Composition (Instrumental and Vocal music) MusM (1 or 2 years)

• Pursue your career as a composer, with outstanding performance and opportunities, including guaranteed professional workshops and/or performances.
• Take full advantage of our lively performance and research culture, includingQuatuorDanel concerts, Mantis festivals and cutting-edge research fora.
• Study in a city that is home to more professional music-making than any UK city outside of London.
• Study at a topfive UK university for Music (Complete University Guide 2022).

¿During my undergraduate degree, I found my passion in fusing Indian and Western classical music.

Windja (Vinthya) Perinpanathan / MusM Composition

Our MusM Composition (Instrumental and Vocal) master's course offers intensive training for composers and provides excellent preparation for doctoral work or a career in the professional world.

With a strong focus on practical music-making and supported by an outstanding programme of workshops and performances by professional musicians, it offers an invaluable opportunity for composers to hone their skills and develop their personal voice.

You will benefit from:

• links to ensembles as an integral part of the course;
• interaction with the music profession, including the BBC Philharmonic and Manchester Camerata;
• opportunities to develop professional skills, for example through collaborating, rehearsing and networking with professional musicians; learning to arrange/orchestrate; undertaking outreach opportunities; and collaborating in the creation of performances;
• flexibility to develop your own compositional and research interests;
• close ties with electroacoustic composers in NOVARS, and the flexibility to combine electroacoustic course units with those for instrumental and vocal composition;
• integration into the active research culture of The University of Manchester, through research seminars, performance workshops and concerts.

You can also choose to take a placement unit where you willspend a minimum of 20 daysover a period of up to 12 weeks with an arts and cultural organisation, business or service provider to gain valuable workplace experience.

Most taught course units are delivered via weekly seminars and/or tutorials.

The composition portfolio is supported by one-to-one supervision and is submitted at the beginning of September.

Each student meets regularly with their supervisor (for full-time students usually on a weekly basis during term-time, less frequently during vacations), allowing for in-depth exploration of ideas and intensive support for the various course units offered.

Other members of the academic staff are also available for individual consultation during designated office hours.

Alongside your taught units, you will have access to a range of non-assessed seminars, workshops and training sessions offered by the Graduate School.

All postgraduate students are expected to undertake their own programme of self-directed learning and skills acquisition.

This may also involve wider reading, language work, computer training and attendance at research seminars in other parts of the University.

How to apply for master's study

Once you've decided which course you want to study, you'll need to complete our online application form.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on what you need to do after you've chosen your master's course and how it works.

Step 1. Before you start your application

You'll be asked to set up an account which means you can save your application and come back to it at a later date. If you need help you can also watch our videos on how to create an account and how to submit an application.

Make sure that you use a personal email address when you register and not a University of Manchester address.You’ll be asked to fill in some security questions, your answers will be used if you ever lose or change your password, so we know it’s you.

Step 2. Starting your application

Once you start your application, use the left-hand navigation to move through the form, you can 'check your information' at each stage, which will:

• ask you to complete missing information or to correct formatting (such as dates);
• mark the section as 'complete';
• ask you to upload supporting documents, if needed.

Check closing dates

While lots of master’s courses do not have official closing dates, some do so you will need to check individual course pages for closing dates.

If you want to apply for funding, you need to check funding bodies' closing dates. Most bodies usually expect you to have a provisional offer from the University before you apply for a studentship, scholarship or award.

Step 3. Supporting documents

If you cannot upload supporting documents, there is often a field for you to say why so you can still submit your application; we will then give you instructions on how to add documents via an online portal, these usually include:

• evidence of qualifications (certificates or transcripts);
• evidence of English language ability, if English is not your first language (some test results are only valid for two years, your test report will need to be valid on the start date of your course);
• a research proposal, always check the department website for instructions as these vary;
• check the department website for additional requirements (for example, some courses ask for specific information in a personal statement);
• you may need two references, they will be contacted and asked to submit a reference directly to us via our referee portal. We will let you know when they have done this. Make sure your referees are aware in advance as they play a vital part in the assessment of your application.

Frequently asked questions

The application form should be easy to complete but we have some FAQs to help you: