Postgraduate Diploma in Music (Composition)

The Postgraduate Diploma in Music provides a pathway for music graduates with a 3-year degree from other institutions in Melbourne, nationally and internationally, to gain an Honours-degree equivalent and thereby become eligible to apply for Masters courses in the School of Music.

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

• Contextualise their performing within the best practices of local, national and international standards;
• Pursue musical knowledge and skills independently, both in a specialisation and in the discipline as a whole;
• Use and assimilate the potential of technologies to facilitate the dissemination of musical skills, knowledge and information;
• Make critical, informed and sophisticated responses to new musical ideas, methodologies and theoretical frameworks, both in their specialisation and in the discipline of music as a whole;
• Show empathy, self-reflection and critical intelligence in the dissemination of skills and knowledge in their specialisation;
• Work competently and productively in a musical setting, both alone and in groups;
• Integrate a holistic view of music from different times and places into their working and intellectual lives.

Students enrolled in the Composition stream undertake the following course structure:

Semester 1

Plus:

One Ensemble Elective (6.25 points) - these are listed under the Bachelor of Music entry

and One Academic or Applied Elective* (12.5 points)

Semester 2

Plus:

One Ensemble Elective (6.25 points) - these are listed under the Bachelor of Music entry

One Academic Elective* (12.5 points)

and One Academic or Applied Elective* (12.5 points)

Total points for course = 100

* Academic and Applied Electives are listed below. 300-level electives should be taken as background study to 400-level subjects as required in the specialisations.

Academic Electives

Applied Electives

To be accepted into the Postgraduate Diploma in Music, students should normally have completed an undergraduate degree with a major in music, with at least H2B (70%) in the major, or equivalent documented professional experience of at least five years.

Application Procedure

Application forms are available via the School of Music website: http://www.music.unimelb.edu.au/future/forms/index.html

Students are encouraged to provide as much detailed information in support of their application as possible and to discuss their application with a member of the Academic Staff prior to submission.

Certified transcripts of academic records at any tertiary institution other than The University of Melbourne must be forwarded with the application. If the transcription is not in English, a certified translation must also be provided.

Composition Folio

Applicants for the Composition stream are required to submit a folio of original works with their application.The folio should comprise a number of works reflecting various compositional styles and media, of approximately 20 minutes' duration in total.

Graduates should also have developed the following skills:

• A sound attitude towards undertaking life-long learning in music;
• A well-developed capacity to understand and participate as an individual and in collaborative teams as a leader or as a team member;
• A sophisticated level of written, verbal and musical communication skills;
• An ability to think critically and analytically about the musical experience in all its facets: as performance, as composition, and as historical-sociocultural document.