UDMUSPFY - BSc (Hons) Music Technology and Production (including foundation year)

Music Technology and Production (including Foundation Year) is an inclusive course for aspiring music producers and sound artists, expanding on the 3-year BSc programme.
“Assessment for learning” is key to encouraging the continuous learning process required in the fast-evolving Music Technology environment. This philosophy is achieved in assessment projects made up from practical exercises carried out in the Music IT labs, working with industry-based software. Collaborative projects may be carried out cross-school in particularly through the modules: Introduction to Media and Communications, Music Enterprise and Sound and Media.
The most explicit rationale for the course was to improve recruitment, conversion and retention of applicants to Music Technology, with the preparatory Level 3 being key to achieving this.

A significant percentage of applicants to the 3-year programme lacked the academic requirements at Level 4. These applicants, however, would be accepted to the preparatory Level 3 and, with this structured route into Higher Education, would be retained through the course as they are more prepared for University life.
Furthermore, the course serves Mature students to gain entry to Higher Education, competing with alternative level 3 “Access” courses, again with the advantage that we place them directly into the University.

This also reflects in the course’s response to Market demand, with the latest available UCAS figures (2015/16) showing a 20% growth in demand for extended Music courses with a preparatory Year 0.

It is also key to note that despite this growth in demand, our main competitor in the sector, East London University does not offer Music Technology as an Extended degree and so students applying to either institution who cannot be accepted to Level 4, now have an option to study at London Metropolitan.

Practice based modules starting at level 3 develop student’s core subject knowledge in Music Technology with evolving complexity of task encouraging more autonomy working in groups and as individuals as students reach their final projects at level 6.
All level 3 modules introduce students to the academic skills needed to facilitate their transition to level 4, including research through study of the Mass Media in SM3101 and enterprise and employability in the Music Industry in MD3006, technical report writing and note taking as part of studio practice in MD3004 and critical analysis and listening skills developed in MD3005.

Work related learning is also introduced at level 3 in MD3006 - Music Enterprise, which not only instils the digital literacy skills required to work in the Music Industry, but also introduces professional practice and industry knowledge which will be explored with greater depth and focus as student progress to graduation and future employment.

The Course Aims:
1) To equip students with the core skills needed to progress through higher education and on to employment in the field of Music Technology.

2) To familiarise students with the Music Sector as one of value to the greater cultural and creative industries, but also to highlight future career paths and employment opportunities.

3) To prepare students to the use of new technologies in sound, music & media, from composing and producing studio-based works, to exploring live sound spaces in innovative ways by providing them with the skills and critical thought which support and enable the creation of ground-breaking works in sonic arts, music production and interactive media;

4) To educate students as both artists and producers with an understanding of the needs of the music industry and the overall creative arts industry, developing also the ability to analyse and solve the technical problems in a London-based course offering a distinctive range of expertise in music and sound, with interdisciplinary ties to the wide field of digital media arts, crafts, and performance;

5) To develop the qualities and transferable skills necessary for employment requiring the exercise of personal responsibility with enterprise and industry exchange. Real opportunities of working for clients in the music industry as well as high profile hybrid projects with partners;

6) To prepare students for research and further studies, development, management, and production roles within the music and creative arts industries promoting the enhancement of work related learning experience;

7) To foster the development of students’ intellectual and imaginative powers; their understanding and judgment; their problem-solving skills; their ability to communicate; their ability to see relationships within what they have learned, and to perceive their field of study in a broader perspective;

8) To develop an enquiring, analytical approach, encouraging independent judgment and critical self-awareness expanded to a professional and interdisciplinary content leading to a wide range of possible outcomes.

The course as a whole encompasses and focuses on a number of areas (music composition, music production, processing of digital audio, audio recording/mixing/mastering, interactive media, studio based and live sound engineering). Emphasis is placed in practice-based projects at levels 4, 5 and 6, on progressively developing students’ creative skills, and developing their ability to work both independently and in teams. Project work throughout the course stresses the importance of self-evaluation and critical self-awareness.

Course Learning Outcomes:

Level 3

LO1. Knowledge and understanding
Exhibit an understanding of defined areas of the knowledge base in Music Technology and demonstrate an awareness of current developments and trends in Music Technology.

LO2. Cognitive intellectual skills
Demonstrate critical awareness in relating principles and concepts in Music Technology and Media to approaches in their own practice, giving solutions to standard problems in familiar contexts.

