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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Joint History and music degree

4 replies

RosieBdy · 04/02/2023 14:04

Hi,
DS (year12) is trying to decide on his thoughts for uni courses and we discovered that you can do a joint course with History and Music.

He didn't do music GCSE or A level but loves his guitar and wants to do something with that. He's grade 8 guitar (exam coming up but everyone who hears him says he's fantastic (I mean our local guitar centre staff/ music staff at school etc not just his family!Grin) so I think he'll pass well).
Just wondering if anyone has any experience of doing music when you haven't done it academically before...

One uni mentioned not having to had studied music before, and others mention having grade 8 music theory if they haven't done anything else.

He's not done anything in terms of being in a band etc- we're trying to get him involved and his guitar teacher is encouraging him, but he has performed for concerts at school/ local theatre for county schools etc

It's what he spends ALL his spare time doing. If he's not revising he's playing easily 2 hours a night during the week and hours and hours at the weekend so he's dedicated.

He loves history which is why we thought the joint degree might work for him.

Sorry- this is a bit of a waffle!

OP posts:
Notaclu · 04/02/2023 14:54

Hi probably worth working through whether wants to do academic music or performance - the degree choices can be different, and some do pretty much one or the other, so he should look very carefully at what’s on offer at lots of places.

Original poster
RosieBdy · 04/02/2023 19:23

Notaclu · 04/02/2023 14:54

Hi probably worth working through whether wants to do academic music or performance - the degree choices can be different, and some do pretty much one or the other, so he should look very carefully at what’s on offer at lots of places.

Thank you!
That's exactly the kind of comment we need!
Definitely performance so I'll tell him to look out for that!
Thanks again.

OP posts:
Malbecfan · 04/02/2023 20:40

So your DS is about to take his grade 8 guitar? That's great. Some universities want above grade 5 Theory if candidates haven't taken A level Music, but this is for a straight Music degree. As he's in year 12, I would get him to look into the admissions criteria of his chosen courses and go from there. He has time to take grade 7 or 8 Theory if he needs it.

Original poster
RosieBdy · 05/02/2023 06:34

Malbecfan · 04/02/2023 20:40

So your DS is about to take his grade 8 guitar? That's great. Some universities want above grade 5 Theory if candidates haven't taken A level Music, but this is for a straight Music degree. As he's in year 12, I would get him to look into the admissions criteria of his chosen courses and go from there. He has time to take grade 7 or 8 Theory if he needs it.

Thanks. That's helpful.
He's just started looking but I'll double check that he's looking at the entry criteria.
He's interested in the music theory anyway, so he could just do it and if he doesn't need it, it's a bonus and still useful!
Thanks again.

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