MA in Sonic Arts
This highly distinctive course provides students with a unique opportunity to immersive themselves in the sonic arts. It provides a rigorous introduction to current trends within various sonic arts practices and trains students in the use of contemporary sonic art terms, tools and techniques. In doing so, the MA in Sonic Arts encourages students to develop and refine their own artistic voice/personal aesthetic and thus establish themselves within the exciting world of the sonic arts.
The course focuses upon the relationship between technology and creative practice, responding to the need to further train highly musical students in the operation of software tools and provide an opportunity for those already possessing a solid music technology background to investigate creative opportunities. It is delivered by a team of internationally renowned sound artists, composers and technologists and, as a result, students are situated at the cutting-edge of technical, creative and theoretical knowledge in this rapidly evolving area of study. At the start of the course, students are offered initial intensive training in the knowledge and methods of the field; this is followed by opportunities for increasingly independent research and exploration.
The MA in Sonic Arts is taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and tutorials; these focus upon three main areas:
- the acquisition of technical skills
- the creation of sound art
- the contextualisation of artistic works
The first area (the acquisition of technical skills) introduces the software/hardware tools needed to create sonic art. The course surveys commercially-available sound technologies before introducing students to the world of open-source software and computer programming. By the end of the degree students are able to design, develop and produce their own software tools that meet their aesthetic aims.
The second area (the creation of sound art) focuses upon the development and refinement of the student’s personal aesthetic. Students on the MA in Sonic Arts are expected to pursue their own creative ideas but are encouraged to explore previously uncharted territories, expand and hybridise their creative approach and develop a highly personalised artistic voice.
The third area (the contextualisation of artistic works) sits alongside the previous two areas; students on the MA in Sonic Arts will be introduced to a wide range of sonic artists, sonic art practices, tools and contemporary solutions to creative challenges; this serves to broaden and enrich understanding in this exciting area of study and enable students to situate their own creative practice within the field at large.