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Full time | Goldsmiths, University of London | 1 year | 23-SEP-24

Study mode

Full time

Duration

1 year

Start date

23-SEP-24

Key information
DATA SOURCE : IDP Connect

Qualification type

Mmus/MusM - Master of Music

Subject areas

Art Music Studies

Course type

Taught

Course Summary

The MMus Sonic Arts offers you a unique opportunity to work at the forefront of a wide range of creative and experimental approaches to technology-based sound and music practice, including spatial sound, field recording, live electronics, interactive performance, improvisation systems, sound art installation and audiovisual composition.

  • You have full access to the pioneering Electronic Music Studios, founded in 1968, they offer advanced facilities for sonic art composition, surround sound formats, editing and mixing, location sound, live/interactive performance, and a collection of unique vintage synthesisers such as the VCS4, the only one in existence.
  • Critical creative practice: you’ll develop a rigorous conceptual framework for your creative practice and engage critically with contemporary ideas and debates in sound art and sound studies. You’ll also explore historical models of practice and have access to important collections and artefacts.
  • You’ll be able to choose from a range of optional modules that encompass experimental approaches to sound, music and technology.
  • Collaborative and interdisciplinary projects with other departments and/or external organisations and individuals are facilitated and encouraged.
  • You’ll be taught be practising artists and scholars, working at the cutting edge of their fields internationally across live electronics, performance, sound art and acoustic ecology.
  • You’ll benefit from being part of a vibrant community in the Department of Music, with our internationally respected community of sonic artists including many PhD doctoral researchers. You’ll be encouraged to attend our lively events programme including our international research seminar series and various related research units. You’ll also be supported in performing your work in our concert series as well as other occasional opportunities.
  • You’ll prepare yourself for a career in a variety of related areas as the programme has nurtured generations of students, helping develop innovative and celebrated careers in sound art installation, electronic music performance, audio for AR and VR, dance, film sound design and composition, radio and podcasting, soundscapes, and computer music research and beyond.

Modules

Through lectures, discussions and tutorials - including reference to core theoretical concepts in sonic art as well as current thinking concerning studio-based composition and artistic practices using sound - the module develops a theoretical framework for practice. Pivotal historical developments in the application of audio technologies in sonic art are presented, placing compositional techniques in their wider context. The issues and genres considered include: theoretical underpinnings of musique concur, elektronische musik, futurism and fluxus; interactivity and live electronics; silence and noise; post-digital aesthetics; sampling and plunderphonics; utterance and text-sound composition; audiovision; acoustics and architecture; perception and interpretation; acoustic ecology and phonography. The factors that gave rise to these issues and genres and the artistic results are considered. This understanding provides a basis for experiment and critical evaluation through creative work and subsequent theoretical investigation.

Tuition fees

UK fees
Course fees for UK students

For this course (per year)

£10,350

International fees
Course fees for EU and international students

For this course (per year)

£19,520

Entry requirements

Students should have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class standard in Music or a relevant/related subject. Their qualification should comprise a substantial practical/creative element relevant to the selected MMus pathway and option choices. A detailed transcript of their degree is preferred. Students might also be considered for some programmes if they aren’t a graduate or their degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that students have the ability to work at postgraduate level. Students who have completed up to 90 credits (not including final 60-credit projects or dissertations) of a comparable degree at another university can apply for recognition of prior learning status as part of their application for a place on the programme, where such credits are carried forward into your study at Goldsmiths.