Music for Screen

This is a career focused Masters degree, offering an exceptional opportunity for students to create a professional portfolio of original compositions for media and screen content and help expose their talent to audio-visual communities world-wide.



The objective of this course is to prepare individuals for self-employment within the visual media industries. Participants will gain an understanding of how music composition and scoring integrates with the wider visual media sector and will be provided with insights into potential new technical opportunities therein. Graduates will be conversant in various compositional methods, gaining knowledge in traditional scoring techniques alongside exploration in sound design, which will be merged with knowledge gained in multimedia production and in writing narrative works through sound. These experiences allow students to score using a variety of techniques and practices, with the opportunity to employ experimental practices through both instrumentation and technology.



The Master of Arts in Music for Screen offers students the opportunity to write for and record with a full Orchestra. Students will be taught by a distinguished staff comprised of professional composers, music producers, sound engineers, and eminent international guest lecturers from the broader Hollywood film, TV and games scoring communities. Students will also have the opportunity to travel as part of a foreign research trip centred around two international film scoring symposia. Over the duration of the research trip, students will learn, participate, and network in important ways that prepare them for numerous career options in this multimedia marketplace, while researching and liaising with the wider international scoring community with a view to finalising their Major Project research proposal.



Specific scoring skills covered by the programme include: fundamental and advanced scoring techniques, experimental music composition principles and technologies, score analysis, orchestration and arranging, music and audio-visual technology, studio conducting and score supervision, as well as preparation for industry and business planning.



Upon completion of this course, participants will either be ready to establish themselves as self-employed professional composers or join an established visual media industries company. The programme is targeted at skilled and qualified individuals across the creative music industries looking to further their creative careers.

Semester 1

Scoring Fundamentals, Orchestration & Arranging

Analysis and Compositional Techniques

Music & Audio-Visual Technologies

Score Supervision & Conducting



Semester 2

Advanced Scoring, Orchestration & Arranging

Cinema for The Ear

Preparation for Industry

Major Project

The standard minimum entry requirement is a 2.2 Honours Degree (NFQ Level 8) in Music or a cognate discipline. A portfolio of relevant digital audio-visual work is also required.



Graduates of other creative disciplines or those applying from industry will be assessed for entry through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) or the Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning (RPEL) processes on a case-by-case basis. Candidates will be interviewed where this is deemed necessary or appropriate. Dundalk Institute of Technology recognises that knowledge, skills and competencies can be acquired from a range of learning experiences, including formal, non-formal and informal. Through the DkIT Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy. The Institute commits to giving value to all relevant learning, irrespective of mode or place of learning. Recognition of prior learning will provide opportunities for access, transfer and progression to education and training and for the achievement of an award. Processes and practices for the recognition of prior learning are detailed in the Institute's RPL Policy.



In addition to having obtained the equivalent degree as per the standard entry requirements, international applicants must also provide evidence of proficiency in English. International applicants will be invited for interview. The English requirements are as follows:



Grade B2 equivalent on CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages)



OR



have achieved IELTS 6.5(or internationally recognised equivalent).



This course is best suited to:



Students of music or cognate areas wishing to progress to Masters level.



Working composers seeking access to a more formalised training programme for the purpose of career advancement.

12 months full-time.



The programme is full-time only, there is no part-time offering. The programme will be delivered January to January. This Masters degree is highly applied with a focus on ‘hands-on’ skills delivered through a blend of lectures, tutorials, practicals and online learning.

Career Options

The Masters programme in Music for Screen prepares graduates for careers such as:



Film scoring

Game scoring

Music production for visual media

Music technology

Music editor

Music supervisor

Orchestration and arranging

Studio conducting and score supervision

Copyist

Project development

Sound design and editing

Audio asset content creation

Entrepreneurship



Progression Options

The MA in Music for Screen is a career focused degree. Graduates of the programme may wish to pursue their education further and would be qualified to do such in a range of areas relating to the music and audio-visual industries.



Most graduates will work within the Visual Media industries or lean toward further education and research within post-graduate training (PhD).



Graduates will be comprehensively equipped to progress, in most cases, directly into jobs in the Film, TV, Animation and Gaming industries, while others may gravitate towards more specialised fields such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) production, music for immersive and interactive media, sound design, and music production.