Develop your identity as a creative and collaborative screen composer.
Year of entry: 2025 (September)
Get a taste of what studying a Masters at York is like on 12 March 2025.
Find out moreEnhance your high-level composition skills and apply them to film and television. Work alongside filmmakers as you develop your craft. Establish an identity as a creative and collaborative musician.
Examine diverse approaches to screen scoring and explore stylistic studies. and expand your musical perspectives through tutorials, workshops, seminars and concerts. You will explore a wide range of approaches to your creativity within the scope of visual media. You’ll gain confidence in the use of a range of software.
Give intensive focus to your creative practice. You’ll be writing music in every core module. You'll learn to reflect on the relationship between sound and image. As part of the School of Arts and Creative Technologies, you'll get involved in original film work. Collaborate with student filmmakers, or use our rich student archives to inspire you.
Join York’s vibrant composition culture. We have a long history of innovative practice-based teaching and research. Our lively community of students and staff will inspire and support you. You'll be mentored by internationally renowned composers within the School. We'll connect you with professional screen composers. They'll share their industry knowledge and offer advice preparing you for your future career.
You'll graduate as a skilled creative musician. You'll be ready for a career as a composer, to work in a related field, or go on to further study.
You’ll be part of CMRC, a thriving community of staff and students dedicated to the creation of new music through composition, improvisation and performance.
Collaborate with student filmmakers in your final submission as part of a creative team developing a project from storyboard to screening.
You'll take a combination of core and option modules. Some are from other Masters courses, and several unique to this course.
You'll produce a substantial portfolio of music for screen. Your portfolio can be a collection of independent scores, or a collaboration with student filmmakers.
You'll also study two option modules. Examples of option modules may include:
You could have the opportunity to pick option modules from the rest of our postgraduate music catalogue. It will depend on your previous experience and will be at the discretion of your course leader.
Some option module combinations may not be possible. The options available to you will be confirmed after you begin your course.
Our modules may change to reflect the latest academic thinking and expertise of our staff, and in line with Department/School academic planning.
Draw on your creative and technical skills to produce a portfolio of music for screen. Your portfolio can be a collection of independent scores, or a collaboration with student filmmakers. We will match you with a team of filmmakers at the start of the production process. You'll work with film students involved in sound, design and direction to create music alongside their original work.
You and your tutor will agree on the contents and duration of your portfolio. You'll also provide a concise written commentary reflecting on what you have produced.
Your assigned professional composer will offer you advice and direction for your project.
Every course at York is built on a distinctive set of learning outcomes. These will give you a clear understanding of what you will be able to accomplish at the end of the course and help you explain what you can offer employers. Our academics identify the knowledge, skills, and experiences you'll need upon graduation and then design the course to get you there.
Studying a Masters in composition at York is a great opportunity to immerse in an encouraging and inspiring environment. The teachers are committed, with a variety of approaches and areas of expertise. You'll interact with a diverse group of classmates all developing very interesting projects.Florencia, MA Music: Composition
Study mode | UK (home) | International and EU |
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Full-time (1 year) | £11,200 | £25,900 |
Part-time (2 years) | £5,600 | £12,950 |
Students on a Student Visa are not currently permitted to study part-time at York.
For courses which are longer than one year, the tuition fees quoted are for the first year of study.
UK (home) or international fees? The level of fee that you will be asked to pay depends on whether you're classed as a UK (home) or international student. Check your fee status.
Find out more information about tuition fees and how to pay them.
Discover your funding options to help with tuition fees and living costs.
We'll confirm more funding opportunities for students joining us in 2025/26 throughout the year.
If you've successfully completed an undergraduate degree at York you could be eligible for a 10% Masters fee discount.
We are pleased to work with Chevening Scholars to offer funding for our Masters programmes. Chevening Scholarships provide one year of fully-funded postgraduate study in the UK for international (including EU) students. The scholarships are open to early and mid-career professionals who have the potential to become future leaders.
You can use our living costs guide to help plan your budget. It covers additional costs that are not included in your tuition fee such as expenses for accommodation and study materials.
For composers, all assessments are based on your own compositions: the focus is always on your creative work.
