This programme seeks curious, open-minded, adaptable and highly creative individuals who are keen to acquire new skills and consolidate their existing knowledge across all areas of new music creation.

You may have been making music in your bedroom with experimental sound software or have three string quartets under your belt. You could be a trained performer looking to develop a new musical voice by creating new sounds, systems and music for your instrument, or you could be hoping to skill up so that you are attractive to the film and game music industries.

Whatever your compositional background and whatever your compositional ambitions, if you have been composing and creating music at university level or producing work and sharing it with your community, this programme will help you learn a great deal more about your craft and to expand your potential as a creative musician.

This Composition Masters Programme offers its students broad skills training aiming to prepare the most imaginative and versatile musical minds for a future in music-making across the creative industries.

This is a strongly interdisciplinary programme of study during which you will have the opportunity to create:

• acoustic and instrumental music
• screen/film/animation music
• interactive game audio 
• sound installations and sonic art.

Graduates of the programme will have professional, practical, analytical and intellectual skills to take into music-related industries or on towards further academic study, such as a PhD.

Programme structure

Across six taught courses and an extensive final project, you will attend a combination of:

• lectures
• seminars
• tutorials
• workshop sessions.

External professionals in the field of new music and related areas provide occasional input to support our team of composers. We are especially proud to work closely with our Ensemble in Residence, currently the Plus Minus Ensemble, a collection of internationally renowned and diversely talented creative musicians. The Ensemble visit us three times per year and run workshops, masterclasses and concerts.

Plus Minus Ensemble

Learning outcomes

Students who follow this programme will:

• obtain a broad foundation in music composition across multiple genres, contexts and fields
• explore the use of techniques and technologies involved in contemporary composition in a creative way
• be able to analyse and think deeply about new musical composition and its role in a wider creative arts environment
• develop understanding of the scope and limitations of music-related technologies and techniques as they apply to composition
• engage in cross-disciplinary collaboration in the context of audiovisual and media practice
• discover new creative uses of advanced technologies and compositional techniques
• foster the ability to work cooperatively in groups in the context of composition.

The rich, cross-disciplinary programme of study we offer provides graduates with advanced skills in composing across formats and in a range of contexts from film and game music through to music for theatre and music for the concert hall, album, mobile phone or studio.

As a graduate of this programme you will feel empowered to take on commissions in professional compositional areas and to pursue your own creative path as an independent composer.

Graduates from our composition degrees are now working in the following industries:

• theatre
• radio
• TV and video games
• sound recording
• live performance
• gigging singer-songwriting.

And many are active on the global music scene as composers in residence with:

• orchestras
• ensembles
• educational projects
• other art spaces.

Many are running successful music-related businesses around the world, and several have PhDs and are pursuing academic careers.

You will gain a wide variety of transferable skills, such as the ability to research and analyse music, structure and manage your time, work and communicate effectively as part of an arts production team. These skills will increase your employability across the arts and further afield.

If you'd like to study on a postgraduate programme at Edinburgh College of Art, you must apply through EUCLID, our online application system. You can find out how to do this on the University of Edinburgh website, where you'll also be able to:

• See detailed entrance requirements for each programme on the Degree Finder 
• Get information on what to expect after you apply 
• Find out about study modes, start dates and fees 
• Find out if, and how, you need to submit a portfolio, showreel or research proposal 
• Find out where to go for further advice and guidance.