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Master’s Degree in Contemporary Music Creation

European Qualifications Framework (EQF) Level 7 and Spanish Framework of Higher Education Qualifications (MECES) Level 3 Degree.

Approval Certificate of the Master’s Degree

 

2023-24 ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS: SECOND CALL IN JUNE

Develop yourself as a creator with a two-year Masters (120 ECTS), pioneer in Spain

Create, première and disseminate your music

Learn with the composers and teachers who have made Musikene a leading school in Europe

Enjoy practical-focussed teaching with few theoretical subjects

Choose the composition teacher with whom you wish to work

Train in acoustic composition, with electro-acoustic, audiovisual and creation media in relation with other arts and disciplines

Develop your own composition project in some sessions with Diotima Quartet (2021), Ensemble InterContemporain (2022) and Klangforum Wien (2023)

Info:

REGISTRATION: from 30th April to 30th May 2023.
ENTRANCE EXAMINATIONS: ONLINE, recordings sent 13th and 14th June, 2023.
MATRICULATION: ONLINE in July
ACADEMIC CALENDAR: From the end of September 2023 to June 2024
PLACES OFFERED: 4 per academic year

CONTACT

Contact for further information: master@musikene.eus

Musikene. Centro Superior de Música del País Vasco (Higher Centre of Music of the Basque Country).
MÁSTER CREACIÓN 2023-2024
Europa Plaza n.º 2
20018 Donostia-San Sebastián
Gipuzkoa

Typology of the places:
  • Composition: 4
STRUCTURE OF THE MASTERS DEGREE
  • Number of credits of the qualification: 120 ECTS
  • Compulsory subjects: 86 ECTS
  • Optional subjects: 12 ECTS
  • External work experience: 5 ECTS
  • Dissertation: 17 ECTS
CURRICULUM
1st YEAR
YEAR SUBJECTS ECTS
COMP Composition I 14
COMP Professional Development 5
COMP Composition with electro-acoustic and audiovisual media 16
TERM SUBJECTS
FIRST TRM
ECTS
COMP Extended Instrumental Techniques 3
OP Optional 1 6
DISS Methodology of research 5
TERM SUBJECTS
SECOND TERM
ECTS
COMP Ensemble I 6
COMP Creation-interpretation dialogue 5
2nd YEAR
YEAR SUBJECTS ECTS
COMP Composition II 14
TERM SUBJECTS
THIRD TERM
ECTS
COMP Ensemble II 6
COMP Interdisciplinary creation projects 6
P External project 5
OP Optional 2 6
TERM SUBJECTS
FOURTH TERM
ECTS
COMP Ensemble III 6
COMP Recording and post-production techniques 5
DISS Dissertation 12
Contents y methodology
CONTENTS

The Masters Degree is structured in five modules:

  • Module I Obligatory Speciality: focusses on the specific subjects referring to contemporary creation using creative interaction during the preparation and presentation of the contemporary music works. It comprises the subjects of Composition and Composition with Electro-acoustic and Audiovisual Media, and also offers the chance to compose in relation to other arts. Students can choose the composer with whom they wish to work and, especially in the second year, choose him or her according to the compositional project they wish to carry out. Likewise, annual masterclasses are offered with three outstanding international guest composers.
  • Module II Theoretical and Practical Training: focussing on the development of competencies which allow the students to discover the professional reality of music in Spain and the international context, as well as subjects which complement training by means of analysis and the creation of inter-disciplinary projects. It covers subjects such as Professional Development, Creation-Interpretation Dialogue, which facilitates the discovery of composers and instruments in real situations; Extended Instrumental Techniques, which connects the students to the new music of the 20th and 21st centuries; and Recording and Post-production Techniques, with real work experience of recording, which means the students can end the Masters with a CD of their own, among others things.
  • Module III Optional: offers subjects which widen the range of knowledge presented in the compulsory modules, shining a spotlight on the artistic and cultural avant-garde and current social problems, placing the creator’s role in context.
  • Module IV Work Experience: provides the chance to appear in public in a variety of contexts and means access to a real professional work situation in which the student will face up to aspects of the production of his or her work.
  • Module V Dissertation: this allows the students to acquire competence appropriate to a Masters Degree, by means of the study of different research methods and techniques for the carrying out of a dissertation. The dissertation is closely related to the student’s musical project as a creator.
METHODOLOGY

Type of Teaching: Classroom-based teaching

Individual and group classes and Composition Workshops.

Ensemble, which includes the première of works created by Masters students.

Group classes such as Recording Techniques, Creation-Interpretation Dialogue, Interdisciplinary Creation Projects, among others, in which students make contact with the current reality of the musician, thus preparing for their future professional life.

External work experience, in different groups, in the form of concerts in music cycles in the Basque Country.

The defence of the Dissertation will be held in public, once the rest of the Masters Degree credits have been passed.

Group classes will be in Spanish and individual classes will be in the preferred language agreed between the teacher and student (Spanish, Basque, English or French).

We recommend a knowledge of English for bibliographic consultations.

The geographical origins of the teaching staff are very diverse and international, so they are bilingual to a large extent.

The school will facilitate the learning of different languages (Spanish, Basque, English, French and German) by means of its linguistic programme.

