Faculty Areas of Study
Performance and Instrumental Teaching
Head: Professor Ian Holtham (i.holtham@unimelb.edu.au)
Graduate study is available in piano, strings, voice, woodwind, brass and percussion, and a number of early instruments, and tuition is provided by a large array of part-time professional performing staff. There are pedagogy subjects for graduates interested in instrumental teaching, as well as a solo performance path for graduates with aptitude for professional performance. There are weekly Master Classes and seminars for all graduate students, regular classes by visiting artists, and an array of performance opportunities, both through the Faculty’s concert program and with Faculty ensembles.
Composition
Head: Dr Stuart Greenbaum (s.greenbaum@unimelb.edu.au)
The composition specialisation is coordinated by Senior Lecturer, Dr Stuart Greenbaum. He is joined by Dr Elliott Gyger (PhD, Harvard), recently appointed as Lecturer in Composition. The teaching staff also includes Julian Yu, Brett Dean, Johanna Selleck, Andrian Pertout, Mark Elliott and Adam Starr.
Composition in all styles is encouraged and nurtured through a weekly seminar and regular group and individual lessons. Emphasis is placed on the use, understanding and appreciation of the compositional techniques advanced in the past 100 years, including electronic music. Performance opportunities are available through the Australian Contemporary Chorale, the New Audience Ensemble, the Faculty Orchestra and other faculty ensembles and soloists in several composition concerts held each semester.
The Faculty administers a number of prestigious composition awards for its own students as well as for composers nationally. These include the Albert H. Maggs Composition Award, the Dorian Le Galliene Composition Award, the Esther Rofe Award and the Zavod classical/jazz fusion Award.
The Faculty of Music has had a distinguished history of composition staff including Brenton Broadstock, Stephen Ingham, Barry Conyngham, Peter Tahourdin and Keith Humble. Notable alumni include Peter Sculthorpe, Mary Finsterer, Matthew Hindson, Chris Dench, Robert Casteels, Colin Brumby, Helen Gifford, Brian Howard, Graham Hair, David Joseph, Liza Lim, Christine McCombe, Lawrence Whiffin, Kevin Purcell, Katy Abbott and Natalie Williams.
The Composition Department organizes regular concerts, workshops and seminars with visiting composers and performers. In recent years, the Faculty has featured composer residencies with Don Freund (Indiana), Jerome Kitzke (New York), John McCabe (UK), Richard Mills, Vincent Plush and Ros Bandt. Other guests have included notable identities such as Paul Grabowsky, Philip Glass, Peteris Vasks, David Chesworth, Graeme Koehne, Michael Kieran Harvey, Carl Vine and Marshall McGuire.
Early Music
Head: Prof John Griffiths (jagrif@unimelb.edu.au)
Specialist tuition is offered the principal areas of historical performance: voice, recorder, baroque flute, baroque violin and cello, viola da gamba, lute, harpsichord, and early brass instruments. Other instruments may be studied on request. Historical performance may be undertaken in the Music Performance, Practical Study, or Minor Practical Study streams.
Historical performance activities are based at the Early Music Studio (27 Royal Parade), a specialist facility for teaching, rehearsal and study. The EMS offers numerous ensembles ranging from a baroque orchestra, through to specialist instrumental and vocal ensembles covering music of the middle ages, renaissance and baroque period.
At undergraduate level, early music studies are integrated flexibly into the Bachelor of Music course. At postgraduate level, students may apply for either the Master of Music or the Master of Music Studies that includes a program specially designed for those who have not necessarily completed an undergraduate specialisation in early music. Research in early music areas is accommodated within the musicology specialisation.
Ethnomusicology
Head: Assoc Prof Catherine Falk (cafalk@unimelb.edu.au)
Ethnomusicology involves the study of music in human life. It relates the structures and the use of musical sounds to social structures, and its field includes the musics of individuals and societies from all parts of the world, including localised communities in western countries. Current and recent research undertaken by students includes the traditional and popular musics of Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, The Philippines, Japan, Arnhem Land and Sweden. The Faculty supports the performance of music outside the western tradition in three styles of gamelan (West and Central Java and Cirebon), and Chinese Traditional Ensemble.
Music Therapy
Head: Assoc Prof Denise Grocke (d.grocke@unimelb.edu.au)
Music therapy studies (at undergraduate and Masters coursework levels) develop an understanding of the effect of music on the various needs of children and adults who are living with disability or illness. The courses provide the necessary theory, pedagogical study, and clinical practice for graduates to be eligible for Registration with the Australian Music Therapy Association.
Music Therapy research degrees at Masters and PhD level operate under the umbrella of the National Music Therapy Research Unit (NAMTRU) which was established to stimulate interest in research and postgraduate studies Students undertake applied research in hospitals, schools and the community to investigate the efficacy of music as a therapeutic medium.
Musicology
Head: Assoc Prof Kerry Murphy (kerryrm@unimelb.edu.au)
A wide range of musicological research areas is encouraged in postgraduate studies. European music studies are well covered, spanning the medieval period to popular music of 2003. Because of the presence of the Centre for Studies in Australian Music and the Grainger Museum there is also a large and varied number of theses in the area of Australian music studies. There are many opportunities for students to do research both within and outside Australia and also opportunities for later-year postgraduates to do tutoring within the Faculty.
The Faculty of Music regularly has visiting scholars in residence for short or extended periods of time. Recent visitors include Hugh Macdonald (Miegunyah Fellow) Edward Roesner, Victor Coehlo, Dinko Fabris, Stephen Banfield (Miegunyah Fellow) Annegret Fauser, Tim Carter and Karl Kügle (Universitas 21 Fellow).