Course details

Graduate Certificate in Contemporary Music
NZQF Level 7

About the course

The Graduate Certificate programme will provide advanced theoretical and practical skills necessary for students to create, perform, or sing contemporary music in an industry setting.

The curriculum will cover musical concepts, principles, and techniques to identify chords, scales, and modes, enabling students to solve issues related to instrumental soloing. Additionally, students will have the opportunity to demonstrate knowledge in a specific area of contemporary music of their choice.

Features of the programme include:

  • Access to high quality instruments, equipment, studios and two performance theatres (both equipped with state-of-the-art audio equipment)
  • Strong music theory and practical components, with a broad base of industry studies
  • Students are provided with weekly performance opportunities to hone skills and develop stage presence
  • Flexibility with choosing papers tailored to suit student interests.

Entry requirements

Entry is open to degree graduates, however those who are able to demonstrate equivalent practical, professional or educational experience of an appropriate kind, may be granted admission.

In addition, all applicants must gain approval from the Programme Manager regarding paper selection, and any applicable prerequisite requirements. Where the requisite knowledge or skill does not exist to allow direct entry into a Level 6 or 7 paper, some Level 5 study may be required in addition to the credit requirements.

Additional Criteria
The following requirements apply to applicants in all admissions categories:

 

  • All applicants are required to attend a live audition, or send links to a prepared audition in an online format such as Dropbox, Google drive or Youtube. The audition performance should be of 10 to 15 minutes duration, and display the performer’s ability in three contrasting pieces and/or styles on one or more chosen instruments of specialisation and/or voice
  • Applicants are required to provide two confidential references from people who are able to affirm that the applicant is of good character and reputation

 

English Language Requirements

Applicants, whose first language is not English, or who come from a country where the language of instruction in schools is not English, are required to provide evidence of having achieved one of the following

NCEA Level 3 with University Entrance, or

an International Baccalaureate Diploma or Cambridge A- level qualification for which the teaching and assessment was conducted in English; or

Cambridge Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CELTA),or Trinity College London Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (CertTESOL);or

Successful completion of all primary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand primary school years 1 to 8) and at least three years of secondary education (being the equivalent of three years from New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in either New Zealand,,Australia,Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States one of the countries listed in Rule 18.5 where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of at least five years of secondary education (being the equivalent of New Zealand secondary school years 9 to 13) at schools in either New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States where the student was taught using English as the language of instruction; or

Successful completion of a Bachelor's Degree, Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma, Bachelor Honours degree, Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma, Masters' Degree or Doctoral Degree, the language of instruction of which must be in English and which must be from a tertiary education provider from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the United Kingdom or the United States or

Successful completion of one of the following internationally recognised proficiency tests listed below to the level required of the programme of study and with all scores achieved in a single test during the two years preceding the proposed date of enrolment

IELTS test - Academic score of 6 with no band score lower than 5.5 
TOEFL Paper based test (pBT) - Score of 550 (with an essay score 5 TWE) 
TOEFL Internet based test (iBT) - Score of 60 (with a writing score of 18) 
Cambridge English Examination - B2 First or B2 First for schools or C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency with a score of 169. No less than 162 in each skill. 
OET - Minimum of Grade C or 200 in all sub-tests 
NZCEL - a) Expiring Level b) Current: a) Level 4 (Academic) b) Level 4 (Academic) 
Pearson Test of English (Academic) - PTE (Academic) score of 50 with no band score lower than 42 
Language Cert - C1 Expert International ESOL Written (LRW) PASS with no less than 25/50 in each skill and Spoken (S) PASS 
Trinity ISE - ISE II with no less than distinction in any band

* New versions of some NZCEL qualifications, and in some cases new qualifications, were published on 13 June 2017. These are intended to replace pre-existing versions and qualifications, which have been given expiring status until discontinued on 31 December 2019. (a) denotes expiring (b) denotes current

*This course is not available to international students.

About the provider

Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) provides quality tertiary education and training across a wide range of subjects and qualifications. From certificates to postgraduate studies, we offer NZQA programmes for students to learn at a level and pathway that suits them.

We are home to the Zero Fees Scheme and are the only tertiary provider in New Zealand to offer a no tuition cost education to domestic NZ students for every year of study, at all levels.

We offer SIT programmes at campuses in Invercargill, Queenstown, Gore, and online through SIT2LRN Distance Learning.

We also have a specialised faculty in rural education at Telford in Balclutha, South Otago.

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