Historically Informed Performance Practice (in conjunction with RCS)

The Historically Informed Performance Practice (in conjunction with RCS) program at the University of Glasgow, taught jointly with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly RSAMD), combines vocal or instrumental study with performance-related academic research and an element of apprenticeship with professional ensembles.

Key facts

• During the Historically Informed Performance Practice (in conjunction with RCS) program at the University of Glasgow you will benefit from access to our facilities including seminar and practice rooms, the University library, two audio labs and an electroacoustic music studio, the University’s Concert Hall and attached studios. You will also have access to facilities at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

• We offer the unique opportunity to study alongside world-class performer-scholars, and to work both within the University and the Conservatoire environment. Where possible, RCS can arrange involvement in the work of professional historically-informed ensembles, including Dunedin Consort and Concerto Caledonia.

• Glasgow is the UK’s first UNESCO city of music, and home to the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Opera and National Theatre of Scotland.

Career prospects

Our degree programs open up opportunities to access or advance careers in the creative industries, whether working as a professional composer or musician, in the music industry for a record company, management company or promoter, or in the media industry. Some graduates have combined their degrees with other studies to pursue careers in areas such as law and education.

Courses include

• Two routes are available: one weighted toward performance, the other toward musicological enquiry.

• The core of the course concerns 17th- and 18th-century musical practices, but these can be used as a jumping-off point for the study and development of other historical and traditional musical activities.

• You will have access to a range of both reproduction and original historical instruments from the collections of both institutions. Previously completed student projects include: phrasing marks in Beethoven’s string writing; tablature and transcription in vihuela repertoire; Baroque and traditional practices in Scottish fiddle variation sets; and Italianate vocal training and its relationship to pedagogic practice in 18th-century Britain. With professional groups, students have performed, prepared editions, researched repertoire and assisted on educational outreach.