What Makes This Course So Special?
Creative Sound and Music is a practice-based music degree for the 21st century. Uniquely, it offers you a mix of music composition, performance, production, media and business in one focused programme of study. It equips you with the ideas and experience necessary to succeed in one of the most competitive and dynamic creative industries.
Music students at Newport are able to develop their ideas in our state-of-the art production facilities designed by Munro Acoustics and equipped with leading industry-standard hardware such as the Digidesign Icon console and the SSL AWS 948 mixing desk.
We are committed to providing a creative, supportive and rewarding educational experience for all with an emphasis on one-to-one tutorials, group project work and public performances.
We have strong industry links in the commercial and cultural sectors, and lectures are regularly given by guest speakers working in the music industry, such as Huw Stephens and Matthew Herbert and Tom Friend (Heavenly, Helium). We encourage you to undertake work experience, field trips and to study abroad on exchange programmes. Past work placements have included leading UK companies like Real World Studios and Munro Acoustics, as well as independent music labels such as Beggars Banquet and Tru Thoughts.
Find out more about the subject of Performing Arts at Newport.
Course Intro
Music is changing. The music industry is changing. At Newport you can choose between three bespoke Creative Music degree pathways, each of which have been designed to respond to an increasingly specialist commercial and creative music industry.
The Creative Sound and Music pathway has been designed to equip you with the latest ideas, insights, techniques and skills for developing a career as a musician. Launching you head-first into a programme of creative learning, the course develops your approach to composition and performance, whilst providing you with the necessary production skills to realise your ideas.
Having established a working process that’s right for you, you’ll engage with the necessary media platforms and business strategies that will help you to develop your work in the context of the 21st century music industry.
You will continue to develop your chosen specialism through advanced composition, performance and production modules that culminate in a final major project designed by you in negotiation with the programme team that meets the demands of a highly competitive industry.
The course team’s professional experiences include composition, performance, production, video, marketing and design; providing a unique platform for your musical development.
What you study
Year 1
The central focus is on innovation as fundamental to the creative process, with specific emphasis on composition and performance. During your first year you’ll develop your distinctive creative voice, drawing inspiration from both commercial and experimental music practice.
Workshops will introduce you to production, recording, electronics, interactive music, graphic design and online strategies. You will also undertake a programme of theory, which includes contemporary and experimental music, critical thought, political economy and philosophy.
Year 2
You will continue your practice-based studies to an advanced level, exploring composition and performance within a global and networked context. You’ll engage with Newport’s fully integrated digital/analogue studios and further develop your recording and production capabilities. This will be supported by the development and strategisation of your online profile, as well as through applied research into monetising and professionalising your practice post-graduation. Again, you will also undertake a programme of theory that focuses on the relationships between audio and visual media within a philosophical context. Your studies will also be accompanied by a negotiated work placement or live brief, which frequently results in postgraduate opportunities for career development and employment
Year 3
You will produce a major audio, audiovisual or interactive project, that’s worthy of commercial release / publication and engage in the performance and distribution of this project. You will also undertake advanced research leading to a written dissertation. These projects continue to develop and reinforce your understanding of sound and music, examining the political and economic structure of the creative and commercial music industry.
A programme specification for this course is available.
Where next
You will be qualified to progress to a wide range of music related employment including: performance, sonic arts, composition, production, music/composition for film, interactive media and games, sound engineering, radio and online music distribution, music marketing and management, independent music business (labels, publishing and agency), music education and consultancy for digital music futures (property and rights). Our graduates may also progress to postgraduate study, including the Creative Music Practice MA/MFA course here at Newport.
Interview Required
The interview is a friendly process that is designed to give a clear indication of your interests and potential for study at degree level. You will be expected to perform an original solo composition live at the interview with no backing track. You will have an opportunity to ask questions about the course and view our first class facilities.
Assessment
Throughout this course you will be assessed through a combination of practical work and both written and presentation-based theoretical assignments.