BA (Hons) Popular Music Performance & Music Business

The first Creative Industries module will introduce you to the strategies and tools to set you on the right path toward pursuing a successful career. Whether focused on a particular career goal or considering several future possibilities, you will broaden your knowledge of the opportunities available to you as a future creative industry professional.

The Performance Skills module will take you through the process of effective live performance through individual preparation, live ensemble performance and reflective practice. Weekly instrument-specific prep classes will equip you with techniques for effective part-preparation, memorisation and rehearsal strategies.

The Live Performance Workshop component will provide you with the opportunity to further your skillset through full-band live performance. Here you will receive guided feedback and feedforward from lecturers and peers to help further your own reflective practice. This will be recorded in a weekly Reflective Journal. You will be encouraged to develop confidence on stage, and the necessary arrangement and communication skills for professional live performance.

Good instrumental/vocal technique is reliant on efficiency – this module will enable you to develop the core techniques to be able to express yourself in the way you want to. Looking at various styles and theory, along with the physics and physiology of playing, you’ll be taken through the fundamentals in a step-by-step manner in a progressive way, leading you to develop your creative vocabulary, so you can say what you want to say, musically.

The rapidly evolving music business is a multi-faceted, technologically driven industry. Effective music industry practitioners must understand how the numerous businesses, organisations and professionals operate, how they work alongside each other and interconnect. Furthermore, due to the rate of change, it is essential to make informed predictions about the future of the industry and evolve operations accordingly. This module is designed to offer you a holistic perspective of the industry, from where you can clearly identify conventions, standard working practices and growth areas.

In this module, you will further develop your investigative skills, exploring relevant underlying concepts and principles and interpreting these within the context of your area of study. You will explore the nature of creativity, the wider context of the industry and practice reflective techniques.

You will also evaluate sources and consider issues such as potential biases and cultural diversity. This evaluation will contribute to developing an enhanced awareness of your creative identity and greater insight into the topics that inspire and motivate you. In addition, you will improve your understanding of how your area of interest intersects with the wider creative industry.

Using academic enquiry, you will develop a reflective journal to evaluate your strengths and areas for self-development in relation to your studies, careers and personal aspirations. This investigative work will help establish a connection between the skills you have identified concerning specific careers and areas of the industry, enhancing your understanding of what is required to be a successful professional practitioner.

This module develops key skills to arrange and perform established songs within a different context.
Each week you will have a discipline-specific preparation class to analyse a pre-assigned song and explore alternative technique, tone, instrumentation, feel, tempo, re-harmonisation or live production options that inform your stage performance strategy.

You will come together with all instruments in a weekly performance workshop that will enable your ensemble to develop and rearrange the songs, according to the ideas in your group. Your ensemble will negotiate and workshop ideas into full arrangements while developing engaging, visual performances that enhance the musical decisions you make.

Summary

Building on the knowledge and skills developed in Artist Management & Music Business modules and utilising the skills gained in Marketing & PR, this module will look at critical aspects of the music releases including (but not limited to) strategy, narrative/story, genre niches, schedule, content creation/brand, platforms, distribution mechanisms, insights, potential revenue streams as well as project outcomes.

Module Aims

This module aims to support you to develop your understanding of the processes involved in self-releasing music to a specific market, The module will equip you with the ability to justify a range of choices made in the process of planning a release and examine the procedures involved in the delivery and marketing of a release, preparing you for engagement with the professional music industry.

Summary

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, an effective and creative marketing campaign can make any brand stand out from the crowd and achieve its goals. Whether it is the discovery of a new artist, buying tickets for an event or festival, or the everyday products and services we consume, marketing continues to influence us across every part of our lives. Developing a personal brand enables individuals to effectively communicate their unique value and differentiate themselves from competitors.

Module Aims

In this module, you will explore contemporary music and events brands, their audiences, branding, and communications. You will learn about emerging trends and technologies in social media, and how human psychology impacts our decision making. Whether you want to work in a marketing role directly, run your own events or manage an artist; marketing will undoubtedly play a crucial role in your future career success.

