We have been teaching the performing arts in Glasgow since 1847. Building on our roots as a national academy of music, we have grown over the past 170 years to be one of the most interdisciplinary and collaborative institutions in the world and are consistently ranked within the world’s top 10 performing arts institutions (QS World Rankings, 2016, 2017, 2018). The Royal Conservatoire started life as the Glasgow Athenaeum in 1847, which aimed to “provide a source of mental cultivation, moral improvement and delightful recreation to all classes.” The Athenaeum was formally opened by Charles Dickens, who delivered the inaugural address at the first ‘soiree’. For the first 39 years, the Athenaeum only offered music classes, and, in 1886, drama was introduced to the curriculum. It was from the Athenaeum’s School of Music that the Scottish National Academy of Music was formed in 1929. This grew in prestige and, by 1944, its international standing was recognised by King George VI, who approved that the prefix ‘Royal’ be added to the Academy’s title, making it the ‘Royal Scottish Academy of Music’. At that time, the then Queen Elizabeth graciously assumed the role of Patron, a role in which she continued as Queen Mother until her death in 2002. |
Bachelor of Music (Honours) | The Bachelor of Music (BMus) undergraduate degree programme is our highly specialised music degree for performers and composers. We value hard-working, talented and curious curious students, and, in exchange, we provide an inspiring and supportive environment in which to excel. |
Brass | |
Composition | |
Guitar and Harp | |
Jazz | |
Keyboard | |
Strings | |
Timpani and Percussion | |
Traditional Music | |
Traditional Music – Piping | |
Vocal Studies | |
Woodwind | |
Bachelor of Education (Music) with Honours | Bachelor of Education (Music) with Honours is a vocational programme for musicians who aspire to teach music in schools; it is one of the most highly regarded routes into classroom music teaching in Scotland, qualifying you for both primary and secondary school teaching. The degree provides integrated school placements in all four years of study. |
BA Production Arts and Design | The Production Arts and Design programme has been designed to create a high-level conservatoire learning environment for aspiring scenic artists, prop makers, stage carpenters, costume makers, and set and costume designers. You will learn in an environment where your technical knowledge is as important as your creativity and individuality. |
BA Production Technology and Management | This is the only conservatoire-based technical theatre degree in Scotland. Through the programme we aim to produce production technicians, stage managers and lighting designers who can turn their hands to any related role, making them employable in a range of contexts, whilst also being specialists in career pathways, i.e. stage management, stage technology, sound design, sound engineering, lighting technology and lighting design. |
BA Filmmaking | The BA Filmmaking is a scripted, drama-based, practical filmmaking programme aimed at those who are passionate about storytelling in cinema and television. It is a rich and challenging environment for students who are keen to develop their storytelling skills and have the passion to produce and develop exciting drama content. The programme has Screenwriting at the heart if it whilst you develop your skills across camera, lighting, sound, production, directing and editing. |
PG coursers | |
Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Performance | The Advanced Postgraduate Diploma in Performance is designed to allow students with existing masters qualifications to progress further within their discipline. You will have the opportunity to extend and deepen your skills, knowledge and understanding in-an-through performance within a rich conservatoire environment. |
Artist Diploma | The Artist Diploma is intended for advanced students in music on the cusp of a professional career, who are seeking to hone a distinctive musical personality through a year of post-masters study in a conservatoire environment. |
MMus/MA | Perhaps you aspire to become an opera singer, a concert artist or orchestral musician; to accompany, compose or arrange; to work as a freelance instrumentalist or to be a conductor, music leader or animateur. You may be planning to coach or teach, either as the sole focus of your professional life or, more likely, as part of a portfolio career. You might have your sights set on doctoral study, on making a contribution to Scotland’s vibrant traditional music culture or may perhaps wish to fulfil one of the vital specialist music roles in related art forms such as ballet. Whatever your rationale for joining the Conservatoire’s MMus/MA programme, you are here to refine and extend your musicianship in preparation for your next steps. |
PhD/MPhil | The overriding aim of undertaking PhD and MPhil study is to make an original contribution to knowledge. The programmes do not follow a prescribed course of study but benefit from close supervision and a range of research training that is designed to support the project being undertaken, and provide wider opportunities for professional development as a researcher. |
About Research Knowledge and Exchange | Research at the Conservatoire is about inspiring innovative directions for our art forms, fresh insights into their processes and practices, and new perspectives on their role in our economies, cultures and ecologies. We create world-leading and internationally excellent research and pursue outcomes that include new artworks and performances, exhibitions, recordings and writing. |
Doctor of Performing Arts | Validated by the University of St Andrews, the purpose of the programme is to enable professional artistic development at the highest level and provide a structure within which you can make a significant and original contribution to your chosen artistic field. It is a doctoral programme comparable in scope, level and ambition to the PhD, but squarely focused on making a significant and original contribution to the artistic field within which the work resides. |
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