Foundation Year: Creative Arts
(Art & Design, Media & Social Sciences, Music)

The academic structure of the Foundation Year programme is set out below. You take modules in both core subjects and subjects specific to your route:

Core modules

Foundation English Skills 1
Read academic texts, write extended texts, write subjective notes, listen effectively and participate in classroom discussion.

Foundation English Skills 2
Improve all your abilities developed in part 1 with greater accuracy, speed, cohesion, organisation and presentation.

Study Skills in the British Environment
Use your study time more effectively, improve your use of, and range of, information sources and prepare comprehensive essays in your own time to given deadlines.

Project Study, including Word Processing Skills
Complete a self-study project on a topic that you will take, in consultation with your tutor, from the academic discipline that you will subsequently study at degree level.

Core Mathematics
Algebra and statistics. You will develop your knowledge and understanding of mathematical terms and techniques and apply these to solving problems, frequently drawn from practical and real life situations.

Route modules

There are 3 pathways within the Creative Arts Foundation Year route:

Art and design
Media and social sciences
Music

Art and design pathway

Design History
An introducation to the definition of design as vehicle for innovative visual expression, important developments in the field, the status of the designer, and the advent of mass culture.

Drawing
Covering shape and form, structure, negative and positive space, 2D/3D, analytical studies, life drawing, still life and location drawing.

Visual and perceptive studies
An introduction to a range of mark-making techniques and processes; the use of materials and media; the generation of design and composition ideas and an introduction to presentation techniques.

Project
The completion of a design related project, undertaken with support from academic tutors and English language support staff.

Media and Social Science pathway

Media studies
An introduction to the key themes, issues and genres within the media and how media theory relates to and influence cultural understanding.

Analysis and interpretation of media texts
An introduction to the analysis, evaluation and interpretation of different themes in media texts and the principles and application to current media messages.

Knowledge and understanding of media theories
An introduction (through project work and self-directed areas of study) to different media theories and their application.

Project
A Media/Social Science project related to your chosen discipline of study, undertaken with support from academic tutors and English language support staff.

Music pathway

Route module 1:

Introduction to composition
An introduction to pitch and rhythm and the application of music processes to a range of stylistic models to improve your ability to write for a range of instruments, understand text setting and develop your notational skills.

You choose one of the subjects out of the choice offered:

Route module 2:

(a) Introduction to music theory
An introduction to notation, scales, time signatures, consonance, dissonance, basic harmony, chords and basic modulation, instrumentation and orchestration.
OR
(b) Introduction to recording and editing
An introduction to sound recording using analogue mixing desks, including the use of microphones and the balancing, positioning and isolation of sound in studio and concert hall settings and the different use of equipment between concert hall and location recordings.

Route module 3:

(a) Introduction to performance
You will receive guidance from your individual performance tutor who will guide your work in individual lessons and evaluate your experience as a member of a Directed Ensemble with critiques of at least three performances.
OR
(b) Introduction to electronic music
An introduction to the early electronic music pioneers: Luigi Russolo, John Cage, Edgard Varese, Pierre Schaeffer and the Groupe de Recherches Musicales, Pierre Boulez and IRCAM, MIDI and early SynthPop, Kraftwerk and early electronica; Americana: Morton Subonik, Tod Dockstadter, Alvin Lucier; Electronica and Glitch music.

Route module 4:

Project
A Music project related to your chosen discipline of study, undertaken with support from academic tutors and English language support staff.

Foundation course key facts
Tuition price	See fees page
Course length	3 terms
Entry points	September or Janaury
Term dates	January 2010 start: Term 1 – 11 January to 26 March 2010 Term 2 – 12 April to 18 June 2010 Term 3 – 21 June to 20 August 2010 September 2010 start: Term 1 – 20 September to 10 December 2010 Term 2 – 10 January to 25 March 2011 Term 3 – 11 April to 17 June 2011
Entry requirements	See admissions section for academic and English Language entrance requirements. Please note that on application, you might be required to submit a portfolio.
Course structure	The programme is modular and comprises five core subjects and up to five route modules. You take three modules in term 1, three in term 2, and up to four in term 3.
Assessment	End of module/term: a combination of examinations, coursework, presentations and extended essays. Continuous: a mixture of lecture classes, small-group seminar work and directed self-study.
Progression	On successful completion, you progress to the first year of a University of Huddersfield undergraduate degree in selected subject areas, or only for programmes starting in April 2010, students will be able to progress onto the International Diploma starting in January 2011.