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
- Aural Skills 1
- Aural Skills 2
- Score Reading
- Artist Development
Elective Modules - Years 3 and 4
- 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
In addition to weekly individual lessons, both undergraduate and postgraduate harp students participate in the following activities:
Chamber Music
Coached and assessed, our harpists collaborate with a fantastic pool of talented students and perform frequently in the Academy and throughout London.
Harp Ensemble
Made up of all Academy harpists, this group rehearses and performs a variety of music written for multiple harps.
Repertoire Classes
You will study standard repertoire including training in orchestral, opera and ballet playing.
Masterclasses
Early Harp
Jazz and Improvisation
Sight-reading
Auditions
The Royal Academy of Music Harp Department is a tight-knit, thriving community where solo, concerto, chamber, and orchestral repertoire are fully integrated into daily musical life. From Baroque to jazz, our harpists are trained to be versatile, creative, and ready to meet the demands of the modern music profession.
We understand that auditions can be an anxious experience, but our panel views your audition as a recital rather than an exam. We look for individuality, future potential, and artistry. If you make a mistake, stay calm—we are interested in how you recover in the moment. Be yourself, relax, and let your unique musical voice shine.
Your Audition Repertoire & Technical Requirements
For your undergraduate harp audition, you must prepare a comprehensive selection of music that highlights both your technical foundation and your interpretive skills.
1. Performance Pieces
You must prepare two contrasting pieces of your own choice, adhering to the following guideline:
- One piece must have been written after 1950, preferably in a contemporary style.
2. Technical Skills (Scales & Arpeggios)
You must be prepared to perform scales and arpeggios in all major and minor keys up to a Grade 8 Pedal Harp standard (following the ABRSM syllabus guidelines).
- Scales: Four octaves. To be played hands separately, or hands together an octave apart, a sixth apart (right hand begins on tonic), or a tenth apart (left hand begins on tonic).
- Arpeggios: Four octaves. To be played hands separately, hands together, or divided between the hands. Required in root position, first inversion, and second inversion. Dominant sevenths and diminished sevenths are also required.
3. The Prepared Study (Étude)
- Live Audition Candidates: You will be sent an étude (study) separately exactly seven days before your interview to prepare.
- Video Audition Candidates: If you pass the initial video round and progress to the live online interview, you will be emailed a piece of sight-reading the day before your interview. Please ensure you have a harp available to play during your digital meeting.
What to Expect on Audition Day
Undergraduate auditions assess your holistic musicianship, consisting of your instrumental performance and a separate academic evaluation.
Extended Warm-Up Time
Because preparing a harp takes care and focus, harp candidates are scheduled for an extended warm-up and practice block (allotted 45 minutes) immediately before entering the audition room. A Lyon & Healy harp will be available in the audition room, and a similar model will be provided in your warm-up room. You are also welcome to bring your own instrument if you prefer.
Academic Interview & Aural Skills Assessment
All undergraduate applicants will have a subsequent interview with a member of our academic staff to discuss your study plans, aspirations, and musical interests.
As part of this session, you will be given a short extract of music to discuss and will complete an Aural Skills Assessment. This includes a sight-singing test alongside practical exercises to test your fundamental musicianship:
- Singing the middle notes of a played chord.
- Identification of intervals.
- Sight-reading of rhythms.
- Simultaneous polyrhythms: Sight-reading two different rhythms at the same time (singing one rhythm while clapping the other simultaneously).
Please note: Specimen tests cannot be issued in advance.
For more information see auditions.