• Postgraduate

Composition for Film and Television MMus

Overview

Overview

The MMus Composition for Film and TV sits at the heart of the London College of Music.

It represents a creative hub for innovative, forward-thinking musical minds that join practical composition and academic inquiry in the spirit of practice-as-research.

Through an exploration of advanced orchestration, score production, and sophisticated compositional techniques, this course enables you to specialise in applied music composition, while providing an insight into 21st-century compositional practices and ideas.

Online Study Option

To make our MMus Composition for Film and Television course as accessible as possible we also offer an online study option.

A male student making notes on sheet music whilst sitting at a piano

Select your desired study option, then pick a start date to see relevant course information:

Study options:
We support flexible study by offering some of our courses part-time or via distance learning. To give you real world experience before you graduate, we also offer some courses with a placement or internship. All available options are listed here. Your choices may affect some details of your course, such as the duration and cost per year. Please re-check the details on this page if you change your selection.

Start date:

If your desired start date is not available, try selecting a different study option.

Locations this course is taught at:
Why study Composition for Film and Television with us?

Why study Composition for Film and Television with us?

What our students say…

I am very grateful to LCM/UWL for affording me the opportunity to learn so much, combining the benefits of conservatoire and university. The challenges were at times quite daunting but the support was there, from composers, performers, engineers and film makers.

Laurence Llewellyn
Next
London College of Music: founded in 1887
£1m+ investment in the Paragon Annex Studios. Our studio complex is now one of the largest in Europe.
UWL boasts a 200-seat fully equipped studio theatre
The London College of Music is an all-Steinway school
Course detail & modules

Course detail & modules

The course gives you excellent opportunities to develop your technical abilities in the fields of composition and orchestration, enabling you to strengthen and refine your own artistic voice and expand your musical and dramatic vocabulary.

Similarly, the course offers studio-based work, as well as an exploration of audio and midi programming, which you will be able to implement in your own applied compositions, including screen, digital, film and other collaborative types of work.

Alongside practical exploration, the MMus Composition for Film and TV offers the opportunity to broaden your scholarly knowledge in a variety of composition-related subject areas, such as score analysis, conducting, and interdisciplinary applications, enabling you to converge your academic research towards a supervised Masters project.

The course is taught through a blend of tutorials, group workshops, seminars and lectures. Our highly experienced, award-winning staff will guide you through both learning activities and assessment tasks, encouraging a sense of artistic experimentation in respect of classical, established traditions.

Guests, Partners, and Networking Opportunities

Our well-known Composers’ Workshop programme offers the opportunity to meet, discover, and collaborate with some of today’s leading composers, musicians and academics.

A wide variety of visiting artists regularly delivers seminars and workshops aimed at both presenting new cutting-edge works and discussing students’ compositions.

Some of our visiting artists and partners have included:

Compulsory modules

  • Practical Composition 1

    The Practical Composition modules (1 and 2) aim to consolidate and develop advanced compositional techniques, facilitating the learning of skills required of the contemporary professional composer. Alongside an exploration of contemporary compositional ideas, a variety of 20th and 21st-century aesthetics, and sophisticated techniques, you will consider and analyse a number of case studies within which conceptual ideas and compositional practices mutually reflect and support one another; an aspect that will support your practice-as-research investigations.

    You will be taught through one-to-one tutorials, seminars and workshops. The one-to-one sessions will give you the opportunity to develop your own portfolio and discuss your compositional work, techniques and ideas with one of our experts, who will support and encourage your artistic and pragmatic thinking.

    You will work towards the submission of a portfolio of diverse compositional exercises that fulfil the requirements of the appropriate syllabus.

  • Practical Composition 2

    The Practical Composition modules (1 and 2) aim to consolidate and develop advanced compositional techniques, facilitating the learning of skills required of the contemporary professional composer. Alongside an exploration of contemporary compositional ideas, a variety of 20th and 21st-century aesthetics, and sophisticated techniques, you will consider and analyse a number of case studies within which conceptual ideas and compositional practices mutually reflect and support one another; an aspect that will support your practice-as-research investigations.

    You will be taught through tutorials, seminars and workshops. The one-to-one sessions will give you the opportunity not only to develop your own portfolio but also to discuss your compositional work, techniques and ideas with one of our experts, who will support and encourage your artistic and pragmatic thinking.

    Differently from Practical Composition 1, Practical Composition 2 will allow you to consider your final portfolio in relation to your future career, encouraging you to reflect on the possible industry routes and networking opportunities that better suit the artistic and practical nature of your compositional work.

  • Audio and MIDI Production

    This module is designed to provide you with music programming skills in audio, MIDI recording and editing, and to lead to the electronic delivery of two contrasting assignments suitable for broadcast in the professional environment.

    The academic written element underpins this work by providing students with the necessary literature surrounding musical programming in current work settings.

