Composition at Royal Holloway

Being a professional composer today is about finding an individual voice, developing technical skills and having the confidence to explore your own creativity. The Music Department at Royal Holloway has a long-standing national and international reputation for composition taught by a team of distinguished composers. Past students include Tansy Davies, KT Tunstall, Joby Talbot, Deirdre Gribbin, Michael Zev Gordon, and Paul Newland.

Studying composition

The recently redesigned composition modules offer a cohesive pathway that allows students to develop creatively and technically throughout the degree programme. A thorough and wide-ranging technical foundation in acoustic composition is taught to all first-year music undergraduates. In the second and third years a range of options is available for those wishing to further explore their compositional ideas including:

• Techniques of Composition
• Orchestration
• Art and Craft of 18th-Century Composition
• Electronica and Experimental Composition
• Advanced Music Technology
• Special Study Composition

At graduate level there is a range of courses available in acoustic and studio composition whilst a large number of PhD composers create a thriving community for contemporary music and composition within the Department.

Studio composition and music technology

At Royal Holloway music technology is studied as part of a well-rounded undergraduate music degree. You can combine practical studio-based study with the academic study of media, film and TV music. Options are designed to provide a thorough grounding in studio techniques and a preparation for using the sort of technology found in the professional musical world after graduation. Study is geared primarily towards composing, particularly for media, film and TV, but also covers elements of recording, editing, sound design and experimental music.

Further opportunities

Composers at Royal Holloway have their music played and recorded regularly by resident and visiting professional musicians, the Royal Holloway Sinfonietta and, of course, by fellow students. Our award-winning New Music Ensemble-in-Residence Chroma provides unrivalled workshop and performance opportunities. An annual composers' competition, open to all students, provides a platform for a student orchestral piece to be publicly performed by one of the College orchestras.