Achieve the extraordinary. Study at the conservatoire of the future.

We have invested £57 million into our impressive state-of-the-art music facilities with the aim of creating functional spaces that combine tradition with cutting edge technology. The focus of our undergraduate music course is to help you realise your potential and become the best musician that you can be, with the support of an encouraging creative environment. 

With individual specialist tuition throughout all four years of the course you will get the individual attention you need to prepare for a successful career in the music profession. You can also apply for additional hours with a Conservatoire tutor of your choice to help support your studies and develop your skills in complementary areas. Our students benefit from the individual care and attention of our highly qualified professional team of tutors and support staff, who are dedicated to supporting and developing the potential of each student.

Students studying on our BMus degree in music apply to one of three pathways; either BMus (Hons) Performance (instrumental or vocal), BMus (Hons) Composition, or BMus (Hons) Music Technology. 

Enhance Employability Skills

All of the UK's Conservatoires aim to do the same thing: to train students for the music profession with the emphasis firmly on your principal study, whether that is in performance, composition or music technology.

As a vocational programme, it is easy to see how all your principal-study work adds to your professional development. Yet Royal Birmingham Conservatoire believes other areas of the course are just as important: the skills in writing, research, communication and critical and reflective thinking that you develop in the academic modules are exactly the types of graduate skills that make you more employable in any area of professional life, musical or otherwise.

Team working and collaborative skills are highly valued in the profession as a whole and are particularly important in any musical context, and you will have opportunities to work as part of team and ensembles across all areas of the course. Equally, you will have opportunities to develop your ability to work under your own direction, whether that is through the individual time spent practising, researching and writing essays and presentations, or working on personal development projects.

The course is designed so that we can guide you through these developments in the early years, give you the ability to reflect on what you have already learned and, most importantly, what you still need to learn. Taking charge of your own development as a musician enables you to work more independently in the later years and provides an employability skill set vital to your continuing professional life.

PLACEMENTS

There are variety of extracurricular schemes that take students out of the Conservatoire and into the professional world. Numerous professional engagements for students are administered through the Conservatoire’s Book a Musician service, which provides direct experience of paid professional work.

We also run a number of placement schemes. These include long-running schemes with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra  (CBSO), the Orchestra of the Swan, and the Welsh National Opera where students participate actively or as observers; a collaboration with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) which gives composition students the opportunity to have their music played by experienced professionals who also give feedback; and many other partnerships with organisations including:

• BBC Radio 3
• Welsh National Opera
• Arco Project
• Leamington Festival
• THSH
• Birmingham Cathedral
• St Chads
• Birmingham Opera Company
• Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra
• Dudley Arts
• Heartlands Hospital
• Birmingham Music Service
• Birmingham Royal Ballet
• Jazzlines
• Town Hall Symphony Hall

and for pedagogy/education specific projects:

• Music in Hospitals and Care
• Air Arts, Derby Royal Hospital
• Birmingham Children's Hospital
• Elmhurst Ballet School
• Services for Education Music Service
• Sandwell Music Service
• Warwick School
• Calthorpe Academy
• In Harmony