  • Music Score Production

    You will study the conventions and responsibilities of professional practice in your area of specialism including briefs, deadlines, layout, presentation, conducting, rehearsal and recording or performance. This module will give technical support to your work in original composition. It will provide key skills essential to the professional composer working in today’s music industry.

    As part of this module, you will consider, discuss, and put into practice a number of pragmatic aspects related to the production of music within a studio environment/situation. This will include the production of professionally generated scores and parts, liaising with collaborators, conducting your own work for recording, and presenting your own ideas to the musicians and collaborators involved in studio work.

    This module will enable you to gain the professional knowledge and skills needed by the contemporary composer/orchestrator within the current industry, allowing you to develop a concrete insight into the dynamics of studio production.

  • Professional Orchestration and Arrangement

    Building upon your prior knowledge and experience of writing for orchestral instruments, this module will give you the opportunity to both further develop your orchestration and arranging skills and give you an insight into the process(es) of orchestrating according to Midi tracks and handwritten sketches.

    This will allow you not only to exercise and enhance your technical abilities as an orchestrator but will also give you an insight into the technicalities of the profession; a profession in which you might be commissioned to orchestrate from handwritten or Midi sketches.

    At the same time, this module will enable you to explore a variety of styles, giving you the opportunity to create pastiche works that match the aesthetics, techniques and procedures of established composers/orchestrators.

  • Research Methods

    The purpose of this module is to train you in research methods and critical methodology as preparation for undertaking research and is designed to support and advance the project work produced during the rest of your study through a developed investigation of research methods.

    You will define, articulate and critically reflect upon the research concerns of your own practice during this unit, thereby underpinning and enhancing your knowledge and understanding of the chosen field of study, as well as developing your ability to communicate this in a variety of ways. This will enable you to develop your writing and analytical skills.

    This module will feature some composition-specific sessions dedicated to MMus Composition and MMus Composition for Film and TV students. Such dedicated sessions will concentrate on the interplay between creative practice and academic research, allowing a sophisticated exploration of practice-as-research – and more specifically of composition-as-research – as a paramount mode of practice that juxtaposes and combines creative and scholarly thinking.

  • Masters Project

    This module aims to strengthen students’ practical and musical thinking through scholarly research and critical reflection. It provides the opportunity for students to deal with and convey complex ideas in systematic and independent ways, by encouraging them to formulate and propose new concepts and practices that can directly relate to their own compositional work.

    Ultimately, the module invites students to consider the notion of composition-as-research, a paramount mode of practice that juxtaposes and combines creative and scholarly thinking.

    The module will be delivered through a mixture of live online classes (group tuitions and one-to-one supervisions), pre-recorded video lessons, and written ancillary reading to be explored in own time, such as academic readings, insights, and practical exercises.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

You should have an honours degree in music specialising in composition or a degree in another subject plus substantial relevant experience in composition.

You will need to provide:

  • a portfolio of original works (including film and television work), scores (essential) and recordings (desirable)
  • a written statement

 You will be invited to attend an interview and will need to provide references.

We look for students who show enthusiasm and a passion for the subject through previous study or professional experience.

If you have any questions about the relevance of your qualifications or experience please contact the course leader shown in the teaching staff.

6.5 IELTS or above

You need to meet our English language requirement of 6.5 overall score for IELTS, with a minimum of 5.5 for each of the 4 individual components (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening). Visit our English language requirements page for information on other English language tests we accept.

You also need academic qualifications at the same level as UK applicants. In some countries where teaching is in English, we may accept local qualifications. Check for local equivalents.

We offer pre-sessional English language courses if you do not meet these requirements. Find out more about our English Language courses.

You will be asked to provide a portfolio of original works (including film and television work), scores (essential) and recordings (desirable).

Applicants will normally be invited to an interview, which may be online for international applicants who cannot travel here.

We look for students who show enthusiasm and a passion for the subject through previous study or professional experience.

If you have any questions about the relevance of your qualifications or experience please contact the course leader shown in the teaching staff.

Fees & funding

Fees & funding

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The fee above is the cost per year of your course.

If your course runs for two years or more, you will need to pay the fee for each academic year at the start of that year. If your course runs for less than two years, the cost above is for your full course and you will need to pay the full fee upfront.

Government regulation does affect tuition fees and the fees listed for courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year are subject to change.

If no fee is shown above then the fees for this course are not available yet. Please check again later for updates.

Funding your studies

If you are studying a Masters course you may be eligible to apply for a Postgraduate Loan, this may help contribute towards your course fees and living costs.

Additional funding is available to some types of students, such as disabled students or those with dependants.

We offer a range of scholarships and bursaries, including awards for specific subjects.

Awards for music students are also on offer.

View full details, including conditions and eligibility.

{{ formatCurrencyValue(currentVariantData.field_p_cv_int_main_fee.name) }} per year

The fee above is the cost per year of your course.

If your course runs for two years or more, you will need to pay the fee for each academic year at the start of that year. If your course runs for less than two years, the cost above is for your full course and you will need to pay the full fee upfront.

