This practicum is the start of a suite of subjects that focus on different productions, in different languages, which take place in a range of contexts. While the assessments are necessarily very similar across all 4 practicums, each will vary according to the demands of the practical work undertaken and the student’s place in the sequence. This practicum representing the foundational experience. 

Students undertaking this subject will work on a practical project, through rehearsals and culminating in a performance, in order to develop, consolidate and apply the individual skills required for an opera production.

Through involvement with an opera production through an in-house University production, vocal students will strengthen and consolidate a breadth of skills and knowledge regarding stylistic vocal delivery, stagecraft and movement training, role development and characterisation, and ensemble work. Students will receive the technical and artistic training to cope with all interpretive demands of the production.

Through involvement with an opera production through an in-house University production, repetiteur students will strengthen and consolidate their skills in orchestral reduction and vocal score realisation, as well as their knowledge and understandings of the rehearsal process, as applicable to all aspects of the repetiteurs' craft. Students will receive the technical and artistic training to cope with all interpretive demands of the production.

Students will undertake this subject to develop foundational knowledge, and isolate and cultivate the core skills, necessary for performing opera repertoire from either the baroque/classical periods, or the romantic/twentieth-century periods, depending on the cycle of repertoire selection for the course. This will include the development of:

Either:

- Strategies for singers to achieve foundational interactive voice, lyric diction and body work for stage productions;

Or:

-Strategies for repetiteurs to work at a foundational level to play keyboard parts and full orchestral scores in a spontaneous rehearsal context, and to learn how to negotiate complex ensemble interactions and dynamics in the rehearsal room.

To achieve these goals, students will work in group contexts to consolidate and develop:

- Foundation skills in vocal delivery and acting with appropriate stylistic approaches 

- Foundation skills in the interactions between singing, speech, lyric diction and text appropriate to the demands of either baroque/classical, or romantic/twentieth-century operatic works

This practicum is the second of a suite of four subjects that focus on different productions, in different languages, which take place in a range of contexts. While the assessments are necessarily very similar across all 4 practicums, each will vary according to the demands of the practical work undertaken and the student’s place in the sequence. This practicum represents the second stage of development. 

Students undertaking this subject will work on a practical project, through rehearsals and culminating in a performance, in order to develop, consolidate and apply the individual skills required for an opera production.

Through involvement with an opera production through an in-house University production, vocal students will strengthen and consolidate a breadth of skills and knowledge regarding stylistic vocal delivery, stagecraft and movement training, role development and characterisation, and ensemble work. Students will receive the technical and artistic training to cope with all interpretive demands of the production.

Through involvement with an opera production through an in-house University production, repetiteur students will strengthen and consolidate their skills in orchestral reduction and vocal score realisation, as well as their knowledge and understandings of the rehearsal process, as applicable to all aspects of the repetiteurs' craft. Students will receive the technical and artistic training to cope with all interpretive demands of the production.

Students will undertake this subject to develop sound working knowledge, and isolate and cultivate the skills, necessary for performing opera repertoire with confidence from either the baroque/classical periods, or the romantic/twentieth-century periods, depending on the cycle of repertoire selection for the course. This will include the development of:

Either:

- Strategies for singers to achieve confident interactive voice, lyric diction and body work for stage productions;

Or:

- Strategies for repetiteurs to work confidently between keyboard parts and full orchestral scores in a spontaneous rehearsal context, and to negotiate with confidence complex ensemble interactions and dynamics in the rehearsal room.

To achieve these goals, students will work in group contexts to consolidate and develop:

- Confident skills in vocal delivery and acting with appropriate stylistic approaches

- Confident skills in the interactions between singing, speech, lyric diction and text appropriate to the demands of either baroque/classical, or romantic/twentieth-century operatic works

This subject explores the holistic performance elements required by professional opera singers. Combining text analysis and movement principles, this subject is designed to build skills of dramatic interpretation and individual expression required for professional opera performance opera performance.

Students are encouraged to integrate imagination and physical skills with their vocal skills to develop characters and interpret text.

Repetiteurs in this class will advance their skills by focusing on nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first century repertoire, with particular emphasis given to the concerns of score reduction and conducting ensembles from the keyboard, the class being taught on piano. Students will learn techniques to reduce predominant orchestral scoring styles and be given effective techniques for scanning and sight-reading the full score. Attention will be paid to score reduction to provide melodic and harmonic clarity and support for the singers. The subject also explores how to conduct from the keyboard, especially in ensembles where the repetiteur is both playing the piano and conducting. To achieve these skills, students will work collaboratively with the lecturer to read through a range of opera scores, and prepare materials for a specific opera or opera scenes.

Students in this class will learn how to realise at their instrument a figured bass from the seventeenth or eighteenth century in a stylish and idiomatic fashion. We first learn how to read simple figures before progressing to more complex ones. Attention will be paid to correct voice-leading, melodic and harmonic improvisation, and differentiating between the predominant national styles. This subject will be of interest to any keyboardist or harmony-generating instrumentalist who wishes to refine their contrapuntal skills and knowledge as well as learn how to participate effectively in over two centuries of repertoire.

This subject will be delivered on-line to provide students with the skills necessary to engage in practice- based research in music. Students will learn how to establish area and context for their practice-based research as well as define clear research questions for critical examination. Focusing upon their solo and group rehearsal and performance processes they will seek out innovation and new knowledge engaging with the key research techniques.

Students will be supported through on-line exercises to define a research question, develop a critical summary of relevant theory and literature, construct a conceptual framework, and consider ethical issues and prepare a research proposal for their project.

Students will be supported through on-line exercises to define a research question, develop a critical summary of relevant theory and literature, construct a conceptual framework, and consider ethical issues and prepare a research proposal for their project.