This four-year programme leads to the award of an Honours BMus Degree. The course offered by MTU Cork School of Music (CSM) differs fundamentally from those available elsewhere in the country in a number of ways. In particular, Performance Studies are an integrated feature throughout the course and students receive credit for them proportional to their level of ability and specialisation.

One of the attractions of this Honours Degree course is the nature of Years 1 and 2, which are best described respectively as “Foundation” and “Transition”. The carefully coordinated elements of the Year 1 course seeks to ensure that every student is subsequently able to fulfil their potential, whatever specialisations are chosen. During Year 2, the continuation of core studies is balanced by the introduction of elements that ensure students can make an informed decision about which subjects they would like to concentrate on during the third and fourth years. Whilst these might prove to be Performance Studies, or Music in the Community, or Pedagogic [Music Teaching] Studies, or Music and Technology, or Music Therapy, it is equally possible to specialise in Applied Musicianship Skills and/ or Music History. Students specialising in conducting and/ or orchestration reap the benefits of multiple sessions with the CSM’s most senior performing groups, including the Fleischmann Choir and CSM Symphony Orchestra.

Coach accompanying at MTU CSM offers an invaluable resource allowing students to explore their chosen repertoire in an open and supportive environment. Valued highly at the school, it is considered an integral part of the education offered on our BMus programme. CSM's coach accompanists are professional pianists with extensive experience in coaching and performing duo and chamber music repertoire. As part of the BMus degree, instrumental and vocal students are assigned their own personal coach accompanist. Students have regular coaching sessions, tailored to fit the needs of students. Regular rehearsals and performance platforms provide students with ample opportunities to prepare and perform recital programmes in advance of exams and competitions. Under the guidance of coach accompanists, students are encouraged to explore performance aspects of their chosen repertoire, to collaborate effectively and to develop their own musical ideas and personality. Open dialogue is encouraged, reflecting professional, real-life situations such as the preparation and performance of public recitals, competitions and recordings.

Potential professional performers can study with people who have played in and/or conducted professional orchestras, choirs and bands, are (or have been) members of professional chamber ensembles, and perform regularly as soloists. Aspiring teachers take courses in Pedagogic Studies that reflect the very best practices to be found in a School that has been at the cutting edge of music education for over 140 years. In addition, there is also coherent and meaningful provision for students whose interests and strengths lie in the fields of Applied Musicianship Studies (including Analysis, Conducting, Composition and Counterpoint) and/or Historical Studies.

Staff of MTU Cork School of Music are leaders in performance, research, music technology, composition and education nationally. Music and Technology studies are enhanced by the unique availability of state-of-the-art digital equipment in CSM and linkages with the Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Multimedia offered by MTU in its Bishopstown Campus. Collaboration with in-house degree courses in Popular Music, Musical Theatre and Drama have enhanced the student experience and provided an extensive menu of electives from which the student can select a truly unique and personalised degree programme.

Based in the heart of Cork City, MTU Cork School of Music occupies a purpose-built conservatory building, regarded as one of the best facilities in the world for creative and performing arts education with an amazing technological infrastructure. For more info, visit our facilities page.

This is a specialist degree course aimed at 'triple-threat' performers: in other words centred on the three disciplines of singing, dancing and acting.

You will receive an intensive training in all three disciplines throughout your studies. Individual singing training, in both legitimate and contemporary styles, is supplemented by a chorus class. You will attend music theory classes, and musical theatre history and context lectures. Dance is a vital component and your core studies in tap, ballet and jazz are supplemented with weekly workshops by superb visiting professionals. Acting, drama and the spoken voice is the third core skill. These disciplines are brought together in a weekly ensemble rehearsal class where you will integrate staged scenes and musical numbers. An 'intro to theatre' class in semester one is followed in semester two by the first of our extensive theatre technology modules - sound, lighting and various computer-based production tools add to your general theatrical skilset. All of our students take the Stagepass training course which allows them to intern and get casual work in professional theatres. This full-time and demanding schedule of study and practice comes to a focus in a public production in each year.

Based in the heart of Cork City, MTU Cork School of Music occupies a purpose-built conservatory building, regarded as one of the best facilities in the world for creative and performing arts education with an amazing technological infrastructure. For more info, visit our facilities page.

This is a four-year programme leading to the award of a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Popular Music. This modern, four-year, Level 8 music degree provides a comprehensive training in popular music performance with ancillary and supporting courses in a huge variety of disciplines. Each student is assigned a matched group of peers to form a small popular band ensemble, this becoming the centre of the learning experience. Lectures, classes, and music technology labs provide supporting skills to the core training in performance.

Singers and instrumentalists who play guitar, bass, keyboards or drums in a pop style will study together: performance skills, ensemble, theory and harmony, songwriting, music technology and music business, law and entrepreneurship. Those wishing to specialise in music and technology have access to some of the most sophisticated electronic and computer equipment available in the country.

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 US.

Based in the heart of Cork City, MTU Cork School of Music occupies a purpose-built conservatory building, regarded as one of the best facilities in the world for creative and performing arts education with an amazing technological infrastructure. For more info, visit our facilities page.

This is a four-year programme that centres on theatre performance training, with supporting modules to facilitate wider career options. The programme aims to produce artists that are physically and vocally flexible and intellectually alive and curious. You will develop a range of creative and practical techniques and transferable skills that will encourage you to be an independent thinking and motivated artist, and an articulate and reactive practitioner equipped to succeed in a competitive profession. Alongside core disciplines of voice, movement and acting studies, you will study theatre history, theatre design, theatre technology (sound and lighting), production studies (including stage management) and have the option to take specialist electives in scriptwriting, directing, dance, musical theatre, dramatherapy, and theatre in education. Small group and large ensemble practical and workshop sessions are balanced with lectures, tutorials and field-based studies.

Based in the heart of Cork City, MTU Cork School of Music occupies a purpose-built conservatory building, regarded as one of the best facilities in the world for creative and performing arts education with an amazing technological infrastructure. For more info, visit our facilities page.