LO3. Transferable skills including those of employability and professional practice
The ability to self-assess skills against given criteria and engage in directed personal and professional development activities.

Use interaction and communication skills to process tasks and corresponding outcomes in well-defined contexts.

LO4. Subject-specific practical skills
Develop practical skills in Music Technology by undertaking defined exercises that include music production, sound design, music enterprise and media and communications.

Level 4

LO5. Knowledge and understanding
Demonstrate a broad knowledge base with respect to Music Technology and its pathways in Music Production and Sonic Arts applied to the conception and creation of practical outcomes, and discuss them using appropriate terminology and forms of presentation.

LO6. Cognitive intellectual skills
Demonstrate familiarity with the context of Music Technology, both with its artistic and technological foundations, and its broader critical, cultural, historical and ethical background in tune with the two pathways of Music Production and Sonic Arts.

LO7. Transferable skills including those of employability and professional practice
Use information retrieval systems effectively and develop appropriate methods for collecting, analysing, organizing, interpreting and deploying knowledge.Work effectively with others as a member of a group and meet obligations to others.

LO8. Subject-specific practical skills
Apply specified and appropriate tools and methodologies to well-defined problems in music composition, critical listening and analysis, sound design, music and sound for media, acoustic systems, musical technology and culture, and music production, under direction or supervision.

Level 5

LO9. Knowledge and understanding
Acquire a deepened understanding of the artistic and technological context on the subject of Music Technology and its pathways in Music Production and Sonic Arts.

LO10. Cognitive intellectual skills
Deploy critical and analytical skills in oral and written discussion and demonstrate the ability to develop, structure and communicate an argument or similarly rigorous line of enquiry, using the appropriate scholarly methods, conventions and protocols.

LO11. Transferable skills including those of employability and professional practice
Interact effectively within a team / learning group, giving and receiving information and ideas and modifying responses where appropriate.

Act with increasing autonomy, demonstrating skills in self-managed learning and self-assessment with a reduced need for supervision and direction.

LO12. Subject-specific practical skills

Operate in situations of more advanced complexity, requiring the identification and diagnosis of technological problems, particularly as they apply to the subjects of music composition, recording and studio production, interactive arts, live electronics, music computing and digital audio, sound for the moving image, audio/visual post-production, cultural musicology, the creative industries, acoustics, and the application of a wider range of techniques and tools for their resolution, reporting practical procedures in a clear and concise manner.

Level 6

LO13. Knowledge and understanding
Select, manage and produce a thorough and penetrating investigation into a historical, theoretical, artistic or technical question in the context of Music Technology and its specialist pathways in Music Production and Sonic Arts.

LO14. Cognitive intellectual skills
Research, order, analyse, evaluate and make appropriate use of original evidence, scholarly materials and techniques and current research, identifying the key arguments or issues at play in the selected topic, constructing a clear argument or line of thought and showing how his/her work fits into and arises from previous work in the area.

LO15. Transferable skills including those of employability and professional practice
Demonstrate the ability to act autonomously, with minimal supervision or direction, within agreed guidelines.

Foster responsibility for student’s own self-marketing and personal, academic and professional development and employability.

LO16. Subject-specific practical skills

Develop confidence and flexibility in identifying and defining complex problems relating to Music Technology, apply appropriate knowledge and skills to their solution in a professional level, and describing the process in detailed and coherent project reports in tune with the two pathways of Music Production and Sonic Arts.

Quality Assurance Agency Subject Benchmark Statement Music from October 2016. Benchmark standards have been used in defining the Course Learning Outcomes, presented in Item #11.

A variety of assessment methods are used within the course, ranging from formative, summative, diagnostic, peer and self-assessment, through studio-based work, workshops, written assignments, presentations, practical coursework, essays, individual and group practical projects, and a final dissertation or investigative study. These methods are aligned to the School and the University assessment strategies, and with the course learning outcomes and curriculum.

Strategies utilised support students’ understanding of their learning by providing timely developmental feedback that promotes a deeper learning approach to their studies. Assessment methods such as reports, essays, critiques, and presentations, allow differing learning styles, whilst encouraging reflective approaches.

Each assessment (formative and summative) seeks to build students’ confidence as independent learners, providing pertinent advice for all aspects of learning.
The course team provide a regular set of opportunities for scheduled tutorial ‘drop in’ sessions and the course’s Blended Learning environment offers students opportunities to discuss (with tutors and peers) their assessment strategies. Further support is available via a new team of academic mentors, tutors, Library Services, University Student Services, and the Centre for Learning and Teaching.

