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Music Performance BMus(Hons)

2024-25 (also available for 2025-26)

It’s not too late to apply for September.
It’s not too late to apply for September.

Start date

16 September 2024

Duration

3 years full-time
4 years inc. placement year

Entry requirements

A Level - BBB-BCC

BTEC - DDM-DMM

See full entry requirements

Places available (subject to change)

30

About the course

Reasons to study

1.We’re ranked 27th in the world for Performing Arts (QS World University Subject Rankings, 2023). 
2.This degree is designed for performance specialists; up to two thirds of your second and final years can be assessed through performance activities. 
3.An impressive 90% of graduates from this course are in work and/or further study 15 months after graduating (Unistats 20/21 data, UK domiciled graduates). 

Our Music Performance BMus(Hons) degree is designed for performance specialists (including pop and classical singers and all types of instrumentalists) who are keen to benefit from expert individual tuition. You’ll also have the chance to play in groups and ensembles, with up to two thirds of your second and final years being assessed via performance activities.

If you have a passion for solo work, band and ensemble performance across a variety of styles and contexts, this course will suit you. You'll also study composition, songwriting, musicology, and technology modules that will enhance and support your development as a performer.

For pop, brass band, classical, or jazz musicians who want to develop their performance skills to an exceptional level, this course gives you the chance to play in specific bands and groups or focus on playing original music.

The course will prepare you for a career as a professional performer, teacher or a musician with a portfolio career.

Why Study Music Performance BMus(Hons)

Choose our Music Performance BMus(Hons) degree and you’ll study in state-of-the-art facilities, with access to a range of rehearsal spaces, industry-standard recording studios, two dedicated concert halls, and a large selection of equipment and instruments. 

You’ll be taught by leading academics, many of whom are also professional performers with active international careers as soloists and ensemble members. Up to 20 hours of individual tuition per year on your main study is provided by our team of expert instrumental and vocal tutors, supplemented by masterclasses and workshops by visiting professionals.  

The chance to learn from visiting artists is also a benefit of the course. Past artists include Matt Stiff, professional opera singer, former member of G4 and Huddersfield graduate and Nitin Sawhney, producer, songwriter, multi- instrumentalist, and orchestral composer.

The University of Huddersfield also:

Following this course, you might choose to pursue a career in performance, teaching, event production, freelance musician, arts administration and more. Other graduates go into songwriting, composition, or marketing and promotion within the music and creative industries.

Course detail

Core modules:

Solo Performance 1

Supported by regular individual lessons with one of our professional visiting instrumental and vocal teachers, you will develop your technical skills and musical insight as a solo performer. An in-lesson technical test and end of year recital will be used to assess your progress, and you will have access to a variety of masterclasses and workshops.

Performance Skills 1

You will gain hands-on experience of a variety of key musical skills: improvisation; aural awareness; ensemble performance; and evaluating your own and others' performances. A wide range of styles and genres will be explored, and you will work with musicians relevant to your specialism as a pop, classical, or jazz performer.

Introduction to Music Research

You will learn how to be a successful and confident independent researcher, gaining the skills to investigate music and musicians across a range of styles and genres appropriate to your course. Lectures and seminars will explore the musical links between aesthetics, society, politics, and technology, and you will focus your coursework on repertoire and issues that matter to you.

Option modules:

Choose one from a list which may include:

Theory and Analysis of Popular Music

You will explore the musical building blocks of popular music, developing an understanding of key theoretical principles such as melody, harmony, rhythm, arrangement, and form. This will allow you to investigate a number of key works in detail, giving you an insight into how music works in ways that will also help to develop your creativity as a performer or composer. Coursework will be used to assess your progress.

Introduction to Analysis

This module will provide you with a grounding in the basic skills of musical analysis through the study of classical music of the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Both printed scores and recordings will be studied in order for you to develop the complementary skills of score-based analysis and of aural analysis and critical listening.

Plus choose one from a list which may include:

Technology for Music

This module takes a hands-on approach to various aspects of music technology, giving you the skills to feel confident working in today's creative industries. You will learn how to use music notation and Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) applications like Logic Pro, alongside location and concert hall recording techniques.

Desktop Music Production 1

This module will introduce you to relevant techniques and technologies for computer-based music production, including sequencing, sampling, arrangement, and a variety of other sound processing techniques. A range of practical work - both technical and creative - will develop your critical listening and production skills, and seminars will support you in applying these techniques to your own creative work.

Plus choose one from a list which may include:

Songwriting 1

This module equips you with the skills needed for success as a contemporary songwriter. You will learn about lyric and melody writing, chord progressions and song structure. Using different arrangements, and a variety of compositional and vocal techniques, you will explore a range of songwriting styles and genres, helping you to develop your own individual creative voice.

Composition 1

Seminars and small group tutorials will help you explore the fundamentals of musical composition - melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre and texture - supported by performances and workshops by visiting artists and ensembles. Preliminary exercises will help you develop your creative skills towards an original portfolio of compositions for piano, voice, and strings.

Stylistic Composition

Students will explore a variety of stylistic compositional approaches from Baroque to Twentieth Century. These will be undertaken from a practical perspective through listening to recordings, analysing scores and undertaking compositional exercises applicable to particular stylistic models under discussion. The emphasis will not be on originality but in developing a heightened sense of stylistic awareness through the close examination of a work’s instrumentation and compositional materials as well as its form and structure.

