Degree Type:
Bachelor of MusicDepartment:
Department of Music and DanceProgramme Duration:
4 years (Standard Entry)
Modes of Study:
RegularAbout Programme:
The Bachelor of Music Program is meant to introduce students to the various aspects of Music Research, Performance and Theory. Students who successfully go through the Program will acquire skills in the playing and pedagogy of selected musical instruments, acquire enough content matter to be able to teach Music at various pre-university levels of education, acquire skills in the theory and compostion of music for various purposes and become critical connoisseurs of the Art.
The program will also prepare students to be able to pursue further studies in various fields of Musical scholarship such as Music Education, Ethnomusicology, Theory & Composition, Music Psychology, Music Technology, Music Therapy and so on.
Entry Requirements:
WASSCE applicants must have credit passes (A1-C6) in three core subjects, including English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science or Social Studies. In addition, applicants must have obtained three credit passes (A1-C6) in their elective subjects, at least one of which should be either Music, Creative Arts, or General Arts.
SSSCE applicants must have credit passes (A-D) in three core subjects, including English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science or Social Studies. In addition, applicants must have obtained three credit passes (A1-C6) in their elective subjects, at least one of which should be either Music, Creative Arts, or General Arts.
Applicants without the required elective subjects (Music, Creative or General Arts), but with previous music performance experience (e.g. in private, school or church groups) can apply. Also, professionals who do not meet the above requirements but have a minimum of 5 years relevant experience in recognised institutions can apply as mature candidates. Such applicants must pass an entrance examination.
Post-Diploma students in Music with a grade point average equivalent to Second Class Lower and above will be admitted into the programme. Such students will join the programme at level 300.
Career Opportunities:
Products of the Department work as Music Educators in secondary and tertiary institutions, musicians in churches and other organisations, and as media practitioners. Many also in the fields like banking, public service.
Programme Structure
Level 100
First Semester
ASP A: African Studies (Core)
This comprises a variety of Courses mounted by the Center for African and International Studies. Each student gets to do one of these courses in the first semester and another one in the second semester of the first year.
CMS 107: Communicative Skills I
Engaging in academic work at the university is challenging. This course is aimed at equipping fresh students to make the transition from pre-university level to the university level. It assists them in engaging and succeeding in complex academic tasks in speaking, listening, reading and writing. It also provides an introduction to university studies by equipping students with skills that will help them to engage in academic discourse with confidence and fluency.
DAN 111: Introduction to Dance Techniques
This course equips students with skills that enable them to execute meaningful foot, arm, and hand movements. The course utilises indigenous African dance gestures and footwork as the basis for the acquisition of dance techniques. Emphasis is placed on the efficient use of space, energy, and rhythmic accuracy. Other elements of dance that are highlighted in the course are tensions, releases and form.
ENG. 105A: Communicative Skills I
The course is aimed at improving students’ competency and fluency in using English for their academic pursuits. In the first semester, the course concentrates on reading and note-making skills as aids to learning
ILT 101: Information Literacy
The rationale of the course is to equip students with skills that will enable them access and retrieve information in the traditional, hybrid and digital libraries. Students will be able to use ICT efficiently and effectively when they have basic knowledge of computers. The course content include: Types of libraries, library resources and their uses, the role the library plays in the academic community, introduction to computers, the internet.
MUD 111: Rudiments of Music
This course introduces students to the basic materials of music literacy (time and sound), which will lead to pitch notation, time classification, note and rest values, time signatures and intervals. They will be equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to read and notate simple rhythms and melodies.
MUD 113: Introduction to Performance Studies
This course introduces students to two components of musical performance – ensemble work and performance on solo instruments. Students are therefore required to join one of the Department’s music ensembles and they will also choose a musical instrument to study.
Second Semester
CMS 108: Communicative Skills II
This is a follow-up course on the first semester one. It takes students through writing correct sentences, devoid of ambiguity, through the paragraph and its appropriate development to the fully-developed essay. The course also emphasizes the importance and the processes of editing written work.
DAN 112: Introduction to African Dance
Students will be introduced to African dance in this course, including traditional dances from Ghana and other West African countries. In addition to the application of a variety of dance techniques in choreographies, the course sensitises students to the important interrelation between dance movements and cues played on the drums.
MUD 112: Introduction to Music Theory
This course is designed as a continuation of MUD 111. While deepening their reading and writing skills in musical notation, students will acquire additional knowledge in basic scales and modes, key signatures as well as triads. This will enable them to analyse simple music pieces with regard to melodic structure and tonality.
MUD 114: Performance Studies
Designed as a continuation of MUD 113, the course enables students to build up the performance skills they acquired in the first semester. The course comprises two components, ensemble work and solo instrument. Students will deepen their knowledge of the repertoire for their ensembles and instruments.
