The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance is a centre of academic and performance excellence housed at the University of Limerick, Ireland.

It offers a suite of taught undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in music and dance related subject areas. Its research is at the forefront of these fields of enquiry worldwide.

For a list of programmes on offer please see below. For further information please see www.irishworldacademy.ie or contact Jennifer Brown: Tel: 00-353-61-202917, Email: Jennifer.Brown [at] ul.ie.

Application forms are available from the Admissions Office, University of Limerick: admissions [at] ul.ie.

Undergraduate Programmes
The Irish World Academy offers three undergraduate programmes plus an accredited summer school:

•    BA Irish Music & Dance
◦    A four-year degree programme which places performance at its heart – the performance of music, singing and dancing, alongside the performance of research and writing.

•    BA Voice & Dance
◦    A four-year degree programme, which will provide students with the opportunity to specialise in either voice or dance, to study it as their primary discipline and also to develop skills to perform works which include both voice and dance.

•    Certificate in Music & Dance
◦    A progression and access based programme offered as a two-year part time, or full-time for one-year course. It enables the learner to complete modules from home, community centres or indeed whilst still in employment.

•    Blas International Summer School of Irish Traditional Music & Dance
◦    An internationally accredited summer school hosted annually where access to the best of tuition from some of the most famous musicians, singers and dancers is combined with classes and lectures given by experts in the academic study of our traditions.

Postgraduate Programmes
The Irish World Academy offers 11 taught postgraduate programmes:

◦    Graduate Diploma in Education (Music)
▪    A teacher education programme specially designed to meet the needs of graduates who wish to become teachers of music in secondary schools.

◦    MA Classical Strings Performance
▪    Advanced string tuition in violin, viola, cello and double bass as well as coaching in chamber music and chamber orchestra.

◦    MA Community Music
▪    A comprehensive grounding in the skills and knowledge needed to function as a successful community musician in a range of contexts.

◦    MA Dance Performance: Contemporary Dance
▪    Offer students an opportunity to undertake a period of intensive, primarily studio-based, research into contemporary dance, performance and choreography.

◦    MA Dance Performance: Irish Traditional Dance
▪    Advanced training in Irish traditional dance performance practices within a variety of historical, theoretical and dance performance contexts.

◦    MA Ethnochoreology
▪    An interdisciplinary subject which considers dance in its cultural context by applying theoretical concepts developed in the Social Sciences.

◦    MA Ethnomusicology
▪    A study programme to understand the processes by which music is imagined, made, listened to, and discussed among human beings—everywhere and anywhere.

◦    MA Festive Arts
▪    A study programme offering students the opportunity to develop skills in arts management, curating, production, performance and research with an emphasis on festivity and the role of festival in society.

◦    MA Irish Traditional Music Performance
▪    Advanced tuition in the performance of Irish Traditional Music through instrumental and vocal tuition provided by a community of world-renowned traditional performers and tutors.

◦    MA Education (Music)
◦    An extension of the Graduate Diploma in Education (Music), or equivalent programme, to Masters level thereby continuing the commitment to excellence in the practical and academic teaching of music at post-primary level.

◦    MA Music Therapy
▪    Offers a professional qualification in music therapy using the unique characteristics of music in musical interaction to support people who have additional needs because of medical, psychological, physical or emotional problems.

◦    MA Ritual Chant and Song
▪    Exploring the voice and its use in ritual contexts, this programme is an investigation of the voice through one-to-one vocal technique classes, somatic practices, and the performance study of core vocal repertoires, specifically European Medieval song, Plainchant, and Irish Traditional religious song.

◦    PhD Arts Practice
▪    The PhD Arts Practice is a four year, structured PhD programme, designed to meet the needs of professional performing artists who wish to engage in academic and practice-based reflection on their own artistic practice. The programme involves a combination of taught modules and independent research.

For full details visit www.irishworldacademy.ie