Overview
Our four-year Bachelor of Music (BMus) undergraduate degree programme attracts talented young musicians from across the world to study with today’s finest musicians and teachers.
The BMus combines focused study in performance with supporting academic studies. Every aspect is designed to help you towards realising your full musical potential, and to prepare you for your career in music.
You will have at least one hour of one-to-one tuition per week in your Principal Study and numerous performance opportunities. We offer a wide range of activities, events, training sessions and modules for you to hone your skill in such things as studio recording and editing techniques, self-promotion and marketing, writing CVs, making funding applications, understanding the music business and working in arts management.
At the end of your third and fourth years, you submit a portfolio of materials to help prepare you for professional life after the Academy.
BMus Entry Requirements
- Performance/Composition: High standard of performing potential or composition, strong musicianship, and good aural skills.
- Music Exams: Formal exams are not required, but successful performers are typically at a Grade 8 Distinction level or higher.
- Music Theory: Grade 6 level knowledge is recommended before starting if you aren't taking school music exams.
- Keyboard Skills: No formal minimum required (unless it's your Principal Study), though Grade 5 piano is desirable to support general musicianship.
See Entry Requirements for full academic and international criteria.
Modules
Undergraduate students take weekly academic classes in addition to their principal study. The classes are designed to complement and add to every student’s creative development as performers.
Core Modules - Years 1 and 2
- Analytical Skills 1
- Analytical Skills 2
- Performing In Context 1
- Performing In Context 2
- Aural Skills 1
- Aural Skills 2
- Score Reading
- Artist Development
Elective Modules - Years 3 and 4
- Analysis of Post-Tonal Music
- Approaching the Great Luthiers
- Attentive Listening
- Aural Skills, Further
- Baroque Performance on Historical Instruments
- Baroque Performance on Historical Instruments, Advanced
- Compositional Techniques of the Germanic Traditions c.1780-c.1880
- Conducting, Advanced
- Conducting, Intermediate
- Contemporary Music Workshop
- Crossing Cultural Frontiers
- Free Composition for Performers
- Free Composition for Performers, Advanced
- Fugue
- Listening to Mozart, Thinking about Mozart, Playing Mozart
- Maestro: a History of Conducting through Film, Recordings and Marked Scores
- Messiaen in Context
- Methods in the Analysis of Tonal Music, Advanced
- Mozart’s Operas
- Musical Aesthetics and Criticism
- Open Academy
- Open Academy. Advanced
- Performing Baroque Music (with a focus on Handel)
- Performing Experimental Music
- Repertoire Studies
- Research Project
- Silent Film Improvisation
- Song Accompaniment
- Studio Performance
- Worldwide Repertoires
Classes and Activities
Undergraduate students take weekly academic classes in addition to their accordion studies. Classes in Analysis and Aural, Conducting, Technology, Keyboard Skills and Western Music History are designed to compliment and add to every student’s creative development as performers.
In addition to weekly individual lessons, both undergraduate and postgraduate accordion students participate in:
Chamber Music
Through a strong and wide-ranging chamber music programme, the response of contemporary composers to the instrument’s emergence is reflected in continuing collaborations with composition students and established composers.
Masterclasses
Public and private masterclasses given by distinguished artists take place throughout the year. These have recently included Matti Rantanen, Mie Miki, Claudio Jacomucci, Inaki Alberdi, Viatcheslav Semionov and Massimiliano Pitocco.
Accordion History and Performance Practice
In these classes, you will learn the history of the development of the accordion and its repertoire along with discussions on playing styles.
Critical Listening Sessions
In these sessions, you will listen to recordings of old and new repertoire from accordion players all over the world while examining scores and discussing any relevant topics.
LRAM
As an Academy student, you can choose to take the Licenciate of the Royal Academy of Music (LRAM) teaching diploma course, which offers a practical and engaging introduction to the principles of teaching.
Auditions
Your audition is not an exam - we think of it as a performance.
Our panel of examiners is looking for your individuality, artistry, and future potential. We want you to feel relaxed, be yourself, and show us who you are as a musician.
For your undergraduate audition, you must prepare a performance programme that reflects your musicality and technical capability.
- Programme Content: A selection of contrasting pieces of your own choice. This can consist entirely of original works for the accordion, or it can contain one or two transcriptions.
- Duration: Your performance must be 20 minutes in length.
Audition Delivery Options
- In-Person (London): You will perform your programme live for the audition panel.
- Video & International Centres (Australia, China, New York): You must upload one unedited video of your complete 20-minute programme to the Acceptd portal.
What to Expect on Audition Day
An undergraduate audition involves more than just your performance programme. The day is designed to test your wider musicality and get to know your study goals.
1. Academic Interview
All candidates will have a subsequent interview with a member of our undergraduate academic staff. This is an informal opportunity to discuss your future study plans, musical tastes, and aspirations.
2. Aural Skills Assessment & Sight-Reading
During your academic interview, you will be given a short extract of music to discuss and will be asked to complete a series of practical tests. These assess your fundamental musicianship and include:
- Sight-singing a short test melody.
- Singing the middle notes in a played chord.
- Identification of intervals.
- Sight-reading of rhythms.
- Simultaneous polyrhythms: Sight-reading two different rhythms at the same time (to be sung and clapped simultaneously).
Please note: Specimen tests are not available in advance.
3. Interview with the Head of Department
If you are auditioning via video submission, you may be invited to a separate online interview with the Head of Accordion.
For more information, see auditions.