Music (Folk, Roots and Blues)

Rebellion. Tradition. Activism. Our exciting and inclusive approach to Folk, Roots and Blues celebrates and allows you to explore music from all over the globe, bringing an understanding and appreciation of the social movements, rebel traditions and protest music that are central to this progressive art form.

Expanding upon these elements through an innovative approach to performance, songwriting, composition, arrangement and recording techniques, you will be able to express your own creativity in the format and style you see fit.

With a focus on your own personal creativity, you will learn the foundations and structures of Folk, Roots and Blues and choose how to or how not to apply them in your own music making. Our genre-less approach to Folk, Roots and Blues has understanding and creative risk at its heart.

The BA (Hons) Music (Folk, Roots and Blues) modules focus on developing you as a professional musician through one-to-one tuition, ensemble study and creative projects. The professional studies strand will develop your core business skills, and other optional modules will introduce additional cross-genre capabilities.

The programme has strands in Specialist Study, Contextual Studies and Professional Studies that span the three levels of the programme. Students focus primarily on their Specialist Study.

Year 1 (Level 4)
Compulsory modules:
Specialist Study 1
Specialist Group Study 1
Contextual Studies 1
Professional Studies 1: Working in the Creative Industries
Creative Project

Year 2 (Level 5)
Compulsory modules:
Specialist Study 2
Specialist Group Study 2
Contextual Studies 2
Professional Studies 2

Contextual Studies 2 optional modules, one of:
Arranging and Orchestration
Collaborative Composition
Entrepreneurship
Introduction to Music Technology
Music and Ideology
Music for the Moving Image
Musical Direction
Performance with Electronics
Songwriting

Professional Studies 2 optional modules, one of:
Artistic Management
Business Start-up
Concerts and Touring
Instrumental Music Tuition
Self-Promotion and Music Marketing
Structure and Functions of the Film Music Industry
Working with Music in the Community

Year 3 (Level 6)
Compulsory modules:
Specialist Study 3
Final Project
Contextual Studies 3
Professional Studies 3

Students select either a Group/Ensemble Performance Project or a Practice in Context Research Project for their Final Project module.

Contextual Studies 3 optional modules, one of:
Composed Theatre
Composition and Production for Film and Television
Computer-Based Composition
Electro-acoustic Composition
Emerging Music Models
Extended Improvisation
Intercultural Music
Lyric Writing
Politics and Art
Software Environments – Performance and Sound Creation

Professional Studies 3 optional modules, one of:
Business Leadership and Ethics
Community Music Project
Film Music – Aesthetics and Narrative Function
Live Music Management
Music Journalism

Module specifications can be accessed via the Leeds Conservatoire website: http://bit.ly/LC-Folk-UCAS

The course is assessed in a variety of ways to reflect the diversity of creative and professional practice. Assessment methods include recitals, coursework, musical portfolios, recordings, technical tests, presentations and written work. The exact nature of assessments will depend on the Contextual Studies and Professional Studies module options chosen at Level 5 and Level 6, as well as the choice of project for the Final Project module at Level 6. Formal assessments tend to take place at the end of each semester or the end of the year. There are a handful of assignments with deadlines halfway through a semester.