The graduate programme currently specialises in Popular Music, screen music, composition and digital music. In 1991 digital music studios were established, directed by writer and composer Ian Whalley, who teaches all studio based courses to postgraduate level. These courses are also offered as part of a multimedia degree run by the School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences. The music programme, then, introduces Popular Music along with art music at undergraduate level, and aims to develop academic and practical skills to postgraduate level. Our approach affords the opportunity of including the traditional academic electroacoustic music tradition, but takes a broader and perhaps more pragmatic view.
Students then begin to explore their own aesthetic in abstract and applied terms.
We are currently working on a CD of recent studio generated work by NZ composers. Many factors have influenced the approach we have taken.