Budding songwriters and musicians will able to hone their craft to perfection courtesy of the new Masters Degree course launched at the University of Limerick this week.
The new full-time postgraduate programme will place an emphasis on the artistic practice of songwriting with opportunities to perform and record work. It will enable students to explore a range of writing techniques, whilst having the dedicated time and resources to develop their own body of work with the support of songwriting mentors.
Students will also have access to tuition from a range of songwriters throughout the year, gaining multiple and varied perspectives on how to approach their practice. As well as core modules in songwriting process, students will also consider the social, political and cultural role of songs through weekly seminars.
The programme will also offer training in key areas such as music theory, arrangement and accompanying instrumentation, as well as tuition in areas such as promotion, dissemination and copyright.
Students of the MA Songwriting will also be active members of the Irish World Academy vocal ensembles, including the Gospel choir or gamelan orchestra. The programme, which was designed in consultation with IMRO and established songwriters including Mick Hanly, Julie Feeney and Pól Brennan, also offers the option of taking a module from the MA Creative Writing, overseen by Professor Joseph O’Connor.
Registrations for the new MA course will open in the coming weeks. For further information visit http://www.ul.ie/graduateschool/
