Popular Music Performance and Songwriting

The first step to becoming a popular musician is to think of yourself as one. Get trained up with our talent-building course to open up a world of opportunities!

• This course is a practice-based, 'outward-facing' course that seeks to prepare you to be a versatile, flexible, and adaptable operator within the twenty-first-century music industry.
• We are looking to produce critically astute musicians who are confident performers and songwriters, working with today's technologies to make, reproduce, and disseminate music, and who understand the potential income streams available to them in the profession.
• Unleash your skills in our Steinberg Certified Training centre where you can build your practical talents and emerge industry-ready⁴.

The first step to becoming a popular musician is to think of yourself as one. Get trained up with our talent-building course to open up a world of opportunities!

• We offer you a focus on creative-based music skills in performance and songwriting which is underpinned by popular music theory and the chance to experience this in a vibrant and creative environment which gives you access to professional practices, new research and outstanding graduate support.
• You get to engage effectively with a range of technology in the creation, performance and recording of music, including recording studios and live performance. And you can develop your own personal website (e.g. Domain of One's Own) which by the later stages of the course, is intended to be a professional-looking, outward-facing website that demonstrates the breadth of your learning and professional experience.
• Visiting master classes which are embedded within the course and which have included: Black Sabbath founder Tony Iommi, singer/songwriter Gwyneth Herbert; composers: Nick Ryan, Derek Nesbitt, Kit Turnbull and Juwon Ogungbe; sonic artist Trevor Wishart; guitarist Sam Cave; avant-garde bass clarinettist, Sarah Watts; composer and multi-instrumentalist Frank Moon; jazz keyboardist and music production composer, Andy Quinn. Masterclass visitors are subject to availability and may change each year.
• There are opportunities to showcase your performing and songwriting talent in a public context throughout your studies. Performance spaces on-site include a large room with two grand pianos, suitable for small recitals, and The Hub's Square One, a large performance space kitted out with PA, amps, drums and a grand piano⁴. You may have the opportunity to perform in at least one of the following city's live music venues (subject to availability), which previously has included: Studio 54, The Herbert Art Gallery, Kasbah, The Phoenix, The Cross, Drapers, The Cottage, The Tin, The Litten Tree, Ego Arts and Nexus.
• You will have access to our extensive specialist facilities: a music seminar room with grand piano, PA, amps, drum kit, 5.1 surround sound and directly linked to a control room for recording; music practice rooms with pianos, drums and PA; three band rooms; a 5.1 studio and live room; instrument storage; an iMac music tech suite plus further state-of-the-art recording studios running Pro Tools, Logic, Live, Max and Sibelius on Apple macs⁴.

Students applying with an International Baccalaureate. Please check the specific course page for the points needed.

Students who have 3 A-level passes with a minimum grade of C or above.

Students who have achieved a Diploma with 2.5 GPA out of 4 or 3.0 CGPA out of 5 (This is subject to syllabus match)

Students who completed American high school should have 2 APs with 2 points or higher.

Careers and opportunities

On successful completion of this course you will be able to: 

• Demonstrate a professional approach to music making in the areas of performance, songwriting and music production in an international context.
• Evaluate and utilise established and experimental approaches to music-making within an international context.
• Demonstrate professional competence in a variety of performance, music-creation, re-creation, and presentation modes and contexts, both conventional and unconventional.
• Apply analytical, reflective, and critical skills to the evaluation of your own work, and to that of others, in the global music industry.
• Manage your own professional development and profile in the music industry.
• Demonstrate that you are an enterprising, creative, innovative, and flexible practitioner able to work with diverse communities within a global context.
• Work in a professional manner so you can effectively function in a range of roles and responsibilities.

There is a strong emphasis within the course on future career paths. This is aimed not only to help you to explore what your chosen career path might be, but also to help build a professional level of business skills and knowledge.

Our graduates pursue careers as performers, sound designers and composers. This degree also enables direct progression to suitable courses while others undertake the appropriate qualifications to become teachers in schools and colleges, or they become freelance instrumental or music theory teachers. Graduates also work with community arts organisations or as arts administrators.

Through UCAS

If you are applying for an undergraduate course, you may choose to apply through Universities and Colleges Admissions Service UCAS. 

Through a country representative

You can get help with your application from one of our overseas representatives.