The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick is currently accepting applications for its MA Songwriting. The initial deadline is 31 May 2021.

The Master of Arts in Songwriting is a one year, full-time postgraduate programme, which focuses on the artistic practice of songwriting with opportunities to perform and record work. The course is cognisant of the wide variety of approaches to songwriting that one might adopt and will not attempt to be a ‘how-to’. Rather, this is a space where students can explore and be exposed to a range of writing techniques, whilst having the dedicated time and resources to develop their own body of work. This will be through a combination of solo work and collaboration with a community of fellow songwriters with guidance from songwriting mentors.

Students will be encouraged to develop a strong sense of their individual voice. Their songwriting skills will be honed through supportive and reflective critique. Exposure to a wide range of approaches to songwriting is essential and to achieve this some of Ireland’s most renowned songwriters, as well as International songwriters will visit for workshops and performances.

As well as providing critical engagement with artistic practice, the history of songwriting will be investigated with a broad overview of the art of songwriting. This will be achieved in a variety of way including  the inspection of songs across the millennia. We’ll journey from the 11th Century through medieval England’s John Dowland and Austria’s prolific Lieder composer Franz Schubert. The Great American Songbook is visited while voices from pop culture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries will be featured. All this inspection will be conducted through  a combination of intimate tutorials and public interview formats with a variety of experts in their fields.

See further details at the link below.