Summary

This module will build on the skills you developed in your first year. In The Creative Industries and You module, you utilised concepts and principles to explore the nature of creativity, developing a short and longer-term plan for your personal and professional practice.

In this module you will carry out an individual investigation, utilising secondary research to investigate the lineage of your creative practice. You will directly apply ideas to your own discipline and development, selecting an area of investigation relevant to your own practice, and communicating your argument in writing or via a narrated slide presentation. The concepts you explore in this module, including your positionality and identity, are themes you will encounter frequently as a creative professional.

Module Aims

By examining existing case studies and undertaking a research case study you will further develop secondary research skills and contextualise your professional identity. The research methods and study skills you develop throughout this module will prepare you for next year’s Final Project, in which you will self-direct a significant piece of academic, creative and/or professional practice. Additionally, this module will help you develop the following graduate attributes:

• Global Awareness
• Self-awareness
• Intellectual curiosity
• Professionalism

In this module, you will focus on developing your unique voice on your instrument. You will study technical development in the context of creative applications – advancing your capabilities, and further refining your individual voice.

A broad range of stylistic contexts will be investigated with a focus on developing appropriate technique and vocabulary and how to apply it creatively.

You will be looking at technical studies that will increase the range, capacity and versatility of your instrument skills. Over the course of the module, you will select tasks and studies that work towards your personal and creative goals as a musician, pushing yourself to perform material that expands your musical capacity. You will also be autonomous in selecting the style and context for your performances, enabling you to further define and create your individual and unique sound.

The UK music industry has seen growth and expansion in recorded music, publishing and live events, highlighting an industry ripe for entrepreneurial development. Recent enterprising examples have seen entrepreneurs collect waste left at festivals and transform it into usable products sold for charitable organisations benefitting society and the environment and creating an economy where there wasn’t one previously. This module is designed to get you thinking about the music industry as a whole, both nationally and globally, to consider what gaps might exist for new business or what services could be created for new customer bases.

Throughout the module, you will consider what tools you need to create the next industry product or service, as well as how to relate this to self-employment and wider creative industries.

Contextualised Performance is the culmination of styles, repertoire, genre-specific knowledge, music theory, composition, arrangement and live performance.

Each week you will work in a specified context, composing, arranging and performing as part of an ensemble to a specific creative brief. These briefs will vary in context and requirements, such as interpreting lyrics and songs, rearranging songs incorporating electronics and live production, co-writing and arranging to visual footage.

Discipline-specific preparation classes will allow you to explore options and develop musical ideas that will inform your performance strategy.

Summary

In the Defining Your Practice in Context module, you evaluated the lineage and traditions of your creative practice, investigating how it connects to artistic and industry practices. This module will require you to utilise your acquired knowledge to plan and create, collaboratively, a piece of work that links to your practice. Collaborating with others can help you develop new and innovative ideas and can also help you develop confidence as a creative practitioner whilst practising your communication, project management, reflection and feedback skills.

Module Aims

• To develop collaborative working practices.
• To plan and execute a creative project.
• To document your creative process including the nature of your collaboration.
• Seek and use developmental feedback.
• Evaluate the nature of teamwork, communication and collaboration.
• Appraise your professional values, ethics and goals.

Additionally, this module will help you develop the following graduate attributes:

• Employable and Entrepreneurial.
• Creative, Collaborative and Connected.
• Socially Responsible.
• Self-awareness.
• Professionalism.

This module presents you with the opportunity to develop your songwriting, arranging and performing skills as you embark on a creative journey, where you will be writing, rehearsing and performing an original set for your assessment. Your songwriting and arranging skills will be addressed in the prep lessons and expanded upon in the weekly workshops as part of an ensemble performance.

During the weekly prep lessons, you will examine songwriting and arranging techniques, such as subject writing, core values, toplining, melody, harmony, form, structure, conceptual development, collaborative writing and basic orchestration. Arrangements, instrumental/vocal proficiency, rehearsal skills and communication will all be covered during the weekly workshops.

