Exam and degree

The performance part constitutes 75 % of your degree project. In the exam concert your artistic and expressive abilities are made visible. The exam concert is a public performance with a duration of at least 30 minutes of music performance (bachelor level) or 50 minutes of music performance (master level).

The examiners are your instrumental teachers and/or a selected jury. A special exam protocol for the exam concert as part of the degree project is established. The concert is documented in the form of a sound recording or a video. As a student you will be responsible for the recording. Necessary equipment is available for loan via Helddesk.

Reflecting part – the study

The reflective part is a study which makes up 25% of your degree project. In the study the reflection inherent in all artistic activity is made visible. A special exam protocol for the exam concert as part of the degree project is established.

The study is based on your own artistic practice and reported in a format of your own choice: written format, live format or pre-recorded format. As support for this part you will be assigned a supervisor with 7 working hours. An examiner is selected by the coordinator of the degree project.

Resources available for the study:

• seminars and workshops
• individual tutoring
• instructions and guides in Canvas 
• tools and instructions for digital learning
• material on Lund University’s website

Contact the course coordinators

If you have any questions about tutoring and examination, you are welcome to contact the course coordinators:

• Sara Wilén sara [dot] wilen [at] mhm [dot] lu [dot] se (sara[dot]wilen[at]mhm[dot]lu[dot]se)
• Hedvig Jalhed hedvig [dot] jalhed [at] mhm [dot] lu [dot] se (hedvig[dot]jalhed[at]mhm[dot]lu[dot]se)

The Study

Just as in the performance part, you as a performance student and your musical development are in the centre of the reflecting part. In the reflecting part you choose one part of your musical practice (your musical expression in all its contexts and facets) and carry out an individual study in which you try new methods in order to develop yourself.

The focus of your reflective work is your experiences and needs as a musician, i.e. your artistic practice. The study might be about your musical working process in:

• interpretation
• creation
• improvisation
• composition

You may focus on parts of your repertoire, for example from your exam concert.

The study is carried out with methods from artistic investigative work, development and research and/or other methods that suites the purpose of your study. You communicate the results and reflections from your study through language (spoken and/or written) in combination with chosen music examples from your practice, such as recordings, live performances and/or notated music examples. There are good possibilities to design the work according to your own choice, in dialogue with your supervisor.

All selectable formats of the reflecting part are based on a common content structure grounded in Artistic research in Music. There are many different approaches to the implementation of the study, and several methods to choose from. The most important is that the choice of subject, format and methods gives you good tools for your study.

Presentation Format

A reflective study can be presented in different formats as seen below.

1. Written Work

A study presented in written form shall include:

• Bachelor: 12-16 pages, 12 pts, 18 000-24 000 characters
• Master: 18-20 pages, 12 pts, 30 000-60 000 characters

without spaces, including cover sheet, abstract, table of contents and reference list.

1 000 words correspond to 1,5-2 text pages. In a written work it is common to include examples from your own practice in the form of shorter videos/sound files.

2. Live Format

A lecture recital is a form of oral presentation (30-50 min), where you present your music live and/or via recording and present your project in a format of your own choice, with the support of image display/PowerPoint presentation/programme. The lecture recital is documented by Malmö Academy of Music.

3. Pre-recorded Format

Edited audio/video files of 30-40 minutes where you present your project through, for example, oral presentations and examples from your own practice. You are responsible for the editing yourself.  

Reflection

The aim of the study in the reflecting part is for you to test and develop several means, methods and ways of working in order to develop individually as a musician. The purpose is to work independently on many levels of artistic reflection and analysis. 'Reflection' in Latin originally means that something is being bent or turned back, like a mirror.

Reflection is the form of thinking that occurs in connection with a sense impression, an experience or an action. Through reflection we become aware of our reactions, we relate to the world around us and create our self-perception. This kind of reflection is related to the word consideration, to look back on something, to consider. It can give you time and room for new perspectives on how you work with music, and new ideas on how you can change your practice in order to develop further.

By analysing, formulating and discussing your experiences and results, you bring them to life and can share the knowledge with others within your field. There is great value in performing musicians communicating about their development and about how they develop their musical knowledge and not 'just playing'. It deepens and changes the view on what knowledge and creativity can be, and provides a more in-depth and multifaceted picture of creative processes and artistic knowledge, both within the music field and society at large.  

When you have completed your studies at Malmö Academy of Music, you can apply for your degree certificate.

You must do the following to get your degree certificate issued:

1. Complete your degree concert, and the all other courses.
    
2. Fill in and submit the course report to your main subject teacher.
   Course report (PDF 409 KB, new tab)
    
3. Submit a recording of you degree konsert and the programme sheet to the programme coordinator. 
    
4. When the course report, recording and programme sheet have been submitted, your grade will be registered in Ladok.
    
5. Before you apply for a degree certificate, make sure that all of your results have been registered in Ladok. If something is missing, contact your teacher. 
   Log in to Ladok
    
6. Apply for your degree in Ladok under 'Degrees and certificates, in the main meny. Choose 'Apply'.
   Log in to Ladok

The processing time varies throughout the year depending on the workload and the nature of the case but is normally 6-8 weeks.