BA (Honours) Popular Music

at Cork Institute Technology

Semester Schedules
 

Admission Requirements:
 

For admission to a programme, standard applicants must

• meet the minimum entry requirements

• Assessment Test

• Garda Vetting
   

MINIMUM ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Leaving Certificate Examination
Leaving Certificate in six subjects i.e. H5 in two subjects, and O6/H7 in four other subjects. One of the subjects must be English or Irish. There is no specific Mathematics requirement. Grade F2 or higher in Foundation Level Mathematics is recognised as one of the subjects for entry.

Vetting
Vetting is conducted by the National Vetting Bureau (formerly known as the Garda Central Vetting Unit). The National Vetting Bureau (NVB)  helps to assess the suitability of all applicants on this programme. It is important to note that participation in or completion of this programme may be affected by subsequent disclosure/discovery.

Entrance Exam
All applicants must sit the CSM’s BA (Honours) in Popular Music Degree Course Entrance Test (provisional dates: Thursday to Saturday, 7th - 9th April 2022).

Each candidate who sits an Entrance Test is awarded up to a maximum of 600 points. Each standard candidate must achieve the minimum threshold of 276 points in the Entrance Test and must also meet the minimum Leaving Certificate entry requirement in order to be eligible for admission. Note that Leaving Certificate exam points are not used to rank candidates.

NB: Candidates are NOT allowed to defer the results of the Entrance Exam from one year to the next.

The fees for BA (Honours) Popular Music may vary from €10,000 to €25,000 anually for tuition fees. The fee's prices may get higher for international students.

POTENTIAL AREAS OF EMPLOYMENT
 

• Musician in a band
• Music teaching
• Singer songwriter 
• Sound technician
• Session/Pit Musician 
• Film, Video and TV scoring
   

Graduates go into the industry as performers, writers, producers, teachers and administrators, strongly equipped to develop their own entrepreneurship and freelance employment opportunities. Graduates will be able to compete in the busy world of commercial music in Ireland, for recording contracts, gigs in clubs and concert halls, TV and stage shows, corporate entertainment, and the fertile melting pot that is the Irish singer-songwriter circuit. Synergies with the classical, jazz and traditional musicians on the BMus course will open creative doors and career opportunities such as those fostered in the famous performing arts schools and colleges of the UK and the USA.

There are many employment opportunities for popular music graduates apart from the obvious one of performing. Composition, music for multimedia, songwriting, playing in recording sessions, in theatrical productions, and TV. Outside of this field is the associated area of promotion, festival and arts administration, and the business side of the industry.

However, taking an Honours Degree in popular music does not mean that a graduate is restricted to a music driven career for the rest of their life. In addition, a growing number of employers outside the specific music business favour music graduates because of the combination of intellectual training, digital skills, interpersonal sensitivity and greatly enhanced general response rates represented by a musical training.