Music study in Ireland includes several academic approaches: performance, composition, theory, history of music, musicology and music technology. Accomplished performers will undoubtedly forge plans long before the CAO comes around and will look at specialist institutions such as the Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM).
But there are many other places to study music. Both UCD and Trinity, for example, offer music programmes within arts and humanities.
DIT is home to Ireland’s only Conservatory of Music and Drama. Students in both areas develop their performance abilities, underpinned by academic learning. Performance plays a huge part in the courses. Music at DIT may mean classical music or operatic vocal studies, but also covers traditional, jazz and commercial modern music.
Modern music college BIMM opened on Francis Street in Dublin in 2011. It offers a BA hons in Commercial Modern Music, validated by DIT, is the first degree of its kind in Ireland and is a four-year performance-based programme.
NUI Maynooth offers two highly regarded BAs – one in Music and one in Music Technology. The emphasis is not necessarily on performance, although it is encouraged, but rather composition, music history, musicology and so on.
UL is home to the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance which combines training in various music and dance styles with vocational skills – educational, technological, business – so musicians can take control of their own careers. Since its establishment, the Academy has seen over 1,800 students representing 27 countries graduate from its postgraduate and undergraduate programmes.
Cork IT School of Music is respected and has been home to numerous bands, chamber groups, choirs, drama groups, opera groups and orchestras, which often tour and broadcast. Cork IT’s impressive facilities include music studios, a 450-capacity hall, black box theatre and audio lab.
With a rich theatrical heritage, it is no surprise the study of drama is well established here. The Lir, Ireland’s National Academy of Dramatic Art in Dublin is closely linked with the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London and Trinity College Dublin, guaranteeing high quality training acting, directing, lighting design, stage design, stage management, technical theatre etc. The Drama and Theatre Studies department within Trinity itself offers literary, cultural, historical and sociological studies combined with an understanding of performing arts.
In 2012, NUIG launched a BA in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies. As at Trinity, the four-year course includes drama, theatre and performance from a practical, theoretical and historical perspective.
UCC offers honours degrees in drama and theatre studies, with teaching strength in international and European theatre, contemporary performance practice, Irish theatre and physical theatre.
