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12 July 2023 | Story Dr Anchen Froneman | Photo Supplied
Odeion
Odeion School of Music (OSM) at the University of the Free State (UFS) will offer two new qualifications, namely the Advanced Diploma in Opera Studies and the Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance from next year.

Over the past decade, the Odeion School of Music (OSM) at the University of the Free State (UFS) has been active in designing new qualifications and restructuring current offerings. The OSM introduced the Higher Certificate in Music Performance (in 2017) and a restructured Diploma in Music in 2018 to admit students without the necessary admission requirements for degree studies and develop the necessary skills in that regard. The purpose of these qualifications was to promote inclusivity in providing access to tertiary studies to students who developed musical skills at a more mature age for the first time. 

From next year, OSM will offer two new qualifications, namely the Advanced Diploma in Opera Studies and the Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance. Applications are currently open and will close on 30 September. Classes will commence in February 2024. 

Dr Anchen Froneman, Programme Director and Senior Lecturer at OSM, says since the commencement of the Higher Certificate in Music Performance (in 2017) and the restructured Diploma in Music, the student intake included a high number of talented vocalists or late-developing instrumentalists. Many students in these programmes were already in their 20s, but through these programmes could develop their inherent talents and passions. Upon finishing the Diploma in Music, the students could then enter a degree qualification in music studies.

“However, the degree programmes are academically oriented while the Higher Certificate in Music Performance and Diploma in Music are vocational in nature. This disjunction led to the design of the Advanced Diploma in Opera Studies to provide a programme through which the students can access a NQF 7 level qualification in a shorter time than the current existing route through the degree programmes that requires another three or four years of study,” says Dr Froneman. 

The Advanced Diploma in Opera Studies

According to her, the Advanced Diploma in Opera Studies aims to prepare students completing the Diploma of Music for professional practice within a single academic year. This specialisation option attempts to enable students with the skillset to partake in Opera productions both locally and internationally as well as to develop an understanding of operatic activities within local communities and specifically to continuously develop young talent for future operatic careers. The modules in the programme include Performance Studies, Vocal Ensemble, Stage Craft and Language for Singers. To serve the teaching duties which are often carried out simultaneously with an operatic career, the modules of Repertoire and Method and Keyboard Skills are included. The Arts Management module serves the management of a professional opera and/or teaching career. The Introduction to Research Skills develops research and academic writing skills in view of possible further postgraduate studies. 

The Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance

The Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance, explains Dr Froneman, is a one-year qualification but has dual aims. Firstly, the programme will add to the offerings of the UFS that aims to widen access to tertiary education, especially considering the linear progression within vertical articulation possibilities from the Higher Certificate in Music Performance to the Diploma in Music, followed by the Advanced Diploma in Opera Studies that can eventually lead to the PGDip (Music Performance). Secondly, this qualification is partly directed at individuals with active careers in the music industry (both public and private sectors) who wish to advance performance skills and research ability. The qualification is designed to make a positive contribution towards expanding existing career opportunities for individuals completing the qualification. 

The ability to present two public concerts of high quality as a soloist or chamber musician will be developed using two recital modules. The Main Recital comprises of an approved programme 35 to 45 minutes (for vocalists and brass instruments) or 60 to 70 minutes (for all other instruments) as well as a Short Recital comprising an approved programme approximately 20 minutes (for vocalists and brass instruments) or 30 minutes (for all other instruments). Performance experts oversee and guide the preparation for these public concerts. The Viva Voce module will develop and evaluate a student’s ability to critically reflect upon and discuss musical works presented during the Main Recital.

The expert musician supervising the recital modules oversees this process in which understanding is fostered through practical experience, research, and application. The Structure Research Essay develops the student’s ability to contribute to performance-related scholarship by applying appropriate research methods and writing skills to reflect upon performance practices in, amongst others, historical, analytical, cultural, social or pedagogical aspects.

For more information on these qualifications and applications, please contact: 

Dr Anchen Froneman 
Programme Director and Senior Lecturer: Odeion School of Music 
Faculty: The Humanities
+27 51 401 2526

News Archive

Researcher transforms despair into diamonds
2016-01-18

PhD candidate, Lerato Machetela and some members of the group Diamonds in the Rough having some fun between rehearsals.

Awash in hopelessness, substance abuse, violence, and sexual promiscuity. This is the lived reality of the youth in Jagersfontein. But now Lerato Machetela is using her research to change it.

As a PhD candidate in Trauma, Forgiveness, and Reconciliation Studies at the University of the Free State (UFS), Machetela assembled a group of 14 young men – ranging between the ages of 9 and 18 – who call themselves Jagersfontein’s Diamonds in the Rough. Combining elements from psychology, education, and entertainment, Machetela has established a platform that grounds these young ones adrift in circumstances. By means of song and dance, these young ones have become grounded through creativity.

While discussing what it means to be free in the new South Africa, Machetela asked the group to come up with a song similar to the struggle song, ‘Nelson Mandela usi litheli ixolo’.

Jagersfontein’s Diamonds in the Rough Researcher, Lerato Machetela, combines psychology, education, and entertainment to ground local youths through creativity.

The result: He’s a teenager, but he drinks Hansa.

“This then developed into a dance routine depicting what the youth is doing with their freedom,” Machetela says. With each beat of their boots and rhythmic clap of their hands, the group illustrates the ways in which the youth has constructed – and come to understand – their daily realities. “The routine includes the expression of alcohol and drug abuse, and ends of with the importance of education.”

Through the creative expressions of Diamonds in the Rough, Machetela is able not only to explore the reality of the youth in Jagersfontein, but also to investigate intergenerational trauma. “I am looking at whether there is a relationship between these young people’s current circumstances and the experiences of their parents’ generation during the apartheid years. That is, what sort of meanings do they construct as young, black South Africans growing up in the new South Africa?”

What started off as a research project is now rippling beyond academic spheres, though. The Free State Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation has taken note of this initiative. As a result, the group has already performed at the Bloem Show, International Museums Day, and Heritage Day celebrations, as well as at the Mangaung African Cultural Festival (MACUFE).  

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