ACCESS AND ADMISSION

Student selection will be carried out by means of online access tests and through previously sent videotapes.

Registration for access tests:

Registration dates: from 30th April to 30th May 2023.

Interested persons must complete the registration form and send the following documentation to the Musikene address, or by email to master@musikene.eus:

  1. Photocopy of National Identity Document, residence card, identity card or current passport.
  2. Academic transcript, showing gradings and examinations in all required subjects to access official Masters studies.
  3. Curriculum Vitae
  4. Letter of motivation for taking this Masters and other merits which the candidate wishes to contribute.
  5. The sending of a portfolio of scores and audio and/or video recordings of the works, containing at least 3 different compositions with a total duration of at least 20 minutes, with or without electro-acoustics and/or audiovisuals. If the proposal involves additional texts, they must be presented in one of the official languages of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.
  6. Signed declaration of authorship of the works and/or recordings presented.
Access tests:

Dates: 13th and 14th June, 2023

Structure of the test:

  1. Exposition of the presented material, consisting of at least three works of different formats, with or without electroacoustic or audiovisual means, during at least 20 minutes. The exposition will be videotaped and sent to Musikene following the instructions the candidates will receive once they have been admitted for the tests.
  1. Personal interview. The candidates admitted for the tests will answer to the questions received several days before the date of the test. The answers will be videotaped and sent to Musikene following the instructions received for such purpose.

Grading: Test 1: 65% / Test 2: 35%

The jury will be made up of three teachers from the school who are specialists in the discipline which is the object of the examination, and they will evaluate the artistic and technical skills of the candidates, their composition project and their communication skills and their degree of motivation to carry out the Masters.

Publication of results: end of June

Access requirements

To be in possession of an official qualification in higher arts education, an official qualification or graduate degree or its equivalent from an institution of the European Higher Education Area or to finish the studies of the aforementioned qualification during the 2022/2023 academic year.

Likewise, students may also access the course with qualifications from educational systems outside the European Higher Education prior checking by the competent educational administration that they show an equivalent level of training.

Presentation of the qualification (or the receipt for payment of the rights to it) will be required upon enrolment. Those students who are currently undertaking the final year may submit this documentation at the end of it. In the latter case, such documentation should be submitted by October 15, 2023

Teaching Staff
Compulsory subjects

Composition I: Gabriel Erkoreka, Ramón Lazkano, Guest teachers*

Composition II: Gabriel Erkoreka, Zuriñe Fernández Guerenabarrena, Ramón Lazkano, Stefano Scarani, Guest teachers*

*Guest teachers 2022-2023:

Toshio Hosokawa

Trevor Wishart

James Dillon

Ensemble I, II y III: Ramón Lazkano

Composition with electro-acoustic and audiovisual media: Zuriñe Fernández Guerenabarrena, Stefano Scarani

Professional Development: Mª José Cano, Juan Solaguren; Guest teachers

Creation-interpretation dialogue: Jesús Echeverría, Instrument and composition teachers

Interdisciplinary creation projects: Mª Eugenia Luc

Recording and post-production techniques: Juanan Ros

Extended instrumental techniques: Ramón Lazkano

 

Work experience

External project: Ramón Lazkano. Resident ensemble 2022-23: Klangforum Wien

 

Dissertation

Methodology of research: Itziar Larrinaga, Gustavo Díaz-Jerez

Dissertation:

Optional subjects

Art and society: Itziar Larrinaga, Stefano Scarani

Inter-cultural dialogue and new audiences: Ana García Urcola, Elix Etxebeste, Gotzone Higuera

Creative and aesthetic thought of the 20th and 21st centuries; Elix Etxebeste

Enrolment and scholarships
Registration

The Masters Degree can be carried out in two years full-time, with matriculation of 60 ECTS per academic year, or part-time in three years, with a minimum matriculation of 45 ECTS in the first academic year. Each year, the matriculated credits during that academic year are paid.

Complete matriculation per academic year (60 ECTS): 5820 euros.

Payment will be made in 3 instalments:

  • a third at matriculation
  • the remaining amount in two halves, one in November and the other in February.

If you are a qualified ex-student of Musikene, you will enjoy a 15% discount on the price of matriculation.

Grants
Exclusive scholarships for Master’s programme students:
  • An SGAE grant of 2,000 euros: The Fundación SGAE (Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers Foundation) will award a 2,000 euros grant to a Master’s degree in Contemporary Music Creation student at Musikene selected by a panel created expressly for the purpose. The selection will take place in autumn.
General grants:
  • Basque Government grants: Students resident in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country can gain access to the grants the Basque Government gives annually to carry out university studies and other higher studies. http://www.hezkuntza.ejgv.euskadi.eus
  • Ministry of Education grants: Students residing outside the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country can gain access to general grants for those students carrying out post-compulsory education given annually by the Ministry of Education. www.mecd.gob.es
REGULATIONS
  • The Royal Decree 1614/2009, of 26 October, establishes the regulation of higher artistic studies regulated by Organic Law 2/2006. Article 7 of this Royal Decree authorises higher artistic education centres to offer masters degrees.
  • Homologation of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training.
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