Interactive Sound Design MA

School
Music, Humanities and Media

Course Length
1 year full-time
2 years part-time

Number of Places
10-15

Contact
Admissions Tutor
Tel: 01484 472424 or 01484 472007
E-mail: pgcoursesmhm@hud.ac.uk

Entry Requirements
Complete and submit the MA Music Technology Application Form which is available to download from our website at www.hud.ac.uk/mh/music_technology citing two referees.

You should enclose:

1. A portfolio of compositions or interactive works.
2. An example of a completed piece of written work on a musical topic.

• Admission is available to graduates in music from universities and colleges of music.
• Access opportunities are available to candidates who lack formal admission qualifications but who can demonstrate equivalent achievement.
• All potentially acceptable applicants are interviewed. You are expected to provide evidence that you are capable of meeting the specialist requirements for the course by submitting a portfolio of recent compositions or interactive works. All applicants must submit written work to show that they are capable of undertaking the supporting studies that the course involves.

Introduction

This MA course allows you to pursue both creative and academic work using cutting edge interactive software (Max/Msp/Jitter, PD, 3D-Max) in a purpose-built multichannel Sonic Cube in our new Creative Arts Building.

You will produce installations or other interactive works and will be encouraged to develop your aural and visual imagination for interactive works and immersive environments.

You will study with staff who are active and experienced researchers, as performers, composers and musicologists, and will make use of the impressive range of research materials and multimedia resources available.

A regular series of electronic concerts and performances offers you the opportunity to perform or show your work publicly. Leading exponents of electronic music are frequent visitors.

Course Structure

Level 1

• Postgraduate Study Skills
• Interactive Sound Design 4A
• Interactive and Digital Technologies
• Interactive Arts Practice Today

Level 2

• Interactive Sound Design 4B
• Interactive Sound Design 5

Students must accumulate 120 credits to be eligible for the award of Postgraduate Diploma in Music and a further 60 credits for the award of MA in Interactive Sound Design.

Teaching and Assessment

The Diploma modules are assessed in May/June, and the MA modules are assessed in August/September. The MA level enables you to concentrate entirely on your specialist area and, in addition, tests your ability to work independently (60 credits).

As far as possible, all teaching on the MA in Interactive Sound Design is concentrated on a single day within each fortnight so that postgraduate students are able to meet together socially as well as within the modules of supporting studies taken by all students.

Formal assessment will take place at the end of the Postgraduate Diploma and MA levels of the course.

Career Opportunities

Graduates from the MA in Computer Composition and MA in Interactive Sound Design have a wide variety of career opportunities open to them from being a freelance sound artist or commercial composer, a sound engineer and programmer for live concerts, radio or television, working in a variety of multimedia environments, or continuing on to advanced research at PhD level.

Students enrolling on the MA and MMus courses will become part of the Centre for Excellence in New Music (CeReNeM). The Centre encourages collaboration and draws together research on electronic music, interactive composition, live electronics, electroacoustic music performance, contemporary performance and composition.

 For further details please visit our website at www.hud.ac.uk/mh/

Other Information

Research Environment

The Music Department offers an outstanding research environment for both music and music technology. The Department scored a 5 (out of 5) in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, and all full-time staff are active researchers, as performers, composers or musicologists. The Creative Arts Building (newly completed in 2008) comprises purpose-built facilities, including concert hall, extensive studio facilities and sound-proofed rehearsal spaces. The University Library has an impressive range of research materials and multimedia resources, and houses special archival collections (including that of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival).

The School offers bursaries towards the cost of taught MA and MMus courses, which serve as ideal preparation for research degrees (MPhil and PhD), which are offered in all disciplines. A number of our postgraduates are employed as teaching assistants, providing a useful stepping-stone towards an academic career. In addition to subject-specific skills students will develop their intellectual self confidence and capacity for independent study and a portfolio of key skills that distinguishes all disciplines in Higher Education.

Prospectus

You can also request a printed prospectus by filling in our web form, and have it delivered to your address.

24 Hour Prospectus Enquiry Telephone Line:
+44(0)870 901 5555