Programme of Study
Year 1
Semester 1
Performance 1A (MD4101)
Here students will develop core skills with one-to-one vocal classes, sight singing, conducting, theory and keyboard classes.
Irish World Academy Practicum C1 (MD4091)
Here students will engage in ensemble work with in-house and visiting tutors and they will also have the opportunity to select collaborative performance ‘option’ classes in other folk, world and popular music and dance traditions.
Critical Encounters with Irish Music and Dance (MU4001)
Issues addressed in this module will be taken from current research engagements with the native Irish music and dance traditions. These will critically engage historical narratives, conceptual structuring and evolving identities of the traditions in question. Students will be introduced to concepts of research as a creative, scholarly practice.
Critical Encounters with World Music and Dance (MU4011)
In this class students are introduced to diverse music traditions from around the world, including, popular musics of West Africa, the court music of Indonesia, classical musics of India, folk and Celtic musics of Europe, classical music of the Arab Middle East, and traditional musics of Canada and America. Students deepen their knowledge of diverse repertoires and performance practices, develop their scholarly engagement with music and dance, gain a more global view of music and dance, and contextualise their own music and dance practices within the wider world of music and dance.
Elective
In addition to their core modules, each year students choose from a large number of elective modules in dance and music, and other subjects outside of the performing arts. These elective modules offer students the opportunity to enhance their educational experience, and broaden their artistic and academic horizons. Elective options vary from year to year but typically students can choose from range of vocal and instrumental ensembles (from Academy choir to Irish traditional music ensemble), songwriting classes, lectures in country music, courses in choreography, North American percussive dance, Irish folklore and history, and various languages, including Irish.
Semester 2
Performance 2A (MD4102)
Here students will develop core skills with one-to-one vocal classes, sight singing, conducting, theory and keyboard classes.
Irish World Academy Practicum C2 (MD4111)
Here students will engage in ensemble work with in-house and visiting tutors and they will also have the opportunity to select collaborative performance ‘option’ classes in other folk, world and popular music and dance traditions.
Critical Encounters with Western Art Music and Dance(MU4012)
This module explores Western Art music and dance practices in an academic and performative context, providing them with an insight into some of the diversity of music and dance practices within these traditions.
Critical Encounters with Popular Music and Dance(MU4002)
In this class students study various genres of popular music and dance. Students deepen their knowledge of diverse popular repertoires and performance practices, and deepen their knowledge of the role of popular culture in social, political, economic, cultural and artistic life. Students develop a critical view of popular music and dance, and contextualize their own music and dance practices within the wider, commercially mediated world of music and dance.
Elective
In addition to their core modules, each year students choose from a large number of elective modules in dance and music, and other subjects outside of the performing arts. These elective modules offer students the opportunity to enhance their educational experience, and broaden their artistic and academic horizons. Elective options vary from year to year but typically students can choose from range of vocal and instrumental ensembles (from Academy choir to Irish traditional music ensemble), songwriting classes, lectures in country music, courses in choreography, North American percussive dance, Irish folklore and history, and various languages, including Irish.
Year 2
Semester 3
Performance 3A (MD4103)
Here students will develop core skills with one-to-one vocal classes, sight singing, conducting, theory and keyboard classes.
Irish World Academy Practicum C3 (MD4092)
Here students will engage in ensemble work with in-house and visiting tutors and they will also have the opportunity to select collaborative performance ‘option’ classes in other folk, world and popular music and dance traditions.
Voice Studies: Historical and Cross Cultural Perspectives (MU4023)
This module introduces students to the interdisciplinary academic field of voice studies and its relevance to performance practice and performance studies. It explores historical and cross-cultural perspectives on vocality, voice, vocal training and performance; and also examines the role that singing plays in community, ritual, social and political contexts. Students will engage with research methods relevant to the field of voice studies and will develop the skills necessary to critically engage with vocal performance in a creative, reflexive and contextualized way.
