differing compositional styles, particularly contemporary art music, pop, jazz and fusion, experimental and conceptual music, film and theatre music, electroacoustic and studio-based composition.

From the outset, you will be encouraged to explore your own ideas both within the context of a specific genre and using genre as a jumping-off point for the creation of new artistic concepts.

Postgraduate courses in Experimental Performance

Designed for emerging arts practitioners across all disciplines (including, but not limited to, instrumental/vocal performance, composition, dance, choreography, theatre, visual and performance art, creative writing), Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s brand new PgCert, PgDip and MMus courses in Experimental Performance provide you with a unique opportunity to undertake independent artistic projects in a fully supportive environment.

Ben Stefanski

"I have released two records under the name of Raffertie with Ninja Tune. Both of these releases…

Charlotte Bray

"Certainly the highlight of my career so far has been my BBC Proms debut in the summer of 2012,…

Samuel Bordoli

'A former student at Birmingham Conservatoire (graduated 2009), Samuel Bordoli, who currently…

Laura Mvula

Composition graduate Laura Mvula rose to fame in 2013 with critically acclaimed album, 'Sing to the…

Image courtesy of Graeme Braidwood Allan

Stephen Willey

MMus Music Composition I chose the Conservatoire because the course offered lots of opportunities…

Jae-Moon Lee

"I chose Birmingham Conservatoire due to the amount of performance opportunities it offered; I…

Composition Courses at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

[00:00:02] Riadh Use your box analogy, it's really good. Please use it.

[00:00:06] Cat Its a paper bag analogy isn't it? I can't remember. 

[00:00:10] Riadh Wasn't there a box and a paper bag? 

[00:00:12] Cat Dude, I've said this too many times now. I've lost the plot. 

[00:00:17] Ziggy From my experience at the Conservatoire, pretty much every day is different.

[00:00:21] Millicent I like to experiment with jazz... 

[00:00:23] Victoria Electronic music... 

[00:00:24] Kunling Collaboration with other departments from the Conservatoire... 

[00:00:27] Millicent Cinematic/soundtrack music...

[00:00:27] Victoria Musical theatre...

[00:00:33] Millicent Gospel... 

[00:00:33] Kunling Music for short films... 

[00:00:34] Cat You do have this level of creative freedom that's just endless and it's wonderful.

[00:00:47] Ziggy Conservatoire is not what I expected at all. But in the absolute best way.

[00:00:51] Millicent You definitely learn a lot of things here. Definitely learn to have an open mind for one.

[00:00:57] Ziggy When I first came here, I was slightly worried that it was going to be very classical minded. Oh, you have to compose like this, but it's not like that at all. Whatever ideas you have in here, it's the development of them and how to get this out there. And that's what matters, I think. 

[00:01:18] Millicent Here at the Conservatoire, you definitely can tailor your degree to what you want to do, but you're not being forced to write Bach chorales, for example, every week, which is fine, but you know it's nice to switch it up every now and then..

[00:01:33] Ziggy This course can be whatever you want it to be. And the tutors are there to support whatever decisions you want to make. 

[00:01:40] Millicent The teachers here are really supportive and wanting you to grow as a composer yourself. 

[00:01:48] Kunling We get criticism, but it's it's always constructive criticism.

[00:01:59] Millicent Coming here was the first time that I'd ever had my music performed by real musicians. There's a lot of fun working with the musicians here. They're also really cool and very open to trying new things.

[00:02:16] Ziggy Everyone here is here to help you and everyone here is supporting you on your compositional journey. Because of that, like there is this real push to develop yourself and be the best version of yourself as an artist that you can be.

[00:02:33] Ziggy I don't feel like I have found a community before that's as supportive as the community at the Conservatoire. 

[00:02:45] Cat We're like a little family. That's very cringy.

[00:02:48] Millicent We all support each other. There's like a little group chat that we have. It's great.

[00:03:00] Ziggy There is a very, very diverse range of styles and backgrounds and perspectives. 

[00:03:07] Millicent In my year I don't think any of us write the same style.

[00:03:11] Ziggy Everyone kind of takes influence from each other and everyone kind of learns from each other's perspectives, and that, I'd say, is kind of where the strengths of Conservatoire study are.

[00:03:23] Victoria This is this is a place where I can find joy in the process of making music, definitely.

[00:03:31] Ziggy Being at the conservatory been absolutely life changing. 

[00:03:33] Cat You are valued for being you and you are valued for creating what you want to create.

[00:03:39] Ziggy It's probably the best decision you'll ever make.