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 environment
- Onsite
- ECTS points
- 120
- Duration
- 4 semesters
- Language
- A2 level in German required
- Staying 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?
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.
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
Structure MA SP Klassik Composition in German
Module descriptions
Below please find the link with all the information on the module descriptions of several FHNW universities.
- Switch the language settings to English.
- Filter by semester, Hochschule für Musik Basel FHNW, the desired degree programme or other criteria to display the relevant module information.
- Use the PDF button to call up a document from each overview and save it for yourself.
- Course registrations are made via the intranet.
Study Regulations
Lecturers
Johannes Kreidler
Michel Roth
Caspar Johannes Walter
Institut Klassik
Requirements, admission, entrance exam
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.
Entrance exam
The entrance exam is individual for each study programme direction.
Dates
Registration
You may apply between 15th December and 1st March. Along with the registration, it is mandatory to submit the following documents:
- A curriculum vitae, a motivational letter, a short biography
- The school leaving qualification, the Bachelor Diploma, the Master Diploma (if available)
- At least three compositions (may be submitted optionally as MP3 and/or video in addition to the PDF)
- A written analysis (pattern and extent of choice)
- Optional: further exercises in stylistic composition, concepts, digital music programmes, projects, essays, documentation, music-theoretical or scientific research papers, etc.
Upload your video onto YouTube and add the link in the registration tool/list of works. Please upload the list of works or send it by mail to registration.hsm@fhnw.ch by 1st March.
On-Site
The entrance exam by mail and the Zoom meeting will take place at the end of April. The exact dates may be seen here.
Announcement of the results
The results will be communicated by mail in May.
Procedure
The entrance exam is split into several parts.
Procedure
Written exam by mail (duration approx. four hours)
- Short compositional exercise by mail. The exercise is based on various materials or concepts (you may also choose from electronic materials). In case of electronic concepts, you must submit a sound file including a written documentation.
- Written analysis of a short movement from the 20th/21st century by mail.
Oral exam via video conference/Zoom
- Quick oral presentation (5-6 minutes) of an example of the submitted composing works by video
- Report on an example from the 20th/21st century, explicitly discussing techniques, pitches, rhythms, timbres, etc.
- Conversation with the jury
Organisational matters
sonic space basel
sonic space basel is a platform of Basel Academy of Music for Audio Design (BA and MA), Composition (BA and MA and MA SP), MA SP Creative Interpretation in New Music, Music Theory (BA and MA MP), MA SP New Music Theory, MA SP Open Creation, Continuing Education and Research.
We consider ourselves a laboratory, a communication tool and an information hub for contemporary music.
Projects / Ensembles
At Hochschule für Musik Basel, students have the opportunity to participate in various project and ensemble programmes.
To the overview of the recurring offers.
Quicklinks
Advising and information events
Contact
Student Administration Academy of Music, Klassik
- Phone
- +41 61 264 57 32 (Direct)
- klassik.hsm@fhnw.ch
Prof. Uli Fussenegger
- Phone
- +41 61 264 56 19
- uli.fussenegger@fhnw.ch
Information events
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Registration
The next registration window is open from 15th December to 1st March.