MA Sonic Arts

About the course

Develop the skills to produce audio and video pieces, and place your work within an artistic context. Using the resources in our purpose-built Soundhouse facility, you'll put together a portfolio of creative work.

Course content

• Computer music programming
• Audio-visual interaction
• Analytical and contextual seminars
• Creative media portfolio

Teaching

Teaching is informed by new technologies and methods of working. It takes place through:

• Seminars
• Laboratory-based demonstrations
• Individual tutorials

Assessment

You'll be assessed on your coursework (including short exercises and one piece of written work) and a portfolio of creative media work including detailed written commentary.

Why your masters matters

We offer a variety of specialist courses, taught by expert staff. We're among the UK's top five music departments, and our teaching and research have both been rated as excellent.

We're influential in music psychology and education, acoustic and electronic composition, performance studies and the ethnomusicology of East Asia. Our Centre for Applied and Interdisciplinary Research in Music (CAIRM) supports research collaborations.

Performance is an important part of our work and you'll have the chance to participate in orchestras, music theatre, contemporary music, folk and world traditions. We have strong links with our community, giving you the chance to make music outside the University.

Many of our students go on to lead careers in the education sector, whilst others enjoy careers as performers in various popular genres, both here in the UK and abroad, or work in sound recording studios. Recent graduates have gone on to work for employers such as universities, colleges, concert agencies, sound recording studios and music promoters.

Work alongside professional musicians and researchers to develop your skills and knowledge.

Study materials, studios and equipment

You can access scores, books, periodicals and recordings, plus online resources. We also have a postgraduate research suite and several studios for advanced compositional work, software development, sound recording, experimentation, transcription, music notation and other research applications.

Our experienced studio manager will help you use the tools for digital recording, video and film. We also have practice facilities and collections of historical and world music instruments.

Resident professional musicians bring performance expertise to the department, most recently Ensemble 360 and tabla performer John Ball. For extra support, you can apply for a small grant to support your postgraduate research project.

Apply now

You can apply for postgraduate study using our Postgraduate Online Application Form. It is a quick and easy process.

Postgraduate Online Application Form