Performing Arts Technology (MD4113)
This module will introduce students to professional audio and visual technologies relevant to performers in their field. The professional world around performance practice, performance education, media and other career paths open to students on this programme will be explored. Students will use such technologies in professional contexts generating project work out of the day-to-day life of the Academy, recording concerts, providing technical support to a wide range of performances and generating media appropriate to the world of performing arts. Students in this module will learn practical technological applications relevant to their performance practice. Students will learn to use and manipulate PAs and lighting rigs, led by professionals in the field and applied in real-world situations. Students will also be introduced to media generating software such as Final-Cut Pro and Logic to produce high level audio and video outputs.
Elective
In addition to their core modules, each year students choose from a large number of elective modules in dance and music, and other subjects outside of the performing arts. These elective modules offer students the opportunity to enhance their educational experience, and broaden their artistic and academic horizons. Elective options vary from year to year but typically students can choose from range of vocal and instrumental ensembles (from Academy choir to Irish traditional music ensemble), songwriting classes, lectures in country music, courses in choreography, North American percussive dance, Irish folklore and history, and various languages, including Irish.
Semester 4
Performance 4A (MD4124)
Here students will develop core skills with one-to-one vocal classes, sight singing, conducting, theory and keyboard classes.
Irish World Academy Practicum C4 (MD4112)
Here students will engage in ensemble work with in-house and visiting tutors and they will also have the opportunity to select collaborative performance ‘option’ classes in other folk, world and popular music and dance traditions.
Vocal Pedagogy (MU4043)
This module introduces students to core knowledge on the vocal mechanism and its function in singing. In addition to this, students will critically engage with recent research on a variety of topics related to singing and the teaching of singing.
</strong><b>Contextualising and Vocational Studies - Music and Dance Education / Community Music and Dance (MD4034)<strong>
This module is designed to help competent musicians and dancers to come to an understanding of what it means to be involved in music and dance education contexts. There are three main components to this module :Music and Dance Curriculum studies, Professional Studies and School Based Work. The first priority is to help the development of expertise in a variety of educative situations. These range from classroom activities for various age groups and abilities to instrumental teaching, classroom teaching, ensemble, choral, band and orchestral rehearsals, and the passing on of music and dance. There is also an introduction to Community Music and Dance which involves the development of acquired skills in a community music and dance context and as community musicians and dancers.
Elective
In addition to their core modules, each year students choose from a large number of elective modules in dance and music, and other subjects outside of the performing arts. These elective modules offer students the opportunity to enhance their educational experience, and broaden their artistic and academic horizons. Elective options vary from year to year but typically students can choose from range of vocal and instrumental ensembles (from Academy choir to Irish traditional music ensemble), songwriting classes, lectures in country music, courses in choreography, North American percussive dance, Irish folklore and history, and various languages, including Irish.
Year 3
Semester 5
Cooperative Education
In their 3rdyear, Irish World Academy performing arts students go on ‘co-op’, a university-wide module specifically designed for undergraduates to engage in real-world, professional environments. The Cooperative Education division, in consultation with the Academy, helps students to identify working opportunities in a variety of contexts, including arts management, education, performance, media and related fields. Students are encouraged to set up their own six-month placements or to engage in split placements (ideally no more than two placements) in order to explore if their expectations for future careers match the experiences they have during the co-op period. Faculty visits, pre- and post- co-op assessment skills, and final report help students to reflect upon the process, enabling them to critically evaluate their time off campus.
Semester 6 (Semester 6, Year 3 has an option for international Exchange)
Performance 5A (MD4106)
Here students will develop core skills with one-to-one vocal classes, sight singing, conducting, theory and keyboard classes.
Irish World Academy Practicum C5 (MD4116)
Here students will engage in ensemble work with in-house and visiting tutors and they will also have the opportunity to select collaborative performance ‘option’ classes in other folk, world and popular music and dance traditions.
