What exactly can you do with a Bmus?

and same question about a BA in music education??/ i know that this qualifys you to teach in classrooms but anything else?

please help me - very confused person here

thanks
micky

I, in four years, Want to take a BMus, i think in the first two years its performance and composition, and in years 3 and 4 you choose. As i said, i only think thats the basic outline.

Bmus is the same as a BA but with a year abroad. options vary from one university to another as each one writes their own degrees i.e no set syllabus for all H.E institutions.

BMus will give you more experience in the world of music before you graduate; which is important to gain some experience whilst studying, particularly in music where competition is so high.

I think noodle's right - I've applied for a BA in English and Music (you can take up to 3 subjects until 3rd year), but will have the chance to transfer to a BMus, where you study only Music.

I don't think so, my teacher did a BA in just music I think...but I'd like to know more if anyone would enlighten me please?

I think the Scottish BA might be different, but it's worked out by a sort of 'credit' system where you have to make up so many credits each year; I'm not sure if you could do that with a single subject.

Just grabbing the nearest prospectus I could find, Micky, it says of the BMus - 'The study of music equips students for a wide variety of careers not only in music but also in the media and business worlds. Graduates have been employed in music agencies and in the management of London and Scottish orchestras.'

Things it mentions for the BMus (Education) include 'For students following the BMus with Honours (Education) programme the main career prospects are in teaching. For students following the BMus with Honours programme, the main career prospects embrace editing, writing and presenting music, composing and performing. The degree can also be used as an entry route into other professions, where subject specialism is not important.'

A bit confusing I guess...your best bet would be to contact different universities and ask for information I think.

Thanks, i have an other question though...

whats the difference between
Bmus and BA Applied Music

well for a start what is applied music, i have read many prospectuses and still am siting with the lightbulb swiched off above my head haha

micky

I believe the BA Applied Music also incorporates aspects of music production and sound technology, which generally speaking isn't part of the BMus.

In Canada, a BMus is a degree that focuses more on the practical side of music, though many institutions offer BMus degrees in history, theory, composition etc. A BA degree in music is for a more arts centered degree with less emphasis on your particular major subject of study and much more elective choices. The BA is definitely not the route to go if you want a "true" musical education, but it is the route if you want to combine music with some other field of study.

I've applied for a BA Music this year and I think this focusses more on the academic side of music (theory etc) but also incorporates performance too. Whereas the BMus is for students focussing mainly on performance??? Not entirely sure though!

Lots of confused replies here! My understanding of the UK system is that a BMus is more performance based (this is the degree that the music colleges offer) while a BA in Music is more academic, although you can do a performance option when you choose your specialist options in years 2 and 3 (as I did). The college BMus courses tend to be four years long, but don't necessarily mean that you spend a year abroad. If you want to do a PGCE in education to teach in state schools either degree will be suitable.

You can prove to someone that you completed an advanced course of study in music, and attained the required standard in assessment. The exact knowledge and skills, and method of assessment vary from institution to institution, and from student to student, depending on what options and specialisms you choose. The exact content of the degree is described in the degree transcript.

The fact that a degree might be called B.Mus rather then B.A (Mus) is of little significance to the degree content. In the early days of the Open University it did not award a B.Sc degree. So you could study Chemistry or Physics and come out with a B.A.

Getting a Bachelor's degree in any subject proves that you can organize your life to some extent, understand and remember difficult stuff, and express yourself clearly in writing, and perhaps in other ways.



Generally speaking a Bachelor's degree in itself does not qualify you for any specific job or career. For that you need vocational qualifications (e.g. Nursing) or membership of professional bodies (acccountancy, law). Those kinds of qualifications guarantee that the holder has at least the minimum competence for the profession. A Bachelor's degree in a relevant subject may be a prerequisite of obtaining such professional credentials. So for example you generally need a bachelor's degree in Pharmacology to go on to become a dispensing chemist, or in law to study to become a barrister.

