Composition (Instrumental and Vocal) MusM

Year of entry: 2024

Course length: 12 months Full-Time | 24 Months Part-Time

About the course

This course offers intensive training for composers and provides excellent preparation for doctoral work or a career in the professional world.

With a strong focus on practical music-making and supported by an outstanding programme of workshops and performances by professional musicians, it offers an invaluable opportunity for composers to hone their skills and develop their personal voice.

Together, the taught units encompass a wide range of topics and approaches, including:

Contemporary Music Studies
Advanced Orchestration
Aesthetics and Analysis of Organised Sound
Interactive Tools and Engines
Historical or Contemporary Performance

These are example course units based on 2024/25 options and are subject to change each year

Learn more >

Where will your degree take you?

Our graduates have pursued successful careers in musical and non-musical fields. Some continue to further study via a PhD before securing an academic position. Some go on to teach in schools or further education, both in the UK and overseas.

Other graduates have gone on to work in fields which advances compositional training has been directly relevant such as: music producing, music composition, audio production, recording studios, entrepreneurships, the creative industries, music publishing, music journalism, and performance.

Careers outside of music have included computer programming, theatre, accountancy, law, social work, and human resources.

Read our graduate profiles here >

Tom Coult

Composer at Faber Music

MusM Composition Graduate

“I’m a composer of notated music – I've written pieces for BBC Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and the Philharmonia, and am currently working on commissions for BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and London Sinfonietta. My studies at The University of Manchester were absolutely crucial to my development as a composer – I received inspiring and meticulous tuition on my pieces, was part of a rewarding community of composers, and benefitted from the University’s admirable emphasis on giving performance opportunities for composers.”

Murrough Connolly

MusM Composition (Instrumental and Vocal Music) Student

“The highlight of my Master’s course was being able to meet and learn from outstanding composers on a regular basis. Weekly supervisions with my Professor were incredibly insightful and constructive. His feedback, and comments from other lecturers, encouraged me to explore new musical styles and experiment with intriguing compositional techniques.”

Dr Richard Whalley

Senior Lecturer in Musical Composition

Dr Richard Whalley is a Senior Lecturer in Musical Composition at The University of Manchester. His compositions are noted for their combination of timbral and textural exploration, their varied approach to line and for their formal innovation. Many are inspired by extra-musical sources, including the physicality of paintings and sculptures, the evocation of time and memory in literature, and increasingly in finding musical analogies for geological processes, and for the shapes found in nature.