Overview
The first step to becoming a popular musician is to think of yourself as one. Get trained up with our Popular Music Performance and Songwriting BA (Hons) and who knows where you’ll end up!
This 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 and is designed to prepare you to be a creative musical artist and skilled popular music professional.
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.
Why Coventry University?
An award-winning university, we are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching, and resources and support designed to help them succeed. These range from our modern library and computing facilities to dedicated careers advice and our impressive Students’ Union activities.
COVID-19
The University may deliver certain contact hours and assessments via emerging online technologies and methods across all courses. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are prepared for courses due to start in or after the 2020/2021 academic year to be delivered in a variety of forms. The form of delivery will be determined in accordance with Government and Public Health guidance. Whether on campus or online, our key priority is staff and student safety.
Due to the ongoing restrictions relating to Covid-19, some facilities (including some teaching and learning spaces) and some non-academic offerings (particularly in relation to international experiences), may vary from those advertised and may have reduced availability or restrictions on their use.
Global ready
An international outlook, with global opportunitiesEmployability
Career-ready graduates, with the skills to succeedTeaching Excellence
Taught by lecturers who are experts in their fieldCourse essentials
A degree which offers you more, at no extra costAccreditation and Professional Recognition
Steinberg Certified Training Centre
Steinberg Certified Trainers and Training Centers help you get the most from your Steinberg products. All partners certified by Steinberg use the latest Steinberg software and have extensive current product and systems knowledge.
If you or your training facility would like to be involved in our Certified Training program, then please contact your local Steinberg representative.
Related Links
Building Redevelopment
We are currently in the process of a major redevelopment of our Faculty of Arts and Humanities buildings. The building will be open to the public as well as students, and will feature an expansive gallery space.
Creative Community Hub
We hope that you are all staying safe in these uncertain times. Creative activities can really help fill the days, while we are spending more time at home and we have some ideas to keep you busy.
Virtual experience
Visit our online degree show where we have brought together the work of over 500 students.
What our students say...
This course provides a great environment that promotes collaboration between people that clearly share your passion. It helped me to improve beyond my expectations to become the skilled musician I am today.
Course information
We seek to provide you with the opportunity to develop a solid foundation of knowledge, practical experience and a professional portfolio with which you can launch a career within the global field of popular music, related industries, or postgraduate study.
Throughout the course, you will be encouraged to be a proactive musician performing and composing, in bands and student-led music groups. We see this as a key part of the learning experience for any musician. We also focus on cultivating your professional practice in popular music.
Modules
We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.
In more detail...
A key aim of our course is to ensure that there is a strong ‘creative practice’ strand of performance and songwriting throughout all years that relates closely to working in the music industry and this is supported by small group instrumental or vocal lessons as outlined through the ‘Personal Instrumental Learning Plan’. Musicianship skills underpin the practice; music theory for popular music is a significant component of the course at every level; and the course includes modules specifically aimed at building the entrepreneurial skill base and business awareness necessary to operate in the music industry. Critical reflection on your own professional development is included on each level of the practice-based modules, and this subsequently feeds into the development of your own personal web profile.
Additionally, you will have the opportunity to:
- have specialist instrumental/voice classes;
- create your own personal website during your first semester, thus beginning to build your online artist profile, and which you will populate and curate over the duration of the course.
- engage in experiential learning on mandatory UK fieldtrips (part of the course), which may include professional rehearsals and performances, recording studio tours, and visits to music production facilities;
- engage in online partnerships/projects with music students at other (international) universities; and
- have the option to participate in international field trips (such as the U.S., Germany, Brazil, South Africa).
Travel costs for mandatory fieldtrips are covered by the University’s flying-start scheme. The cost of optional international fieldtrips is borne by the student. All fieldtrips are subject to availability, application and meeting any applicable visa requirements.
Our course recognises that a musician’s career can evolve over time and involve being a professional performing musician, recording artist, session musician, composer, classroom or instrumental teacher – sometimes all at once.
You’ll be taught how to manage, organise and technically realise music projects and be encouraged to enter the local music scene with multiple opportunities to perform in the region’s venues (subject to availability). Music student ensembles have taken part in the Godiva Festival, Coventry Jazz Festival, Coventry Peace and Reconciliation Festival and performed their final projects at central Coventry music venues, such as The Albany, Ego Arts Venue, the Tin Music and Arts, and Belgrade Theatre.