The second assessment will take place after the first, whereby you will sit a viva voce, evaluating the processes involved in crafting, rehearsing and performing your set.

This module introduces the key concepts for financing creative projects and outlines the fundraising process. The module will cover a range of approaches that include grant funding, crowdsourcing, sponsorship, start-up loans, private income and support in-kind. You will develop practical planning and delivery skills including writing a fundraising strategy, pitching for money, filling out a grant application form, creating a sponsorship pack, managing budgets and risk, and evaluating impact.

The module provides an introduction to economics and innovation, and how they interact in the music and culture industry.

You will examine the relationship between cultural, social and economic factors influencing and influenced by the music business.

You will explore economic theories through the lens of everyday phenomena and/or moments of significant change in the music business past, present and future.

In this module, you will undertake a significant project of your own choosing. It’s your chance to explore your passion within the industry and creative arts: experiment, take risks, strengthen your skills and create a product/cohesive portfolio of work that you are proud to showcase at the end of your degree.

This module will support you in consolidating the broad learning and development from the course so far, building a bridge into the industry, the workplace and future opportunities. You will be supported to self-direct your own learning through a series of lectures, seminars and 1:1 tutorials with expert supervisors.

This module will develop your ability to construct and implement a live ensemble performance to a professional standard, with consideration for your target audience. Additionally, you will critically evaluate the processes by which this is achieved.

By analysing high-level performances (e.g. Super Bowl shows/ festival headliners etc) as reference points, you will take into account all aspects of stagecraft and musicality to create your own showcase performance. The showcase will need to include; technical proficiency, creative musicianship and arrangement, and visual performance.

Throughout the course, you will also be required to engage in reflective practice by creating a digital portfolio (via Mahara). This will document your practice, progress, insights, strengths and challenges; both as an individual and as part of the ensemble. The portfolio may include written notes, images, audio examples, video recordings of the rehearsal process or vlog entries.

This module provides an in-depth exploration of emerging trends, innovations, and challenges shaping the future landscape of the media and marketing, music business and events industries.

Through critical analysis of industry developments, case studies, and expert insights, you will gain a nuanced understanding of the evolving dynamics within media consumption patterns, technological advancements, regulatory changes, and societal shifts.

In this module, you will undertake a significant project of your own choosing. It’s your chance to explore your passion within the industry and creative arts: experiment, take risks, strengthen your skills and create a product/cohesive portfolio of work that you are proud to showcase at the end of your degree.

This module will support you in consolidating the broad learning and development from the course so far, building a bridge into the industry, the workplace and future opportunities. You will be supported to self-direct your own learning through a series of lectures, seminars and 1:1 tutorials with expert supervisors.

This module is the final step in your journey and will support you as you look to enter your chosen field as a creative professional. Drawing on evidence from throughout your time here. you will critically self-evaluate your personal learning journey and industry engagements to date. You will explore concepts and theories of personal and professional development to support, challenge and test your assumptions, to determine your readiness for work in the creative industries. You will have the opportunity to discuss this with your peers and learn from your collective experiences in both small degree path groups and large mixed discipline sessions.

With this position in mind, you will then be challenged to create and consolidate creative assets to give you the edge over the competition in your chosen field. Specialist workshops will be offered throughout the module, informed and delivered by our wide-reaching connections and specialist lecturers in the creative industries. This culminates in the creation of a portfolio which tells the story of your personal and professional journey so far, communicating your unique professional identity and future career plans in the creative industries.

This module is a final step in your academic journey. It will prove essential for working creatively in your chosen field. Drawing on evidence from your study, you'll critically evaluate your learning and the industry connections you've made. You'll explore theories of personal and professional development you can apply in the world of work. You'll learn with your peers in small and large mixed discipline sessions.

You will be challenged to create work competing in your chosen field. Specialist workshops from seasoned professionals are part of your learning. You'll create a portfolio on your journey so far- looking at your constructed professional identity- mindful that it is key to your working future.