Media composers are only a part of some greater creative enterprise, be it a film, game, television programme or commercial. As such they need to be able to understand the creative vision of the director or producer and create music which is in line with their expectations. Communicating creative ideas and attempting to describe music in words is notoriously difficult and fraught with potential problems. In this module, we introduce students to the complexity of this issue and offer some strategies for better communication.

Further to this, students will be exposed to more complex and demanding industry sectors such as computer games and library music. Composers are introduced to more difficult projects where the technical requirements are more demanding. Listening to interviews with real-world clients will help students acclimatise to the language and style of communication used in the industry.

Both professional and academic research gathers relevant information from a wide range of sources before analysing and drawing reasonable conclusions. The research will be evaluated on the basis of its originality, depth of insight, and the quality of the supporting argument.

Research can constitute:
- Professional research (i.e. further understanding gained from examining the professional output of other practitioners)
- Academic research (i.e. further understanding gained from theoretical/historical/analytical activities)

We expect students to:

- Analyse, synthesise, critically reflect, and build an argument
- Use academic writing, including referencing and a bibliography
- Contextualise their practical work in light of the research

Students are introduced to the practical skill of writing music in sync with the picture. Having established the powerful and complex relationship between music and the moving image in the previous module, students should be well equipped to begin writing their own original music to a given picture.


In this module, we also look at several different areas of the industry: documentaries, animation, commercials and natural history, each of which presents its own set of specific requirements and challenges.

On this course, you will have 2 elective modules, which allows you to customise your experience on the course leading up to your Final Major Project or Dissertation.

You can choose from:

• Advanced Composition
• Orchestration in Practice
• Orchestration 2
• Adventures in Experimental Music
• Career Development for Musicians
• Composition: Telling Stories
• Country Music Masterclass
• EDM and Remix Masterclass
• Lyric Writing Masterclass
• Hip Hop and RnB Masterclass
• Rock and Metal Masterclass

On this course, you will have 2 elective modules, which allows you to customise your experience on the course leading up to your Final Major Project or Dissertation.


You can choose from:

• EDM and Remix Masterclass
• Lyric Writing Masterclass
• Hip Hop and RnB Masterclass
• Rock and Metal Masterclass
• Country Music Masterclass
• Adventures in Experimental Music
• Advanced Music Promotion
• Composing for Drama
• Musical Sound Design
• Composition: Telling Stories
• Sampled Orchestration
• Music Editing

Final Major Project

The Final Major Project is an extensive piece of work that represents the culmination of creative,
technical and research skills acquired during the rest of the course. The challenge is to take a piece of
music from conception through to final recording, performing all the creative and technical tasks
required along the way. Students will choose a creative approach to their source material or original
composition, orchestrate the music within the technical and creative limitations of the ensemble, and
create a full sampled mock-up, conductor’s scores, musicians’ parts, Pro Tools sessions and a budget.

You are required to orchestrate not less than 15 and not more than 20 minutes of music.

Dissertation
Instead of the Final Major Project, you may opt to do a dissertation instead. This will represent your research into an area of music intended for media consumption (i.e. not concert music).

You will be asked to write a long essay of 12,000 words (+/- 10%), including footnotes, but excluding
bibliography. This is  substantially longer than any of your other work so far.