We enjoy local reputation for providing quality live music for all types of venues or genre-based musical events. We regularly hold concerts open to the public – the renowned Coventry University lunchtime concert series has featured internationally renowned musicians like finger-style guitarist Thomas Leeb, jazz pianist Andy Quin, and funk band Resolution 88.
You also have the chance to deepen your musical understanding within other cultures by taking up the opportunity to spend a year studying abroad (see Sandwich Year tab). Recent students have found studying in Cyprus, Finland, Spain and Canada to be a life changing experience.
Based in a converted Odeon cinema in the heart of the city centre campus, staff are themselves acclaimed musicians and composers; awards include the International Contemporary Music contest Città di Udine and the BASCA Sonic Art Category. The team includes a high number of research active teaching staff with international profiles in performance, education, musicology, composition and music technology.
- A focus on creative-based music skills in performance and songwriting which is underpinned by popular music theory.
- A vibrant and creative environment, offering you access to professional practices, new research and outstanding graduate support.
- To engage effectively with a range of technology in the creation, performance and recording of music, including recording studios and live performance.
- Regular opportunities to showcase students’ performing and songwriting talent in a public context throughout their studies.
- To 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.
- 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 piano.
- You will 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.
- 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 macs.
- 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.
- Performance and songwriting: your creative practice is at the heart of the course. Throughout you will have opportunities to develop, reflect on and apply your performance and songwriting skills in a range of working scenarios.
- Musicianship skills and popular music theory: through both individual work and band musicianship you will have the opportunity to develop your core musical and ensemble skills. Ultimately your depth of understanding in popular music theory and musical literacy may be key drivers in gaining suitable work opportunities in the music industry and, consequently, we see an important study theme is a working understanding of music theory.
- Music technology and studio recording: you will have the opportunity to study and utilise creatively a range of technologies across the course.
- Critical skills: reflective practice, scholarship, and research are embedded in modules throughout all years of the course.
- Music industry and the development of the musician as artist: your studies will include looking at aspects of the music industry and its operation. Moreover, you will have the chance to create your own personal website during your first semester, thus beginning to build your online artist profile, and which you will populate and curate over the duration of the course.
The course involves a high level of practice-based coursework – essential if you are to acquire the practical skills to compete for work on graduation. In addition, your personal tutor will review and discuss your progress with you and will be available for advice.
Within ensemble and performance-based work there is, naturally, a high proportion of group work, again a key element within music practice. Your workloads reflect this balance and assessments are planned to take account of this.
The course includes opportunities to collaborate with students on other courses, with outside agencies and with local and regional communities. You will be encouraged to present performance work within the wider community, thus gaining valuable experience for the future, a form of work-based learning and a more informed perspective on their own musical practice. In the past, for example, music students have worked with BA Theatre students setting up Fabularium, graduate guitarist Phil Braithwaite touring and performing on TV with Vanessa-Mae, Mencho – Coventry city men’s choir set up by music students, and a sound installation in the Herbert Art Gallery.
This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will vary depending upon the module. Assessment methods include, coursework, tests, essays, practical or project work and presentations/posters.
This course is predominantly assessed by coursework.
The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards the achieving the intended learning outcomes. Assessments may include exams, individual assignments or group work elements.
On successful completion of the 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;
- Communicate effectively in global and local communities across a range of different media, situations, and social groups;
- Work in a professional manner, both independently and as a member of a team, so as to effectively function in a range of roles and responsibilities;
In a typical teaching week, you will have up to 14 ‘contact’ hours of teaching. These include personal tutorials, small group teaching, workshops, lectures and seminars.
Music is both international and multicultural. Throughout the course this is recognised and cultivated through the study of a diverse range of musicians, the wide range of popular musical styles and cultures explored, as well as our internationally renowned teaching staff. We have also been fortunate enough to attract a number of guest speakers, including the New York ‘cello innovator’ (Time Out NY) Madeleine Shapiro and Martin Atkins of cult band, Public Image Ltd.
Internationalisation is a central feature of these courses: in recent years, students have studied abroad for a year in Cyprus, Spain, Finland, South Korea and Canada. We also try to organise an optional annual overseas fieldtrip (which may be subject to additional costs, availability, application and meeting any applicable visa requirements). Recent students were able to go on a three-day music cultural trip to Vienna, where students took in concerts and the Mozart and Schoenberg museums. We have previously visited Prague and New York, which included seeing the Broadway show Chicago plus a workshop with some of the cast, as well as going to Carnegie Hall.