Level 200
First Semester
DAN 221: Music, Dance and Society
This course addresses the multiple ways in which music and dance are social activities. It introduces students to a variety of perspectives in the study of music and dance as social phenomenon, drawing on case studies from both Africa and beyond. The functions and meanings of music and dance in everyday life and in the formation of social identities will be explored. In addition, the course will also introduce students to the physical and physiological foundations of sound and movement.
MUD 221: Melody Writing
This course equips students with the knowledge and skills for reading and writing simple melodies in selected keys. It also exposes students to both African and non-African approaches to the setting of text to melodies. Students will thus expand their skills in the analysis of both Western and African music.
MUD 223: Intermediate Performance Studies
The course is designed as a continuation of MUD 114. At this level, students will be exposed to some of the key roles within musical ensembles. They are also expected to perform more elaborate pieces of music on their individual instruments. In addition to ensemble work and solo instrument, students will study a traditional Ghanaian dance.
Second Semester
DAN 222: Introduction to Research in Music and Dance
In this course, students are introduced to the different fields of research in music and dance, including the sociology, anthropology, geography, psychology and neuroscience of music and dance. In addition to an introduction to core readings in these various areas of study, the course will also provide students a hands-on experience in the basic steps of conducting research in music and dance.
MUD 222: Elementary Harmony
The course is designed to equip students with knowledge and skills in the use of primary and secondary chords in major and minor modes, to harmonise simple melodies with modulations to related keys and to analyse basic harmonic structures. Students are given the opportunity to deepen and further improve their skills in the analysis of more complex musical structures.
MUD 224: Advanced Performance Studies
The course is designed as continuation of MUD 223. Students are expected to continue with the acquisition of key roles within their ensembles. They will also be expected to perform elaborate pieces of music on their individual instruments, and they will continue to study traditional Ghanaian dance.
Level 300
First Semester
DAN 327: Ghanaian Traditional Dances Practical
The course assists students to study selected dance forms from Ghana. It also examines the level of craftsmanship exhibited in the expressive qualities of the body movements of the dance forms under study.
MUD 321: Form and Structure in African Music
The course is designed to broaden students’ understanding of African music. It will engage them in the analysis of the forms and structures of African music. It will also enhance students’ skills in the collection and documentation of African indigenous music. The role of African music in its various socio-cultural contexts is examined.
MUD 323: Applied Music and Musicianship
The course reviews the relevance of various musical traditions in contemporary societies. The adaptation and transformation of traditional musical forms in new ways are examined and their role in the formation of regional, national and other collective identities explored. The course also critically engages with the impact of colonialism on contemporary African music cultures.
MUD 325: Music Theory and Analysis
This course builds on the knowledge and skills students acquired in music theory in their first two years of study. It will introduce them to the art of countermelodies, secondary functions of chords and further their knowledge in modulations.
MUD 325: Music Theory and Analysis
This course builds on the knowledge and skills students acquired in music theory in their first two years of study. It will introduce them to the art of countermelodies, secondary functions of chords and further their knowledge in modulations.
MUD 327: Music Composition
This course explores ways of thinking about and organising basic compositional elements such as melody, harmony, rhythm, common practice of small structures, instrumental colour, as well as developing skills of score preparation and analytical listening.
MUD 328: Intermediate Music Composition
As a continuation of MUD 327, this course focuses on strengthening students’ skills in compositional processes, exploring medium compositional forms and more complex melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic structures.
MUD 329: History of Art Music, c. 500-1800
The course exposes students to the styles, aesthetics and cultural relevance of art music as practiced mainly in Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the Classical period. It sharpens students’ skills in the analysis of selected pieces from those periods.
MUD 336: History of African Popular Music
The course focuses on the social history of African popular music styles such as Highlife, Jùjú, Soukous, Chimurenga, and Taraab, among others. It looks at the origin and growth of diverse popular, mass-mediated music styles throughout the continent and examines the social, cultural as well as technological factors that contributed to their development.
MUD 399: Research Methods
The course is designed to introduce students to basic research techniques in social science and music studies. It exposes students to qualitative and quantitative research paradigms and helps them to engage in research studies that employ the two paradigms.
Second Semester
DAN 326: Production Participation: African Dance Drama Practical
The course exposes students to the study of African dance patterns. It prepares them to appreciate public performances of African dance forms and provides them the opportunity to study extensive dance compositions relevant to audiences in 21st-century Ghana, Africa and other parts of the world.
MUD 322: Music in Contemporary African Societies
The course reviews the relevance of various musical traditions in contemporary societies. The adaptation and transformation of traditional musical forms in new ways are examined and their role in the formation of regional, national and other collective identities explored. The course also critically engages with the impact of colonialism on contemporary African music cultures.
MUD 324: Intermediate Applied Music and Musicianship
As a continuation of MUD 323, this course continues to enhance students’ performance skills, both in ensemble work and on their individual instruments. Students will also deepen their knowledge in musicianship to be able to accompany groups and soloists on the keyboard.
