Course details

Summary

Expand your musical technique and understanding within your choice of classical or jazz performance, composition, popular music or musicology at New Zealand’s largest tertiary music school.

Popular Music Major

The Popular Music major is designed for aspiring songwriters and popular music performers looking to expand their songwriting, music technology and performance skills and provides a sound understanding of ways to effectively engage with the popular music industry. This major offers a unique opportunity to interact with a network of fellow student songwriters and performers, and collaborate with the talented instrumentalists studying in the jazz major. This close-knit network of fellow students will potentially go on to become your future professional musical collaborators, band members and studio engineers.

During the degree you will compose, record and perform as a solo artist, lead your own bands and ensembles while supporting your fellow students’ musical projects. You will perform regularly at concerts held at the historic Kenneth Myers Centre, formerly Auckland’s principal radio and television studios and at other public popular music venues in the city.

Degree structure

What you'll be studying

In the first year you will compose, perform and record songs on a weekly basis, have one-on-one instrumental lessons, study music technology, arranging, vocal performance and music notation, theory and history. In the second year you will continue to add to your skills with the goal of establishing your own distinctive creative process and style. The third year offers an opportunity to concentrate on advancing either your music technology and music production skills, or your performance skills, while still composing and performing as a songwriter. Each student finishes their degree with the creation of a significant portfolio of their final creative work and a major public concert.

You will also take two General Education courses offered by other faculties from across the University to acquire a broader range of skills and understanding, and be exposed to cross-disciplinary research.

Further study

The BMus, and associated conjoint programmes, lead into further study options at the School of Music. Our postgraduate degree programmes encourage initiative, critical analysis and independent thought about music in social, cultural and academic contexts as well as creative excellence.

Research programmes

• Master of Music (MMus)
• Doctor of Music (DMus)
• Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Taught programmes

• Bachelor of Music (Honours) (BMus(Hons))
• Postgraduate Diploma in Music (PGDipMus)
• Graduate Diploma in Music (GradDipMus)

Jobs related to this programme

• Arranger/composer
• Arts administrator/manager/director
• Conductor
• Music director
• Music journalist
• Performer
• Radio/television/digital media/recording producer
• Sound engineer

Entry criteria

Secondary school qualifications

You need to have one of the following:

International Baccalaureate Diploma with a minimum total score of 24.

General Certificate of Education (GCE) Advanced Level. You must have completed a minimum of three A-Level subjects with at least a 'C' grade or higher. General Studies or similar general papers cannot be included.

GCE ‘A’ Level requirements apply to ‘A’ Level qualifications examined by bodies such as AQA, OCR, Edexcel, WJEC, CCEA, Pearson Education Limited and CIE taken outside of New Zealand.

English language requirements:

IELTS 6.0; TOEFL (iBT) 80; TOEFL (paper-based) 550; CAE or CPE 169; PTE 50; MELAB 80.