MA Specialised Music Performance | Composition

Basel Academy of Music

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Institut Klassik | This course is aimed at advanced composers: it builds on a vocational qualification in Composition with corresponding competencies. It enables students to specialise at the highest level. sonic space basel students from every conceivable facet of contemporary music practice and international cooperation partners offer the ideal environment for the collaborative realisation of proprietary creations.

Factsheet

Degree: Master of Arts FHNW in Spezialisierter Musikalischer Performance, Komposition
Study mode: Full-time
Learning mode: Onsite
ECTS credits: 120
Duration: 4 semesters
Teaching language: A2 level in German required
Stay abroad: Possible
Application fee: 200 CHF
Semester fee: 750 CHF (CH) | 1000 CHF (EU/EFTA) | 1250 CHF (Not-EU/Not-EFTA)

At a glance

Highly modular curriculum, including individual tuition, promotes individual specialisations in the field of contemporary music
Hands on in the concert hall – accompaniment of your own compositions up to and including performance teaches you how to deal with concert situations
sonic space basel means cross-disciplinary approaches and collaborative working, with a strong focus on peer-to-peer learning

Why study this?

The educational goals of the MA SP Composition programme are – in addition to expanding one's own catalogue of works – to develop a strong ability to reflect on one's own actions and creative work, to confidently engage in collaborative working methods, to acquire a sound knowledge of the professional field, and to develop strong communication skills in dealing with ensembles, orchestras, concert organisers, management offices and relevant players in the free market.

Holders of an MA in Specialised Music Performance with a Composition Major are equipped to position themselves as an individual voice in the greater context of the contemporary music Scene.

This Master’s programme is aimed at composers who already hold a professional qualification in composition and wish to specialize at the highest level within the comprehensive artistic and network technology possibilities offered by sonic space basel.

Inbar Sharet (*1996): Only when the soil is dry. Lessons in agriculture and phonology

What is the sound of new compositions? What is possible? The video shows a performance of a piece of composer Inbar Sharet, a graduate of this programme, at DonBosco Basel.

Inbar Sharet: Only when the soil is dry. Lessons in agriculture and phonology (2023, UA)

Structure and programme contents

Independent project work

The highly modularised curriculum gives composers
plenty of scope for independent activity in projects both on and off campus, allowing them to tailor their studies to their individual needs. At sonic space basel, they meet advanced master's students from the fields of performance, audio design, composition and open creation. In joint, interdisciplinary and collaborative projects, they help shape the cross-disciplinary discourse. A focus on the Electronic Studio Basel is also possible.

Specials

As part of sonic space basel, an environment of top performers who are capable of professionally executing the most demanding compositions.
Eduard Brunner Composition Prize: Every year, one of our students is awarded a composition prize worth CHF 5,000 as part of an internal sonic space basel competition.
Annual artistic collaboration with a university outside Switzerland

Modules and Reglements

The BA and MA degree programmes at the Basel Academy of Music are based on modules.

The legally binding structure provides an initial guide to the content and weighting of the subjects on the degree programme.
The detailed content and modalities of the individual subjects can be found in the module descriptions.
The study regulations come into force together with the study and examination regulations of the Basel Academy of Music FHNW and form the legal framework.

Structure

Module descriptions

Study Regulations

Lecturers

Requirements, admission, entrance exam

Excellent grounding in composition and/or music theory
Great potential to develop a distinctive artistic identity capable of taking an analytical and reflective approach to one’s work
List of works and/or list of theoretical and analytical works and publications
Ability to engage reflectively with music and to contextualise one’s own thought and ideas within a historical-sociological framework)
Particular aptitude for academic study and artistic research-based work

In order to enter the FHNW Master of Arts in Specialized Music Performance programme with a Composition Major, applicants must be awarded a Bachelor in Composition or equivalent as well as they have to have passed the entrance exam and were offered a free place at the Academy (limited places).
Applicants who have submitted all the necessary registration documents in time and have passed the first round of the entrance exam will be invited to play a live audition.
For further information on the admission criteria, please see the Study regulation of the Master of Arts FHNW in Specialised Music Performance.

We expect students to have sufficient German language skills at the beginning of the studies. Students who are not German native speakers must present an A2 German language certificate according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) at the beginning of the studies. This certificate must be complete, i.e. all modules (reading, listening, writing, speaking) have been tested separately and passed at least at level A2 overall. Only certificates that have been certified with the ALTE-Q-Mark seal of approval (e.g. the A2 certificate of the Goethe-Institut or the telc certificate) are accepted.
The required certificate A2 must be submitted with the confirmation of admission but not later than 31st May. Exceptions will be decided upon by the head of degree programme.

General Registration Procedure All about Studying in Basel