The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) is gearing up to launch their new Bachelor of Music Degree, and they’re keen to teach students the skills they need to stand out in the music world.
With the music scene in this day and age being a massive collective of different styles across the board, WAAPA is ready to see what will come next from the country’s budding musicians. They’ve designed a degree that navigates the modern world, since while music has changed through the decades, many music courses haven’t.
As the Associate Dean of Music, Dr. Jamie Oehlers states, “our new course is designed around the modern music and arts industry which is increasingly collaborative across styles and art forms. It’s enhanced by technology, and is really driven by originality.”
Holding a key importance of originality, WAAPA has created their new Bachelor of Music Degree which will be kicking off in 2022. With originality at the forefront of the degree, WAAPA is wanting to enable students to find what works for them in terms of style, music, and voice.
To get down to basics, the first two years of the new degree explore the development of skills, and allow the students an understanding of the fundamentals, with a key focus in music performance as well as theory and composition.
Elaborating, Oehlers notes that students “will dive deeply into your selected stream of either jazz, contemporary, classical, or composition while coming together throughout the year with all music students to learn the fundamentals of home recording, undertake a unit on the music business and intricacies of developing a career, examine performance psychology, and more.”
To round out the studies, the last two years are for students to explore what enthrals them in the music world – creating their own style, and diving into what drives their inspiration in the music world.
With a choice of electives, students get to explore the differences in different music genres. Oehlers notes that students can “undertake new units that broaden your musical horizons or continue on the path through your chosen stream.”
With the Bachelor of Music Degree, it’s not about following the straight and narrow, as students are not only welcome to follow their creative lead, but are encouraged, meaning that whether students are interested in simply guitar, or wish to create a collaborative composition of orchestral sounds mixed with electronic notes, are fully supported along the way.
That’s not all – WAAPA also brings in local and international artists to help their students grow and experience different tastes along the way. As Oehlers continues, “our world class staff, and incredible visiting artists will work with you to help you become the artist you want to be.”
With WAAPA being a diverse performance arts academy, students of the Bachelor of Music Degree don’t only get to be a part of the music side of things, but can really dive into the depths of the arts while exploring dance, theatre, and much more.
Oehlers states that this collaborative environment at WAAPA becomes invaluable to students: “previous experience is the key to success,” and with WAAPA offering all the experience that any music student could want, their Bachelor of Music Degree looks to be the place to get started off on the right foot.
