Goldsmiths - University of London

This two-year part-time programme is for musicians who want to run workshops and group tuition, and to pursue careers in community-based music making. The programme is highly respected in community arts, with graduates having found work across a wide range of projects including as Local Authority Arts Officers, working in prisons or with the physically and mentally disabled, as music therapists, on youth music projects and in nationally recognised organisations like Sound Sense and the Drake Music Project.

The programme combines the practical and theoretical aspects of music teaching with learning through experience via a community placement. It attracts a wide range of students from rock, jazz and classical backgrounds, youth workers, teachers, education officers from orchestras, and musicians from London’s ethnic communities. You are taught to work as a group and how to network and research. You are given aural, theoretical and practical skills and are guided through a broad-based workshop curriculum. The course covers vocals, music technology, world music, working with specific client groups, and key issues of community music making.

Entrance requirements

We welcome musicians from all backgrounds. Formal music qualifications are not required but you should be proficient on your main instrument, and have good communication skills and a desire and commitment to work in this challenging area. Admission is by interview and audition. In exceptional circumstances, students with wide experience and training in community music work can go straight into the second year of the programme.

What you study

The programme develops: harmony and musicianship skills; search and reflect; workshop techniques; scratch pieces; student-run workshops; community placement; project development; music technology. Attendance is one day per week plus additional time for placement and music technology modules.