Exceptions (there may be others) are the B.Ed or B.A (Education) which do enable you to apply directly for qualified teacher status, without further examinations, and get your card from the DEA. With degrees in other subjects you need to spend a further year to get the PGCE (though exceptions are sometimes made in shortage subjects or in private schools)

So far as getting a particular job goes a Bachelor's degree in general, or in a specific subject, may or may not be specified by the employer as a prerequisite. Oher than that, it is one of the tools that is available to you for persuading your potential employer that you are competent to do whatever it is the job entails.

I think the best thing to do is enquire in the music departments in the universities that you want to go to as by definition a university is a higher education institution that awards its OWN degrees so music degrees both BA and BMus are going to be different from one university to the next.

Heres a description of the BMus from leeds where I am studying music tech.

'The BMus is a performance-orientated, four-year programme that will offer you exciting opportunities for developing your instrumental/vocal skills and spending a year abroad (perhaps learning a foreign language), while at the same time offering the benefits of a university degree in Music!

The structure of the BMus is similar to that of the BA Music or BA Popular and World Musics.

The third year of the BMus course is spent abroad as an exchange student in a conservatoire, or conservatoire-style university department, in Europe or the USA. During this year study is focused primarily on developing instrumental/vocal technique and approaches to performance.'

in other words I think a BMus is more performance orientated and a BA is much more broad that includes performance, composition, music theory and historical and critical studies of music.

My son is doing a BMus at one of the London colleges - it includes all of these things, but 70% of his final degree will be the performance.

BA is more of an academic degree, and a BMus is more of a performance degree.

BMus typically will be four years, first two doing some academic stuff, and perofmance, and last two years doing mainly or all performance.

BA is typically three years, and offer broader options of study. general, performace (but still a lower percentage of final marks thatn a BMus.

As a rule of thumb, if you want to perform for a living you need a BMus from a consevatoire, and if you are looking for academic take, musicologoy or harmony etc you need a BA. Teaching is a BED Music, BA music with QTS or BAMus followed by PGCE.


BA is more of an academic degree, and a BMus is more of a performance degree.

BMus typically will be four years, first two doing some academic stuff, and perofmance, and last two years doing mainly or all performance.

BA is typically three years, and offer broader options of study. general, performace (but still a lower percentage of final marks thatn a BMus.

As a rule of thumb, if you want to perform for a living you need a BMus from a consevatoire, and if you are looking for academic take, musicologoy or harmony etc you need a BA. Teaching is a BED Music, BA music with QTS or BAMus followed by PGCE.

This may be true on average, but it is not necessarily true for any particular course, especially when you take into account that there is a lot of choice in most degree courses to follow your own strong interests.

You can't choose a course based on whether it is called B.Mus or B.A. You have to look at the content.

As harmony2 someone said, a lot of confused replies. Music degrees - in fact, all degrees - vary a lot between universities, so a completely accurate answer not related to any specific institution is impossible. However:

A BMus is not necessarily less academic than a BA;
A BMus is not necessarily four years long;
A BMus does not necessarily include a year abroad;
A BMus does not necessarily concentrate on performance for the first two years, or focus mainly on performance overall - both students in my year who were awarded first-class degrees did no assessed performance at all after their first year;
A BMus can be awarded by a university or a conservatoire.

I know these facts because I have actually studied a BMus and am not guessing. I do wish people would check their information before posting something as gospel which is actually incorrect.

As others have said, it depends on the institution. I have a BA in music, and the course was identical to the BMus course except that you had very slightly more flexibility with the BA - the BMus had more compulsory units and the BA allowed you to take more optional courses in other departments. But it varies and there's no hard and fast rule, you'd need to check with the institution concerned.

Any jobs that require a music degree will not differentiate between a BA and BMus; a BA *might* be a slight advantage if you choose not to have a career in music afterwards, because non-musicians will easily understand it while they might wonder what a BMus is - but I don't really think so.

For what it's worth, I chose a BA largely because the graduation hoods were a pretty turquoise colour, whereas the BMus hoods were a hideous shade of pink ...