Music Technology - MMus / PgCert / PgDip

Our postgraduate courses in Music Technology provide an opportunity for composers and composer-performers to experiment with and develop expertise in the creative application of established and new music technologies.

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire is an internationally important centre for performance and composition with technology, especially live electronics. An example of its work is the highly acclaimed Integra Live project, an application that makes it easy to use interactive audio processing to create new music.

As you might expect, in this context, our postgraduate courses in Music Technology provide an exciting opportunity for composers and composer-performers to experiment with and develop expertise in the creative application of established and new music technologies.

You'll have full access to our superb £57 million facilities, including our Concert Hall,  Recital Hall, seven recording studios, editing and mastering suites, and our black-box performance space known as The Lab. Alongside your focus on Music Technology, our courses provide opportunities for you to develop other skills relevant to a future career in the music profession.

At Royal Birmingham Conservatoire we provide a friendly and supportive environment in which you can pursue your postgraduate studies. This is a time when you need to think particularly carefully and strategically about the direction of your developing career as a musician. We therefore encourage you to be ambitious in pursuing your aspirations, and endeavour to provide you with the flexibility to mould your course to your individual needs, both within your Principal Study area and – for PgDip and MMus students – in complementary modules.

For any candidates who demonstrate an exceptional level of achievement in their audition/interview, a panel may identify them as a potential contender for our 12-month MMus, with credit for advanced standing. If the candidate expresses interest in pursuing this option, this will trigger a follow-up interview to explore their suitability further. However, it is not possible to apply for direct entry to this 12-month programme.

Course structure

Whichever course you choose, work in the Principal Study area lies at its heart. For Music Technologists, the Principal Study modules each culminate in a portfolio of original creative music technology work. Preparation of this is supported by individual specialist tuition, as well as by departmental activities.

If you are a MMus or PgDip student you will take a Career Development module, which will require you, near the beginning of your course, to reflect ambitiously yet realistically on your professional aspirations, and to formulate a plan that helps you stand the best chance of achieving your goals. You will also choose, in addition, some Professional Development Options from a varied list. The following gives an indication the kind of optional modules which may be offered in a given year, including some offered by Birmingham City University’s Schools of Art and Media (note, not all will run every year).

MMus students will additionally choose a 40-credit option from one of two categories: ‘The Emerging Researcher’ or ‘The Reflective Practitioner’.

Part-time options

There is some room for negotiation in how the course unfolds for a part-time MMus student over three years, or in the case of part-time PgDip students, over two years.

 Student stories – Luke Aziz

I made the decision to return to education to study a Masters in Music Technology in order to strengthen my portfolio and gain more experience in the area. The Conservatoire has some of the most talented musicians in the country working there as well as excellent facilities, so I felt it would be a brilliant place to help me move forward in the field and hopefully make some contacts for the future!

I'm studying a one-year intensive course, so I get a lot of one-to-one sessions with the tutors which is really helpful. All the lecturers have such a huge enthusiasm for the subject, it makes it really interesting and really brings Music Technology to life. It’s obvious that the staff really love their subject and are very knowledgeable in the area, so it's great for me to be able to learn from them. There are also opportunities with external lecturers who are currently working in the Music Industry, which means I actually learn straight from the people that are directly involved in the field I want to end up working in.

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire has a growing community of international students from across the world.

We appreciate the challenges of moving to a new country to live and study and aim to be as supportive as possible.

Aside from being friendly and welcoming, we have various support mechanisms in place to help you settle in as an international student, including:

• An international students' 'orientation week', including a special Conservatoire welcome event
• A dedicated international student admissions administrator
• A full-time staff member employed as International Student Support Programme Director (who speaks Mandarin)
• A mentoring system in which you, as a new postgraduate international student, are mentored by continuing postgraduate international students who will be supporting you both pastorally and academically though weekly workshops
• Additional supporting classes for international students that are particularly designed to help you further develop your English reading, speaking and comprehension skills
• Additional academic skills support provided by expert tutors from the BCU's Centre for Academic Success

Further information for prospective international students is available on the University's international pages.

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire’s £57 million music building opened in September 2017, and is located on Birmingham City University’s City Centre Campus in the Eastside ‘learning quarter’ of the city.

This brand new music facility include five public performance venues – a 500 seat Concert Hall, 150 seat Recital Hall, Organ Studio, Eastside Jazz Club and the experimental black box performance venue known as The Lab. As well as these stunning performance venues, we have nearly 100 practice spaces; including 70 small practice rooms and larger ensemble rooms and workshops.

Our new home is the first conservatoire built in the digital age, and as such it has been vital to ensure that the technical infrastructure installed is on par with any advanced commercial facility. We have seven recording studios, a mastering suite, a distance learning hub, and all of our performance venues feature high specification audio-visual equipment that enables interconnectivity and advanced functionality throughout the building.

These impressive modern facilities guarantee that we are excel in our unique dual purpose of providing the highest standard of music education deserved by our students, as well as meeting our role as a concert and performance venue for the people of Birmingham; taking our place in the vibrant cultural landscape of the UK’s second city.