Lively, full of culture and beautiful, York has been voted one of the best places to live and visit in the UK.
You’ll work with world‐leading academics who’ll challenge you to think independently and excel in all that you do. Our approach to teaching will provide you with the knowledge, opportunities, and support you need to grow and succeed in a global workplace.
Teaching is delivered through a combination of individual lessons, group lessons and seminars. You'll have opportunities to collaborate with other Masters students within the School.
You will have regular meetings with your supervisor, who will advise you and help develop your ideas as you progress through your studies. We'll connect you with professional screen composers. They'll offer portfolio guidance and share their industry knowledge.
We encourage you to get involved with our lively community, from our ensembles to our weekly seminars, performance classes and research seminars.
The School is home to the Music Research Centre, one of the finest facilities for listening to and recording sound in the UK. There is a large-scale neutral listening and performing space built to extremely low noise specifications (PNC15), a linked studio suite containing a dedicated performance space with configurable acoustics and two mix down/control rooms (one with an SSL Duality console). These facilities include a wide range of microphones and recording hardware/software.
All students have free access to relevant DAWs, notation software and orchestral libraries.
Additionally, students can expect to work with the industry standard facilities within the film, television and creative technologies areas of the School.
The School of Arts and Creative Technologies has facilities on Campus East and Campus West and teaching takes place in both locations.
Our beautiful green campus offers a student-friendly setting in which to live and study, within easy reach of the action in the city centre. It's easy to get around campus - everything is within walking or pedalling distance, or you can always use the fast and frequent bus service.
The focus of your assessments will be your own compositions alongside other work that supports your compositional development, which, depending on the options you choose, may also include essays, presentations and/or performance. Feedback occurs frequently, both within individual lessons and in group seminars and workshops where you will share and discuss your work with fellow students.
You'll graduate with an in-depth understanding of composition for film and television. You'll develop collaborative approaches working with students across our film and television courses. The skills you learn will inform your creative outputs. They will reflect your artistic voice while responding to specific briefs from collaborators.
You'll become a critical thinker and clear communicator. Your ability to analyse and convey ideas are skills valued in any sector. Our music Masters students go on to a range of careers. They work as creative artists and teachers, into arts administration and further study.
York prepared me for my career by allowing the time and freedom of thought necessary and inherent to any freelance life, and especially in allowing me to embark on the substantial/ambitious projects which enabled my career to get going in the first place.Christian Mason, MA Music: CompositionAward-winning composer
Typical offer | |
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Undergraduate degree | 2:2 or equivalent in Music or another relevant subject. |
Other international qualifications | Equivalent qualifications from your country |
You will need to attach a link to a portfolio of 2-3 samples of your compositions for screen media. You should also submit a notated score in pdf format for at least one of these where possible. If you have worked exclusively with software/programs for your submitted work for the application, additionally submit a pdf score of a notated piece which can be in any genre or instrumentation and which can be an original work or an arrangement. Please see our guidance on submitting creative work.
If English isn't your first language you may need to provide evidence of your English language ability. We accept the following qualifications:
Minimum requirement | |
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IELTS (Academic and Indicator) | 6.5, minimum 6.0 in each component |
Cambridge CEFR | B2 First: 176, with 169 in each component |
Oxford ELLT | 7, minimum of 6 in each component |
Oxford Test of English Advanced | 136, minimum 126 in each component |
Duolingo | 120, minimum 105 in all other components |
LanguageCert SELT | B2 with 33/50 in each component |
LanguageCert Academic | 70 with a minimum of 65 in each component |
Kaplan Test of English Language | 478-509, with 444-477 in all other components |
Skills for English | B2: Merit overall, with Pass with Merit in each component |
PTE Academic | 61, minimum 55 in each component |
TOEFL | 87, minimum of 21 in each component |
Trinity ISE III | Merit in all requirements |
For more information see our postgraduate English language requirements.
You may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language courses. These courses will provide you with the level of English needed to meet the conditions of your offer.
The length of course you need to take depends on your current English language test scores and how much you need to improve to reach our English language requirements.
After you've accepted your offer to study at York, we'll confirm which pre-sessional course you should apply to via You@York.
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