Government regulation does affect tuition fees and the fees listed for courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year are subject to change.

If no fee is shown above then the fees for this course are not available yet. Please check again later for updates.

International students - funding your studies

We offer scholarships for international students including International Ambassador Scholarships. 

Further information about funding and financial support for international students is available from the UK Council for International Student Affairs.

 

Teaching staff

Teaching staff

Dr Simone Spagnolo

I am a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for Composition at the London College of Music. I have composed music for concerts, theatre, opera, ballet, film and multimedia. My music has been performed in internationally known venues and festivals such as London's Royal Festival Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Birmingham Conservatoire, Stanford University, LA's Aratani Theatre, Budapest's Liszt Academy and Hong Kong's Yuen Long Theatre.

I am a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for Composition at the London College of Music. I have composed music for concerts, theatre, opera, ballet, film and multimedia. My music has been performed in internationally known venues and festivals such as London's Royal Festival Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Birmingham Conservatoire, Stanford University, LA's Aratani Theatre, Budapest's Liszt Academy and Hong Kong's Yuen Long Theatre.

Study & career progression

Study & career progression

A young man fixing sheet music during a musical performance

You might follow in the footsteps of our graduates who have achieved success working on a diverse range of projects for an impressive list of clients, including: 

  • the BBC  
  • The National Theatre 
  • Youth Music Theatre UK 
  • Projection Pictures 
  • Sky 
  • Channel 4 
  • the British Film Institute.

Recent alumni successes include the creation of a major soundtrack score for the Imperial War Museum's authentic film footage from the First World War trenches and the critically acclaimed reconstruction and recording of film scores for Quo Vadis (Miklos Rosza) and Lawrence of Arabia (Maurice Jarre).

Most students progress directly into the industry after completing this course, however you may choose to undertake a PhD or further your compositional studies with a DMus. Find out more about LCM research.


 

How to apply

How to apply

ARTSFEST

Singer

Find out more about the work our students produce and view some of their recent work by visiting our Music Performance and Composition ARTSFEST page.

Facilities

Facilities

Lawrence Hall, a black box theatre at the University of West London

Performance spaces

Our flexible, professionally-equipped performance spaces include Lawrence Hall, a 200-seat black box studio theatre, and Vestry Hall, a classical music performance space featuring a Steinway B Concert Grand piano, concert tuned percussion and seating for up to 150 

Production Studio 1 at the University of West London

Production studios

We have four black box production rooms featuring performance dance floors, ballet barres, wall mirrors and ¾ drapes. All rooms have PA and AV support in all rooms. The digital stage pianos are by Roland.

A music practice room at the University of West London

One-to-one teaching pods

We have five acoustically isolated teaching pods featuring Roland and Korg digital pianos and mirrors to facilitate one-to-one teaching in voice.

A music performance room at the University of West London

Music performance rooms

All music performance rooms feature drums and backline plus PA support.

  • Drums by Roland and Pearl.
  • Backline by Marshall, Orange, Line 6, Fender and Gallien-Kruger
  • Stage pianos by Korg and Roland
  • Synths by Roland and Kurzwiel
  • PA by Yamaha, ABT and Nexo.
Basement practice room at the University of West London

Basement practice rooms

  • All LCM practice rooms benefit from LCM’s All Steinway School status to bring you the very best instruments.
  • Three percussion practice and teaching rooms.
  • Percussion rooms feature Pearl kits with recording and playback systems.
Media Resource Centre at the University of West London

Media Resource Centre

At our Media Resource Centre (used by all subject areas) you'll find extensive portable audio recording systems, including up to 24 track digital HD recording and portable Focusrite RedNet systems.

There is also video-camera and accessory support, including LED and tungsten lighting systems, track and dolly systems and stedi-cam rigs.

Album composed by LCM students and performed by renowned violinist released

Acclaimed violinist and Visiting Professor of Performance, Timothy Schwarz, has performed and recorded a collection of songs composed by London College of Music students and lecturers.

The album, a collaborative project across LCM, has been released by the University’s record label London Noise Records and is available on all major music streaming platforms.

Find out more about the story here.

Violinist Timothy Schwarz performing onstage

Important notes for applicants

Disclaimer

*Modern universities - defined as higher education institutions that were granted university status in, and subsequent to, 1992.

**The National Student Survey 2022 and 2023 - Based on an average of all 27 questions. Excludes specialist institutions.

Testimonials - our students or former students provided all of our testimonials - often a student from the course but sometimes another student. For example, the testimonial often comes from another UWL student when the course is new.

Optional modules - where optional modules are offered they will run subject to staff availability and viable student numbers opting to take the module.

Videos - all videos on our course pages were accurate at the time of filming. In some cases a new Course Leader has joined the University since the video was filmed.

Availability of placements - if you choose a course with placement/internship route we would like to advise you that if a placement/internship opportunity does not arise when you are expected to undertake the placement then the University will automatically transfer you to the non-internship route, this is to ensure you are still successful in being awarded a degree.