Graduate Certificate in Contemporary Music

The overall aim of the Graduate Certificate in Contemporary Music is to equip graduates who may have majored in a different discipline, with the skills and knowledge that fulfil the expectations of the contemporary music industry, its practitioners and clients.

Graduate Certificate students will broaden their knowledge and focus on a targeted area of contemporary music, which will enhance their professional skills or allow them to staircase to further study.

This programme leads students towards employment in the audio or entertainment industry, as well as on to further study in related fields.

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

In order to be awarded the Graduate Certificate in Contemporary Music, the student will have been credited with papers and electives from the schedule of papers (60 credits).

The student completing the Graduate Certificate in Contemporary Music will normally be expected to complete the half-year programme (full-time equivalent) within three years.

Notwithstanding above, the Head of Faculty, with the approval and recommendation of the Board of Studies, may allow a student a longer period to complete the programme.