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There are opportunities for music students to conduct placements during study at City, as well to study abroad.

Placement opportunities

At City, we offer you the opportunity to gain experience of a music-related work environment during the second-year elective work placement module. It is a great way to apply the skills and experiences you have acquired and engage with your future career plans.

Students may also apply to take a sandwich year working in a placement between years two and three of the degree as part of the School or Arts and Sciences Integrated Professional Training Programme.

It is also possible to combine the options above by spending one term on the study abroad scheme and one term in a work placement in the UK. Alternatively, the Erasmus Plus Scheme enables students to spend a year working in Europe.

BMus students have recently undertaken placements at:

  • Brains and Hunch
  • British Harpischord Society
  • Les Misérables, The Queen's Theatre (Sound Department)
  • Live Music Now
  • London Ear Festival
  • London Philharmonic Orchestra (Education and Community Department)
  • MTV
  • Record of the Day
  • Richmond Music Trust
  • The Roundhouse
  • Songlines Magazine
  • Southwark Cathedral
  • Wired4music/Sound Connections
  • A large number of schools, colleges and community music organisations.

Placement testimonials

Discover what our past students experienced while on placements.

Florence Langhorn

"My name’s Flo, and I completed a 40 hour work placement at Juice 107.2, an independent radio station broadcasting 24 hours, 7 days a week in Brighton.

During my placement, I gained skills such as music coding, using the GSelector software to organise and select songs to go into different themed categories, such as the Nothing but Noughties Show.

I also updated radio playlists and researched new music releases on Spotify to investigate what music would fit into the daytime or evening shows and used RadioMonitor to see which songs were being played most frequently across radio stations similar to Juice.

I was given the opportunity to interview R&B singer Rationale, which was one of my favourite experiences of working at Juice. Since doing my placement, I have been offered a more permanent intern role and I have gained amazing contacts in the industry.

The work placement module has given me the opportunity to gain skills which will be useful for me when looking for future employment."

Cosimo Romagnoli

"As part of my degree I undertook 40 work placement at PRS for Music: a collection society that collects royalties on behalf of composers, song writers and music publishers in the United Kingdom.

Within this company I worked with the PPS (Public Performance Sales) Licensing Team who is in charge of music licenses. During my time there I was involved in different kinds of tasks, such as researching, organising and analysing data.

I managed to contextualised my knowledge of music copyright and how it is administered and I was able to explore the different kinds of music licenses, get an idea of how much money is involved in the process and how the income from music licenses is split among musical creators.

Overall what I enjoyed the most was the environment. The atmosphere of the office was relaxed and friendly. During the short time I spent there I managed to build good relationships both with my colleagues and my manager who helped me get the most out of this experience.

Working in a team I was able to develop my interpersonal skills and realise my weaknesses and strengths.

Apart from gaining hands-on experience, I would strongly recommend undertaking a work placement because it does help a student in higher education to build their confidence and skills for the future."

Study abroad

The Music BMus (Hons) at City has been designed to help you to broaden your musical and personal horizons.

If you perform well in your first year, you can apply to spend a full academic year studying at one of our international partner institutions (between years two and three of your degree). This option will lead to the award of the four-year degree ‘BMus (Hons) Music with a Year Abroad’.

  • Our international partners include:
  • Koç University, Turkey
  • National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
  • RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
  • Queensland University of Technology, Australia
  • University of Queensland, Australia
  • Seoul National University, Korea
  • Northeastern University, USA
  • University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
  • University of Turku, Finland

There are also options to study abroad through either the Erasmus or international exchange programmes. City, University of London's partner institutions in music include the University of Queensland (Australia), and the University of Turku (Finland).

Matt Moore (in Australia)

"Studying at the University of Queensland gave me the unique opportunity to experience an entirely different version of university life.

Living opposite its main campus in the suburbs of Brisbane was a refreshing break from the bustle of central London, yet a short ride on a fast ferry meant the city centre was highly accessible if I ever fancied a change of pace.

One of the most interesting things was noticing the difference in how courses were structured and delivered, with a greater tendency towards continuous assessment and creative group work.

The exchange society (QUEST) organised excellent trips and socials throughout the year in order to give visiting students the full Australian experience, and I'm still in touch with many of the friends I made through it.

Living was cheaper than I'd expected, and apparently I was even lucky enough to find myself a spider-proof house. Taking a year abroad was the absolute highlight of my degree, and I can't recommend it highly enough."

Hannah Chow (in South Korea)

"I can’t believe one semester has already come and gone! It’s strange how time flies, it only felt like yesterday when I was trying to navigate around the massive Seoul National University campus in the +25C heat.

Now, I’m seeking shelter in a coffee shop from the -15C weather. The first semester was a crazy one, from watching kpop concerts at the university’s festivals to experiencing midterms for the first time!

This has probably been the craziest year at university so far but it was totally worth coming out here! If anyone's considering going abroad, I'd highly recommend it!"

For more information please see our student exchange webpages.