Creative Music Practice (MA)

About the Course

Study a professionally-focused creative music Masters degree in one of the U.K.’s most musical cities. This MA programme offers a unique blend of creative practice, business insight, and academic enquiry in support of students realising their creative visions to a professional level in music study, whether it be in performance; composition and arrangement; production; music research and writing; or other specialised areas of study in music.

The programme provides you with the professional support required to develop your creative vision, and we will work closely with you at every stage of your planning, preparation and promotion of your particular musical path as you deliver your creative vision within the public arena as a practising music professional.

This programme will be of particular interest to recent music or music production graduates, as well as recently qualified or established music professionals, who wish to further hone their music and music business skills while engaging with the music profession.

Why Choose Liverpool Hope?

Liverpool is a World Heritage City of Music, attracting one million people each year for music events. The city’s rich musical heritage—from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra to the Beatles through to Northern Soul and the club scene—make it an attractive UK city in which to study music at the Masters level.

Liverpool Hope University’s Creative Campus consists of four beautiful, Grade II Listed buildings located in Liverpool city centre. The state-of-the-art facilities at the Creative Campus include two theatres, two dance studios, two black box performance spaces, a suite of audio editing and music recording studios, a music library, music practice rooms, business incubation spaces and The Capstone Theatre, a 260-seat performance space engineered to be acoustically perfect. Liverpool Hope is also an All-Steinway Music School, demonstrating a commitment to excellence by providing our students with the best equipment possible for the study of music.

The programme is enhanced by Liverpool Hope University’s numerous partnerships with professional ensembles, organisations, venues, and festivals, such as the Immix Ensemble, the Pixels Ensemble, Parr Street Studios, Liverpool Sound City, the Angel Field Festival, Sentric Music, Milapfest, the Pagoda Ensemble, Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, and the Liverpool City Council.

Curriculum Overview

To fulfill the aim of this MA programme of blending creative practice, business insight, and academic enquiry, the creative practice of the student will be studied and the creative vision of the student will be realised with a focus on professional development.

Throughout the programme, students will cultivate the ability to articulate their creative vision at the same time as forming a business plan. Under the guidance of a music team supervisor, students will develop a substantial creative project, dissertation, or creative portfolio that engages with the students’ own interests. This culminating project will be crafted with the expectation of releasing a final product into the appropriate professional context, for example, as a recorded album, a published composition, or a portfolio of written articles for an industry magazine or academic journal.

Modules

In modules preceding the culminating project, students will develop their skills to articulate how their project aligns with the professional opportunities of their creative discipline. The Envisioning Creative Practice module and the Creative Professional Development module will increase students’ awareness of areas of artistic entrepreneurship and business management relevant to the students' chosen music specialism. During music business-focused tutorial sessions, students will study strategic management, marketing and branding planning. They will work with a draft concept of their creative final project to generate a business plan with consideration toward potential audiences, placement, and funding opportunities for the project. Students will be supervised in the advanced aspects of their creative discipline, encouraged to identify a potential (commercial) output for their work and to look for ways to individualise their creative vision. Students will form a collection of material that would equate to a press pack/professional profile and a marketing presentation that explains the impact and originality of the project.

In the Professional Creative Contexts module, students will also develop the ability to articulate their interests and the importance of their project by investigating the broader contexts for their proposed creative project. Through research training and methodology, students will place their interests within the contexts of larger cultural, historical, political and/or social frameworks to which they are contributing as creators and scholars. Students will manifest these aims in the form of a portfolio of written work (such as programme notes or an album press release) and one lecture demonstration that explores the conceptual framework of the project.

After their Creative Research Project/Dissertation is realised, students will evaluate the success of their projects during the Creative Project Evaluation module, gathering data to measure the levels of public engagement and the impact of their creative project. From this data and from self-reflective practices, students will assess and refine their project further for the development of future professional projects.

Entry Requirements

A minimum of a Second-Class Honours degree in a relevant discipline awarded by a UK university, or an equivalent higher education qualification.

International Entry Requirements

Possess a degree from an overseas institution that is judged by the Registrar or Nominee to be equivalent to a first class degree or upper second class honours degree from a UK University in music or a related subject, or have a first class or upper second class honours degree in another subject but with a substantial proven professional track record in music

Teaching and Research

Music research at Liverpool Hope has regularly achieved international recognition across the years in terms of composition, performance, musicology, and music production. The above-mentioned Creative Campus facilities and the local and global partnerships of the School of Creative and Performing Arts make for a ripe creative research environment.

Many of the Creative Campus staff members regularly engage in practiced-based research, as well as socially-engaged projects, and the School has hosted a number of international conferences and symposia, oftentimes involving industry panels or public access—all of which provide excellent surroundings and opportunities for students in the Masters programme.

UK/EU Tuition Fees

Tuition fees for Home/EU students for 2024/25 are £7,500

Funding

We offer a number of scholarships and loans to help fund your postgraduate studies. Visit our scholarships pages for more details.

International Tuition Fees

Tuition fees for International students for 2024/25 are £13,000

Careers

The main focus of this Masters programme is to professionalise music students, preparing them for the world of work by aiding them in putting together a portfolio career. By the end of this programme, students will continue to develop their creative practice in a critically-informed way, while at the same time honing the necessary skillset to promote, distribute and manage their own artistic, creative, and scholarly ambitions as they bring it to the public arena.