music, visual and performing arts - University of Melbourne

Extra requirements
The Bachelor of Music selection process
requires applicants to pass an audition
and complete a musicianship test. For your
audition to be at a competitive standard,
we recommend that the repertoire you
present be at the equivalent standard of
Grade 7 AMEB (Grade 8 ABRSM) on your
instrument or Grade 5 AMEB for voice.
Audition: Live auditions are usually
held in November and early December.
Applicants from overseas, interstate or
regional Victoria should submit an audition
recording in CD audio format.
For your audition, you should prepare
three pieces demonstrating your skill on
Choose Music at Melbourne
As a Bachelor of Music student at the
University of Melbourne you will benefit
from:
> a highly flexible new generation degree,
tailored to meet your interests, skills and
needs in preparation for your future life in
music
> a degree delivered by a prestigious
institution with a reputation for producing
outstanding graduates for careers in all
aspects of the music profession, and
especially performance, composition,
musicology and ethnomusicology
> an extensive practical program, offering
one-to-one instrumental/vocal tuition, and
regular masterclasses with national and
international visiting artists
> a comprehensive and musically
stimulating suite of ensemble
opportunities, from chamber to large
orchestra, and across all genres of music,
including many types of instrumental,
early music and vocal ensembles
> exciting opportunities for specialisation
in early performance practice,
contemporary performance, non-western
ensembles (e.g. Javanese Gamelan),
contemporary ensembles (e.g. Big Band),
Wind Ensemble, World Music Choir,
and many other formal and informal
performance opportunities
> a diverse student body, selected from
all Australian states, with 15 per cent of
students coming from abroad
> a student support network including an
extensive orientation program, Mentor
and Transition Program, Piano at Home
Scheme, easy access to staff, state-ofthe-art
computer facilities, 24/7 practice
facilities and student groups
> a lively concert life, with regular lunchtime
and evening concerts by students,
professionals, and visiting artists.
the instrument you wish to study. The
pieces should be of contrasting styles and
periods, and the audition program should
be no longer than 20 minutes.
A sample program might include works
from the Baroque, Romantic and 20th
century repertoires. You may also be
asked to demonstrate some technical
work.
The audition panel will not hear your entire
program and will make its own selection
from the works prepared.
Musicianship test: The musicianship
test assesses your aural and theory
skills, which is used to design a first-year
course structure tailored to meet your
Course structure
First year: focuses on performance/
composition skills, historical, theoretical
and contextual studies, aural studies and
applied music skills.
Second and third years: Specialised study
intensifies while the flexibility and capacity
for you to move between specialisations
and keep your graduate study options open
is retained.
You can select from a wide range
of electives across various and
interchangeable categories, for example
Applied Skills electives, which include
ensemble subjects, Academic electives
and Music Studies electives. Electives are
often selected based on relevance to your
particular specialisation.
A breadth subject is also taken in each
semester of enrolment.
Depth – developing your
specialisation
You may choose to focus your studies in
one of the following areas of specialisation:
> Performance
> Composition
> Musicology
> Ethnomusicology
There is flexibility to move between
Performance and Composition
specialisations from first and second
year. Specialisation in Musicology and
Ethnomusicology commences in second
year, with the flexibility to combine these
specialisations with further Performance
study.
specific needs. The test is held three
times during the live audition period and
for those that audition via recording,
again in the orientation period, prior to the
commencement of classes.
Instrument: You need to confirm that
your instrument is one in which tuition is
available.
If you are advanced on two instruments,
and are unsure on which instrument to
specialise, you are welcome to audition for
both instruments.
For more information see:
www.bmus.unimelb.edu.au/apply
There is a wide range of electives to
complement your area of specialisation
which are available across all
specialisations:
Applied Skills electives encompass our
ensemble program and include Computing
for Musicians and Music Technology
(popular with composition students), Art of
Piano Teaching (for piano students), and
Language and Diction (for singers), plus a
host of other subjects such as Improvisation
Techniques, Afro American Percussion
Ensemble, and Improvisation Vocal
Ensemble, all of which are designed to
extend students’ musical expertise in ways
that will help broaden and shape their future
musical careers.
Academic Electives include subjects
such as Art Music and Postmodernism;
Broadway and the Music of the Theatre;
Music of the World; Music and Film; Music
Criticism; Notation and Music Editing;
Paris! Berlioz to the Ballets Russes;
Ragtime to Rap: Popular Music since 1900;
Composition for Film; Chamber Music
(Style and Context); History of Australian
Improvised Music; Jazz History; Romantic
Piano Music; Sex, Death and the Ecstatic in
Music; Stravinsky and the Music of the 20th
Century; and Studies in Opera
Music Studies electives include Music
Psychology; Pop Song Writing; Indigenous
Music and Culture; Arts Management;
Music and Health; Composition Studies;
Music Analysis and Historical Performance
Practice; and Career Preparation in Music;
which offers work experience in fields such
as concert management, music retail,
sound recording, arts administration, and
instrument making/repair, with opportunities
available across over 40 different
organisations.
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