Employability’ is integral to the design and delivery of the BSc Music Technology and Production (including Foundation Year). The preparatory Level 3 includes the core module Music Enterprise which focuses on the Music Industry and its potential for enterprise and the available employment roles.

Work Based learning is addressed at all levels and throughout all modules, notably in the opportunity to realise intellectual and practical properties of accumulated learning in all levels by completing an integrated programme of specialist, discipline-specific studies.
Furthermore aspects of work related learning (WRL) are specifically addressed in module MD6004, Project Development: Music Technology, developing the skills of professional practice in the sectors of Music Technology.

Central to the module is a deep understanding of the student’s creative and critical practice in relation to future employment, self-employment, and other cultural contexts. Knowledge of these contexts would have been gathered during the course across all levels. This knowledge will be used to inform choices and decisions, quality and mode of presentation.

Students undertake a work-related project or training appropriate to their academic level. They enhance and extend their learning experience by applying and building on their academic skills and abilities by tackling real life problems in a professional working environment, gaining a useful experience of the working environment and the career opportunities available to them on graduation.

Student Services provide Careers & Employability events throughout the year with workshops that help to prepare CVs for job applications and interviews. The Career services provide advice and guidance, along with collaborative projects set within specific modules.

A close link with these services is added to the planning of the WRL module and MD3006 – Music Enterprise, making sure that these activities are fully integrated into the student’s learning experience and not simply an optional service that students would access in an ad hoc basis. A practice underpinned by the QAA UK Quality Code for Higher Education (March 2018) under “Expectations for Quality” namely: The provider supports all students to achieve successful academic and professional outcomes.

PART-TIME MODE OF STUDY

Part-time study is defined as 60 credits per year. Consequently, in part-time mode, the duration of study for a 480-credit degree will be 8 years. The pattern of study shall be as follows:

Year 1 – MD3004 & MD3005

Year 2 – SM3018 & MD3006

Year 3 – MD4001 & MD4002

Year 4 – MD4007 & MD4008

Year 5 – MD5001 & MD5008 - Sonic Arts pathway

or

Year 5 – MD5001 & MD5009 - Music Production pathway

Year 6 – MD5003 & MD5010

Year 7 – MD6004 & MD6013

Year 8 – MD6010 & MD6014

Standard University Academic Regulations. Refer to the course structure.

Opportunities for reflective learning/PDP are promoted through feedback and written reports, embedded in all assessments with emphasis on reflection of their work. Formative assessment and feedback are planned to address their learning development needs and to capture their learning achievements with a regular request of reflective commentaries in all written submissions.

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This course will provide students with specialist technical expertise to open up a wide range of career opportunities to enter the Creative Arts Industries. Students develop as creative, flexible and reflective practitioners with employment and self-employment opportunities in sound recording, sound engineering, sound broadcast, mixing, mastering, production & post production, studio-based and live production, such as sound for theatre, concerts and festivals, as well as move to more artistic opportunities in sonic arts working with installations, experimental music and performance, sound design, foley sound, and audio post-production, film music, and computer game sound. Students may also choose a career in education or to progress to postgraduate study and research (Masters and PhD).

Whatever the path chosen after graduation, our students are certain to be equipped for a wide range of disciplines. They will have the opportunity to develop their skills in the Music studios and Music IT labs, working with industry-based software and practicing with a range of musicians and styles, besides of real opportunities to engage in collaborative projects that may be carried out cross-school and inter-disciplinary.

This course is ideal if you’re just starting your career in music and media. You could go on to work in areas such as music production, sound recording, sound engineering and sound broadcast. Completing this degree will give you all the skills needed to work in composing, sonic arts or sound design.

You could also work in post-production, music for film, video editing, sound and music for games, as well as live sound such as sound for theatre, concerts and outdoor festivals.

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

• at least one A level (or a minimum of 48 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC Subsidiary/National/BTEC Extended Diploma)
• English Language GCSE at grade C (grade 4) or above (or equivalent eg Functional Skills at Level 2)

We encourage applications from International/EU students with equivalent qualifications.

We also accept mature students with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Suitable applicants living in the UK may be invited to a portfolio interview. Applicants living outside the UK may be required to submit a small portfolio of works via email.

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Tier 4 student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.