Arts and Health (MU4106)
This module is designed to enable music and dance students to develop awareness and understanding of the impact of the arts on health and well-being. The module aims to develop well-rounded music and dance graduates who are aware of the role of the arts in various contexts (such as hospital, community healthcare and mental health) and the impact of their own health and well-being on their own arts performance.
Research Skills: Ethnomusicology/Ethnochoreology/Arts Practice (MU4013)
This module will introduce students to the important contextualising disciplines of ethnomusicology and ethnochoreology and their main principles and orientations as well as the practical application of fieldwork and the production of ethnographic representations.
Elective
In addition to their core modules, each year students choose from a large number of elective modules in dance and music, and other subjects outside of the performing arts. These elective modules offer students the opportunity to enhance their educational experience, and broaden their artistic and academic horizons. Elective options vary from year to year but typically students can choose from range of vocal and instrumental ensembles (from Academy choir to Irish traditional music ensemble), songwriting classes, lectures in country music, courses in choreography, North American percussive dance, Irish folklore and history, and various languages, including Irish.
Year 4
Semester 7
Performance 6A (MD4106)
Here students will develop core skills with one-to-one vocal classes, sight singing, conducting, theory and keyboard classes.
Irish World Academy Practicum C6 (MD4147)
Here students will engage in ensemble work with in-house and visiting tutors and they will also have the opportunity to select collaborative performance ‘option’ classes in other folk, world and popular music and dance traditions.
</strong>Irish World Academy Final Year Project 1 (MD4157)<strong>
This module is intended students in the first semester of their fourth year, preparing to embark on an extended research project which will be presented in a 10,000 word thesis or equivalent. The student will agree on the subject of the project with the course director and will be introduced to a number of sample research projects and methodologies.
</strong>Professional Skills for the Performing Arts (MD4007)<strong>
This module will examine issues pertinent to the lives of professional musicians and dancers. Issues such as promotion, effective communication, industry structures, touring, dealing with statutory arts bodies and funding structures will be practically engaged. Classes may feature professionals working in these fields and regularly faculty with relevant experience. This aspect of the module is supported by a lecture series and assessed through attendance and written assignments in the form of professional portfolios and resources.
Elective
In addition to their core modules, each year students choose from a large number of elective modules in dance and music, and other subjects outside of the performing arts. These elective modules offer students the opportunity to enhance their educational experience, and broaden their artistic and academic horizons. Elective options vary from year to year but typically students can choose from range of vocal and instrumental ensembles (from Academy choir to Irish traditional music ensemble), songwriting classes, lectures in country music, courses in choreography, North American percussive dance, Irish folklore and history, and various languages, including Irish.
Semester 8
Performance 7A (MD4107)
Here students will develop core skills with one-to-one vocal classes, sight singing, conducting, theory and keyboard classes.
Irish World Academy Practicum C1 (MD4128)
Here students will engage in ensemble work with in-house and visiting tutors and they will also have the opportunity to select collaborative performance ‘option’ classes in other folk, world and popular music and dance traditions.
</strong>Irish World Academy Final Year Project 2 (MD4138)<strong>
This is the second of the two Irish World Academy modules for the FYP. The student works in a one on one context with supervisor in this module while receiving certain skills training to enable them to fill out the structure of the FYP started in the previous semester. Students will produce their own unique piece of research in their chosen area and disciplinary approach.
Materials and Context for Vocal Performance(MU4004)
This module will prepare students for the programming of their final performances, providing a critical and practical engagement with key resources, texts and contexts for curating and programming successful performance events Students will also study approaches to vocal arrangement.
Elective
In addition to their core modules, each year students choose from a large number of elective modules in dance and music, and other subjects outside of the performing arts. These elective modules offer students the opportunity to enhance their educational experience, and broaden their artistic and academic horizons. Elective options vary from year to year but typically students can choose from range of vocal and instrumental ensembles (from Academy choir to Irish traditional music ensemble), songwriting classes, lectures in country music, courses in choreography, North American percussive dance, Irish folklore and history, and various languages, including Irish.