- Year of study: First year of study, over two semesters.
- Final assessment: Assessment from the course instructor
- Prerequisites: Admission to Master in music performance.
- Language of instruction: Norwegian/English
Course description
This course is for students enrolled in the Master of Music Performance programme in the concentration Performance and Research.
The Master’s Project is to be an independent project that reflects artistic and scholarly maturity. The performance and the theoretical parts of the Master’s Project comprise almost equal parts which elucidate each other and represent a cohesive whole.
Learning objectives
On completion of this course, the student is expected to
- demonstrate the ability to explore and reflect upon artistic and scientific issues and how these can be combined to represent a cohesive whole
- be familiar with research and artistic research relevant to the field and how to use this in the master's project
- be able to initiate, develop, implement and manage an artistic project
- be able to articulate and discuss issues related to their own artistic project
- demonstrate artistic integrity and maturity in the musical and oral presentation of the master's project
The students will be assessed based on the same learning objectives in Master's Project I and Master's Project II. On completion of the course Master's Project I the students progress in relation to the learning objectives will be assessed as satisfactory or not. On completion of the course Master's Project II the students will be assessed according to the learning objectives of the course.
Overview
In the Master’s Project, students will acquire advanced knowledge of a self-selected thematic area or repertoire. The project must link performance and musical expression with the documentation of music research or artistic research. The project must demonstrate the student’s ability to pursue in-depth study through independent insight and contribute to the reflective interpretation of the topic.
The repertoire may normally not be included as part of the courses Artistic Specialisation I or II.
Most of the Master’s Project is comprised of the student’s work with
- developing a project description for the Master’s Project
- implementing and managing his/her own Master's Project consisting of an artistic component and a research component.
- rehearsing and interpreting the repertoire for the Master’s Project (duration: 90 minutes)
- developing and preparing public presentations of his/her own Master’s Project
- relevant literature (including material from artistic development work and research)
- masterclasses, lectures/dialogues and interpretation classes
Structure
Each student is assigned a main supervisor and usually one or two co-supervisors from the permanent academic staff. The supervisor(s) are to provide the student with advice and feedback regarding artistic choices as well as objectives and issues for related to the Master's Project.
The student(s) are responsible for their own progress and must ensure regular appointments with the supervisor(s), as well as presenting and submitting materials to the supervisor(s) (notes, recordings, project description, etc.) to maintain the agreed-upon progress. A high degree of independence is expected in the master's thesis work.
For an overview of recommended teaching load and organization, refer to the "Organization" section in the description of each study program.
The student is automatically enrolled for teaching/guidance and assessment in the course, according to the progression outlined in the educational plan.
Course requirements
1. Submit supervision agreement and project description
Work on the project description will take place partly in the courses Master's Project I and Master's Forum I. The project description should be 3-5 pages long and outline the topic, content, schedule, and supervisor(s) for the master's thesis. More information can be found in the Guidelines for the Project Description. It is the student's responsibility to contact the supervisor(s).
Deadline: By October 15th in the first semester of the program, the project description along with a preliminary repertoire list should be approved by the main supervisor and co-supervisor(s) if applicable. The project description is signed by both the student and the supervisor(s).
Once the project description is approved and signed, a Supervision Agreement should be established between the student, supervisor, and the university. This document outlines the student's responsibilities and rights, as well as the supervisor's responsibilities.
Deadline: By December 1st in the first semester of the program, the supervision agreement along with the approved project description and repertoire overview for the master's thesis should be submitted in the university's digital examination system (Inspera). Learn more on our information page about exam submission (nmh.no).
The project description can be modified during the process. All changes must be approved by the supervisor. In case of changes that affect the planned progress of the master's thesis, a new supervision agreement must be established.
Final assessment
All course requirements must be met and approved in order for the student to be enrolled for the final assessment.
The student will be assessed on the basis of the learning objectives for the course as described in this course description in the paragraph for Learning objectives. The final assessment will be given as a pass/fail mark, which will be determined by the supervisor based on each student’s level of achievement throughout the course period.
New assessment
In the case of re-assessment, the same procedures apply.