Entry requirements

BBB-BCCat A Level .

120-104 UCAS tariff points from a combination of Level 3 qualifications alongside evidence of prior Music or Music Technology experience (which could be offered either through formal qualifications or a portfolio of creative work). ​

Merit at T Level.

DDM-DMM in BTEC Level 3 Extended Diploma.

  • Practical and theory music grades 6-8 will be accepted in the total points.
  • Access to Higher Education Diploma with 45 Level 3 credits at Merit or above.
  • 120-104 UCAS tariff points from International Baccalaureate qualifications.

Applicants will be invited to attend an Applicant Visit Day, at which you will have the opportunity to perform and be given feedback on your performance. You should have an advanced standard of technical achievement and excellent overall potential as a performer (roughly equivalent to the standard of grade 8 practical music making, where applicable).

Entry is also possible for applicants who don't hold standard UK qualifications.

International and mature applicants who don't hold standard UK qualifications can provide a portfolio to demonstrate skills relevant to the course. We audition all applicants for this course and ask you to send us video links performing two contrasting pieces. You should have advanced technical ability and excellent potential as a performer (roughly equivalent to the standard of grade 8 practical music making, where applicable).

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

Other suitable experience or qualifications will be considered. For further information please see the University's minimum entry requirements.

Placements


In addition to the short term (8 week) work placement in your final year Work and Professional Practice module, this course offers you the opportunity to take an optional one-year (48 week) work placement after your second year, in the UK or abroad. Previous placement providers have included BBC Music Magazine, Kirklees Music School, AVID, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Buxton Opera House, Philharmonic Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, British Council - Lycee General Technical de L'Europe, Horus Music - Anara Publishing and Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival.

Placement gave me the experience required to develop my interests in the professional field of music. I was challenged to learn new skills and also offer my experience in music to bring together creative ideas and explore other aspects of the industry, that I wouldn't have considered otherwise. 

None

Jamie Watson, Music Performance BMus(Hons), Music Administrator at The People's Orchestra

Performance at Huddersfield

Click below for more information about performance activities and tutors in Music and Music Technology.

Your Career


Studying Music Performance at Huddersfield provides numerous opportunities for you to develop the professional skills and connections that will help you succeed in the field as a graduate. Every aspect of our courses - performance, composition, musicology, education, and arts administration - includes significant opportunities to work alongside leading music professionals in workshops, masterclasses, rehearsals and in a working environment.

A selection of companies that have employed Huddersfield graduates in recent years include Warminster School, Elmhurst Ballet School and Nottingham Music School. Many graduates go on to work freelance and establish a portfolio career while many go on to postgraduate study.**

*Percentage of our undergraduate students from this course go on to work and/or further study within fifteen months of graduating (HESA Graduate Outcomes 2019/20, UK domiciled, other activities excluded).

**LinkedIn

95% Graduates employed*

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Research excellence

Research plays an important role in informing all our teaching and learning activities. Through research our staff remain up-to-date with the latest developments in their field, which means you develop knowledge and skills that are current and highly relevant to industry. Our staff are recognised as leading figures in their fields, as evidenced by major commissions, performances, recordings, and publications.

In the 2021 REF, 89% of music research at Huddersfield was judged to be Internationally Excellent, with 47% of the overall submission ranked as ‘World-Leading’. In addition to a very strong profile of individual research outputs, Huddersfield’s research environment for music received the maximum 4* rating (one of only four institutions to do so), and was ranked above Royal Holloway, Cambridge, Manchester and Oxford. The impact of Huddersfield’s music research received a top-ten ranking. This acknowledged the breadth and reach of research at Huddersfield, with case studies encompassing the new discipline of sound archaeology, New York Experimentalism, and strategies for supporting women and girls working in music technology.

For more information, please refer to our research pages.

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

Changes to a course you have applied for

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment.

Cancellation of a course you have applied for

Although we always try and run all of the course we offer, we may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants to ensure you have a good learning experience. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will contact you to discuss other suitable courses with us we can transfer your application to. If we notify you that the course you have applied to has been withdrawn or combined, and you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

We will always try to deliver your course and other services as described. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below:

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have a range of options to choose from and we will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to the core curriculum of a course or to our services if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change in this context is a change that materially changes the services available to you; or the outcomes, or a significant part, of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), classes, type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum.

For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators; to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body; to improve the quality of educational provision; in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback; and/or to reflect academic or professional changes within subject areas. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but this may not always be the case. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation with affected students. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

Termination of course

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed and we will notify you as soon as possible about what your options are, which may include transferring to a suitable replacement course for which you are qualified, being provided with individual teaching to complete the award for which you were registered, or claiming an interim award and exiting the University. If you do not wish to take up any of the options that are made available to you, then you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the course without liability to the University for future tuition fees and you will be entitled to a refund of all course fees paid to date. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to. You should read these carefully before you enrol. Please note that this information is subject to change and you are advised to check our website regularly for any changes before you enrol at the University. A person who is not party to this agreement shall not have any rights under or in connection with it. Only you and the University shall have any right to enforce or rely on the agreement.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.

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