Global ready
Did you know we help more students travel internationally than any other UK university according to data from the experts in higher education data and analysis, HESA?
In 2018/19, we provided a total of 5,469 experiences abroad that lasted at least five days.
Much of this travel is made possible through our Global Leaders Programme, which enables students to prepare for the challenges of the global employment market, as well as strengthening and developing their broader personal and professional skills.
Explore our international experiences1st for
international experiences
Sending more students overseas than any other UK uni 2016/17
5,469
Student experiences
The number of student trips abroad for at least 5 days in 2018/19
12,000
and counting
The number of students we’ve helped travel internationally since 2016
12
global programmes
As well as trips, we offer other opportunities like language courses
What our students say...
This course provides a great environment that promotes collaboration between people that clearly share your passion. It helped me to improve beyond my expectations to become the skilled musician I am today.
Entry Requirements
What our students say...
This course provides a great environment that promotes collaboration between people that clearly share your passion. It helped me to improve beyond my expectations to become the skilled musician I am today.
Tuition Fees
We pride ourselves on offering competitive tuition fees which we review on an annual basis and offer a wide range of scholarships to support students with their studies. Course fees are calculated on the basis of what it costs to teach each course and we aim for total financial transparency.
For more information, please visit our Finance pages.
Course essentials at no extra cost
We're committed to communicating study costs clearly to make sure you're not faced with having to make any unexpected payments.
This is why our ‘Flying Start’ package provides you with a few course essentials. Your full-time fee for an undergraduate degree will cover the following:
UK field trips
Any mandatory site visits and trips within the United Kingdom.Key material
This can include core textbooks, software and equipment.Laser prints
1,000 A4 sides of black and white laser printing credits per year.Optional year
Pay no tuition fees for optional work placements or study abroad trips.This course may incur additional costs associated with any field trips, placements or work experience, study abroad opportunities or any other opportunity (whether required or optional), which could include (but is not limited to), equipment, materials, bench fees, studio or facilities hire, travel, accommodation and visas).
What our students say...
This course provides a great environment that promotes collaboration between people that clearly share your passion. It helped me to improve beyond my expectations to become the skilled musician I am today.
Career prospects
Graduate Immigration Route visa
Based on current information from the UK Government, international students whose study extends beyond summer 2021 may be eligible for a visa under the UK Government’s Graduate Immigration Route, which will enable students to stay and work, or look for work, in the UK at any skill level for up to two (2) years. Check the most up to date guidance available to check your eligibility and any updates from the UK Government before making an application or enrolment decision.
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.
Typical options may include: the portfolio music artist utilising a range of music performance and creative skills both in-person and online; YouTube/live-streamer songwriter; performer as session musician and tour artist; teaching; arts management; music examining; musical arranging; incidental music and concert-based music; setting up bands and ensembles; developing careers as songwriters/composers working in such areas as: film and dance, sound-libraries and the games industry; postgraduate study.
Our Creative Futures employment team is on hand to offer tailored career and enterprise support if you wish to gain employment or take advantage of professional practice opportunities within course specific industries. Our dedicated enterprise officers also offer valuable assistance on how to begin as a freelancer/entrepreneur.
Coventry University is committed to preparing you for your future career and giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market. The University's Talent Team provide a wide range of support services to help you plan and prepare for your career.
Where our graduates work
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.
Notable successes include a leading professional guitarist and author of a series of advanced guitar handbooks, a recording artist who has released three EPs to date, a YouNow live-streamer and songwriter, an examiner for Rockschool, PhD in composition, and a London-based professional drummer doing a PhD.
What our students say...
This course provides a great environment that promotes collaboration between people that clearly share your passion. It helped me to improve beyond my expectations to become the skilled musician I am today.
Disclaimer
By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with us, a Student Contract will be formed between you and the university. A copy of the 2020/21 Contract can be found here. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the university will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol at the university.
The tuition fee for the course that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For UK and EU students, if Parliament permit an increase in tuition fees, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study in line with any such changes. Note that any increase is expected to be in line with inflation. Following the UK’s exit from the European Union, EU students should be aware that there may be a change to UK laws following the UK’s exit, this may change their student status, their eligibility to study part time, and/or their eligibility for student finance. We will act in accordance with the UK’s laws in force in relation to student tuition fees and finance from time to time.
For International students the tuition fee that is stated on the course webpage and in the prospectus for the first year of study will apply. We will review our tuition fees each year. For international students, we may increase fees for each subsequent year of study but such increases will be no more than 5% above inflation.
