Popular Music with Foundation Year

This dynamic course is for practising musicians keen to explore performance, composition, production and music technology in our industry-standard recording studios and rehearsal spaces.

This course is designed for practising musicians who want to understand the technical environment within which commercial music takes place. 

This is one of the few courses of its type in the country and is designed to equip you with the ability to interact and innovate within a vibrant environment, nurturing a specialism in popular music and related industries. The area of popular music is a dynamic, well established creative aspect of the music industry involving sophisticated craft, technical, analytical and scholarly approaches. 

You will develop a wide range of disciplines through performance, composition, technology, media production and musicology. You will also develop an in-depth appreciation of the increasing significance of popular music in economic and professional terms. 

Here's what you can expect from this course: 

• You'll explore popular music performance, composition and production together with music technology. We'll help you to develop your creative and entrepreneurial flair so you can respond to technological and artistic innovations in the industry. 
• You'll develop your skills on your chosen instrument through group based learning activities. You'll also develop your expertise in composition and song writing and will study the social and business context of the world of commercial music. 
• You'll have regular opportunities to perform in public, and we'll encourage you to take part in the local music scene. 
• You will be taught by experienced lecturers, many with international research portfolios and current professional experience. 
• You will be inspired by our recording studios and rehearsal facilities, which will enable you to produce professional quality recordings of your performances. 
• You will benefit from our strong links with the music industry and will be invited to participate in our yearly Music Production Show, with guest presentations from industry professional such as: Sound on Sound, Avid, Yamaha, Ableton and Focusrite. 

Take a look at the professional Music facilities at Markeaton Street:

• Shahadat Al-Thanawaya Al-Aama
• Students with an overall score of 60% would usually be eligible for the International Foundation Year
• UKVI IELTS 4.5 with a minimum of 4.0 in all components (CEFR B1) is also required

• If you are studying and completing any internationally recognised qualification such as A-levels; International Baccalaureate (IB) or the American Curricula from the International Schools within Jordan, then you can begin from the first year of a Bachelors degree. Please see individual course pages for specific entry requirements
• If you have completed a recognised international foundation programme with good grades
• Advanced entry to year 2 or 3 may be possible. You will need to supply detailed information including courses taken, grades achieved, syllabus and a grading guide

Our graduates are equipped for employment within the modern commercial music sector as performers, composers, producers, educators, promoters, publishers, academics, recording studio engineers and entrepreneurial freelance musicians. They also work in a range of media organisations.  

Others have gone on to further study, at MA, MSc or PhD level, or successfully completing PGCE for school of college level teaching, some gaining QTS teaching qualifications for primary or secondary education. This enables them to become teachers, entering the primary and secondary education sector, lecturing for colleges of further education and freelance instrumental teaching. 

Notable graduates

• Charlotte Carpenter has gone on to become a successful performing artist. Take a look at Charlotte's YouTube channel
• Jake Graham and Chris Burns established the band Fahran performing at festivals around the UK and Europe; they have returned to headline the Popular Music Showcase two years in a row. See some of their work on the FahranTV YouTube channel
• Simon France is a Sound Technician at Curve Theatre, Leicester
• Nathan Lewis - music teacher at Birmingham Ormiston Academy 
• Luke Gibbs - Studio Engineer at Angelic Record Productions, Oxford