MMus Music Performance

Explore advanced, innovative approaches to your craft in this specialist course for singers and instrumentalists interested in pursuing a career in music.

Guided by professional musicians in one-to-one sessions, you’ll explore a wide breadth of repertoire choices that will enhance your artistic and technical skills. These sessions will be supported by a series of performance classes, coaching, workshops and masterclasses, offering a varied and comprehensive approach to your training.

You can study any of these areas as part of your course:

• Brass
• Guitar
• Harp
• Organ
• Piano
• Percussion
• Strings
• Voice
• Woodwind

Instrumentalists will take part in our ensemble activities, while singers will attend our language, movement and drama classes.

With a range of study options and activities, your programme can be tailored to suit your interests, strengths and career path. We also encourage you to work with students on your course and those across other departments – so the creative and collaborative possibilities are limitless.

Performing in a variety of settings is central to your training. Both singers and instrumentalists will have the opportunity to take part in a wide selection of solo and ensemble performances in our world-class facilities.

• You’ll get a wide variety of teaching approaches to enhance your artistic and technical skills. One-to-one tuition (which we call ‘principal study’) forms the heart of your development as a performer, but you’ll also have workshops, masterclasses, accompaniment, coaching and solo and collaborative performance activities to support your study.
  
• In these performance activities, you can focus on particular styles or genres that you’re interested in, and you’ll receive constructive feedback from your tutors and your peers – crucial to your development as an artist.
  
• You’ll also have numerous opportunities to take part in chamber music and ensemble performances. Available ensembles include orchestral, band, choral and operatic.
• Our impressive list of tutors includes renowned instrumental and vocal soloists and chamber musicians, distinguished coaches, prominent composers, conductors and creative artists in a range of genres – plus principal players in major orchestras and ensembles. They offer you not only first-rate teaching, but mentorship and networking opportunities as well.
• Our programme of study is flexible – you can shape your core modules to match your skills and career ambitions. With some assessments, there is a certain degree of flexibility, too, so you can test your knowledge using methods that suit your style of learning.
• If you’re a singer, you’ll be partnered with an experienced vocal coach who will support your vocal development and learning of repertoire. You’ll also get a range of supporting classes in the main operatic languages (Italian, German and French), as well as movement and drama sessions.
• If you’re studying piano, much of your focus will be on collaborative opportunities – such as song accompaniment, chamber music, ballet piano and opera repetiteur work. You’ll get sight-reading and improvisation classes too.
• If you’re an organ student, you’ll have additional classes and professional shadowing opportunities that allow you to develop associated skills – such as choral direction, rehearsal techniques and extemporisation. You’ll also have the chance to practice on key instruments in and around Cardiff and form a partnership with the director of music at Llandaff Cathedral.
• If you’re studying piano or an orchestral instrument, you can also support your study with classes in the Alexander Technique, doubling instruments, end-of-line instruments and period instruments.
• You’ll also have the opportunity to create and curate your own performance projects, where you can conduct more detailed research into areas that align with your skills and career ambitions.
• You’ll receive a considerable amount of one-to-one tuition, but you’ll also have plenty of chances throughout the year to collaborate with your fellow master’s students and those studying on our drama courses. Creating exciting new work is just part of it – these projects can offer insight into other areas of music and drama and allow you to make lifelong creative partnerships.
• Our close ties with leading arts organisations offer many opportunities to network and establish contacts within the industry – which we feel is essential to building a successful portfolio career.
• You'll dedicate much of your second year to developing projects that are connected to real-world settings. Areas you can focus on include research, teaching, community music, collaborative creative practice, composition and digital artistry. You’ll be supported by a specialist mentor, who will guide your work and help you broaden your network of industry contacts.
• Renowned international artists visit the College every year to perform and hold masterclasses with our students. They can offer invaluable artistic and industry insight, allowing you to take your skills to an advanced level. It’s not just about becoming technically proficient – it’s also about building a lasting career.
• You’ll have seminars that will teach you how to establish yourself as an independent artist. These sessions will cover networking, tax and finance, funding applications, social media – all the areas you need to know to develop and sustain a successful portfolio career.