Graduate Profile for the
Master of Music (MMus)

Preamble

The papers offered by the University of Waikato towards the Master of Music (MMus) have been designed to achieve the following particular outcomes involving mastery of content, acquisition of skills and development of attributes.

The University has developed relationships and networks with national and international academic and professional musical communities to ensure that its programmes and qualifications are relevant and responsive to our students’ needs as well as their needs. The University is also responsive to a range of social and economic goals which have been identified as priorities by Government. The generic capabilities developed by our graduates are of critical importance, as are specialist knowledge and skills. This graduate profile includes an outline of its links with other education sector groups, community groups, industry and employers who have an interest in the capabilities of graduates of this qualification, who contribute to programme planning and development and who also, in many cases, provide workplace experience opportunities.

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences seeks in all its qualifications to familiarise students with central bodies of knowledge in the subject areas of Arts and Social Sciences, to encourage the development of the ability to analyse such knowledge critically, to provide the skills needed to articulate their knowledge and positions and to contribute to the extension of knowledge by research.

The MMus is an advanced one-year programme of supervised performance or composition for candidates who have already specialised in Music to Honours level.

Mastery of Content

Graduates will have developed significant individual motivation in working through and completing substantial tasks in performance or composition. For performers this entails a demonstrated ability to plan, prepare and present a complete musical recital in public. For composers it entails a demonstrated ability to create a substantial body of original music written to a professional standard, with each piece worthy and capable of being played in public concert or equivalent forum.

Graduates will also have a detailed knowledge and a sophisticated and detailed understanding of:

• the concepts and principles of music composition and performance.
• the principal contemporary and historical techniques of, and approaches to, Western music composition performance.
• the different philosophical and technical issues facing creativity and performance and research into these activities.

Acquisition of Skills

By focussing on specific areas of specialisation within the discipline of music, graduates will develop superior professional skills in producing compositions or performances as appropriate. High levels of individuality and artistic maturity are expected of the MMus graduate, achieved through carefully specialised study within the programme.

Other, more generic, skills they will have developed include:

• the ability to develop lines of argument and make sound judgements in accordance with basic theories and concepts in their subject(s).
• the ability to apply the methods and techniques that they have learned.
• the ability to present, evaluate, and interpret qualitative and quantitative data.
• the ability to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses.
• the ability to effectively communicate information, arguments, and analyses in a variety of forms, to specialist and non-specialist audiences.
• the ability to apply underlying concepts and principles outside the context in which they were first studied, including, where appropriate, the application of those principles in an employment context.
• the ability to evaluate critically current scholarship in the discipline.
• the ability to conceptualise, design and implement a project and to adjust the project in the light of unforeseen problems.
• the ability to work effectively in a team.
• the ability to negotiate effectively.
• information literacy – the ability to locate, evaluate and use information in a range of contexts.

Development of Attributes

Graduates of the MMus have had the opportunity to acquire the following attributes:

• an appreciation of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge.
• the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility.
• confidence to make decisions in complex and unpredictable contexts.
• the learning ability needed to undertake appropriate further education and/or training.
• self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems.
• the confidence to act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks.
• an awareness of ethical issues.

Specific Programme Attributes

Graduates of the MMus have had the opportunity to acquire the following specific programme attributes:

• the ability to read and write music fluently and express the creative urge coherently through performance and/or composition.
• the ability to understand and analyse a wide variety of works.
• the capacity to plan a musical programme, an essay, portfolio, research project or other relevant body of work.
• the ability to understand the nature and progression of musical history.
• the ability to relate music to society and the other arts

Graduate Pathways in Further Education

Various graduate and postgraduate diplomas
Master of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy

Community and Workplace Prospects

The degree provides students with individually supervised tuition in performance or composition so that MMus graduates are working at professional levels in their respective fields. These might include the following:

Broadcasting
Radio/television/recording production
Performer (solo, chamber, orchestra, studio, experimental, theatrical)
Multi-media creation
Arts administrator
Communications co-ordinator
Community development (tribal authorities)
Musical director/producer
Educator (all level: private, primary, secondary, tertiary)
Film/video music production
Human-computer interface development
Journalist
Librarian/information consultant
Music technician

Networks into Other Sectors

Students have a number of opportunities to participate in their respective musical fields in ways that contribute to their emerging professionalism and also offer significant networking links. Some of these include:

• Performance opportunities for playing with the Waikato Symphony Orchestra and Opera Waikato.
• National level networking and pre-professional development at Nelson Young Composer’s Workshop for composition students.
• Participation in orchestral reading workshops run by New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and Auckland Philharmonia (composition students).
• Participation in National Youth Orchestra by some performance students.
• Participation and successes in regional singing competitions.
• Publication in professional journals (eg. Music in New Zealand) for some musicology students.

Some staff and also some students belong to registered music teachers organisations