MUD 326: Intermediate Music Theory and Analysis
In this course students will study and engage in the analysis of a number of musical forms such as the fugue, theme and variations, sonata form, among others. The course will expose students to procedures how to analyse tonal music such as Schenkerian analysis and functional analysis.
MUD 330: History of Art Music, c. 1800-present
This course continues to expose students to the styles, aesthetics and cultural relevance of art music from the Romantic period to the present. The development of African art music during this time period will be discussed. Students will deepen their analytical skills as pieces by both Western and African composers are scrutinised.
MUD 331: History of Film Music
This course traces the evolution of film music through early film to present day cinema, examining both African films as well as International and Hollywood films and film composers. Students will learn how sound is used in animation, trailers, horror films, among others, and the key relationships between directors and composers.
MUD 332: Film Music Analysis
This course introduces students’ to the various procedures in analysing music in relation to moving images. Students are exposed to key musical terms through which to examine film scores and will study the soundtracks of a number of classic productions in the history of film music.
MUD 333: Computer-Based Music Notation
This course introduces students to the use of professional Music Notation Software such as Sibelius and Finale. Students will learn to create musical scores, extract performance parts for single or multiple voices, create graphics, as well as MIDI files.
MUD 334: Music Technology
This course enhances students’ music technology skills by introducing them to digital music production software such as Logic, Cubase, and ProTools. Students will also learn about basic production procedures and the hardware used in sound recording. In addition to studio recording and production, the course also covers live sound reinforcement and mixing.
MUD 335: Musical Acoustics
This course is an introduction to the science of sound for musicians. Topics include the physical basis of timbre, spectral analysis and harmonic series, the physical basis for scales and intervals, vibrations and resonance. The course also covers the science behind musical instruments, the human voice, hearing perception and concert hall acoustics. Digital sound editing will be introduced as a tool for understanding waveforms and spectral analysis (overtones). The course will consist of lecture, laboratory assignments and research projects.
Level 400
First Semester
MUD 410: Advanced Public Performance and Musicianship practical
The course provides opportunities for students to acquire skills in the preparation of a repertory for a 30-minute public concert of vocal or instrumental music consisting of African, Western and African-American pieces. The course also assists students to enhance their proficiency on the keyboard and acquire skills in public performance of hymns, their transposition and extemporization.
MUD 421: Music Business
An overview of the local and global music industry, this course will provide insights into a number of key areas of business related to music. Students will also explore a diversity of music industry career paths in areas such as arts management, music products and merchandizing, public relations, music production and recording, publishing, and online music distribution.
MUD 423: Advanced Music Theory and Analysis
In this advanced music theory course, students will concentrate on the study of post-tonal practices and concepts for twentieth-century music analysis,
such as the Hanson system, Persichetti system, and Hindemith syst
MUD 425: Advanced Music Composition
This course aims at relating advanced music theory to the compositional craft. Students will be assisted to apply their knowledge in a wide range of styles,
both Western, African and popular idioms, and to develop their personal compositional language, resulting in a larger original works.
MUD 427: Music Journalism
This course is designed for students interested in pursuing careers in the media and in music journalism. Students will learn about different forms of journalistic writing and develop their own writing skills. They will also learn about different production procedures in music journalism for different media formats such as print and electronic media, radio, and television.
MUD 429: Research Seminar in Music
A number of research problems in music and performance studies will be addressed in this course. Specific issues involved in expository writing about music will
also be discussed. The course highlights current research topics and issues in the musicological literature and will deepen students’ skills in comparative music analysis.
MUD 430: Psychology of Music
In this course students learn about psychological methods and theory to interpret and understand musical behaviour, sounds and ideas. The interdisciplinary nature of the subject and its use of a wide
range of empirical approaches offers a unique perspective on music. The course examines the cognitive, social and biological basis of our ability to perceive, remember, appreciate and produce music.
MUD 431: Film Music Composition practical
This course deals with the peculiar problems of composing music for screen. Working closely with their counterparts in Film Studies, students will have the opportunity to apply their previously acquired knowledge about film music in a project work based on a chosen theme, learning how music can function as commentary on action as well as assimilating music into the sound world of a film as a whole.
Second Semester
MUD 403: Public Performance and Musicianship practical
The course provides students with a more advanced study of solo as well as ensemble performance techniques and also enhances students’ skills in the art of stage presentation. It educates students on the preparation of concert programmes. Students have the opportunity to examine solo rehearsal techniques. The course also assists students to play hymns in several keys as well as extemporize and decorate melodic and harmonic phrases.
MUD 422: Advanced Music Business
This course will deepen students understanding in music business, equipping them with knowledge and skills necessary for effectively maintaining a professional music career.
It offers students the opportunity to learn fundamental entrepreneurial principles in the development of new music business and gives them an understanding of common
business practices such as marketing and branding.
MUD 424: Seminar in Music Education
The central goal of this course is to introduce the history of music education, the major music teaching methodologies, the psychological foundations of music education and curriculum and assessment in music education.