BMus (Hons) Music degree • City, University of London

This course is for 2023/24 entry.

Key information

Experience conservatoire-level tuition, with all the benefits of a university setting. We offer an inspiring environment to make music, with outstanding facilities and performance opportunities. Indulge your passion for music whilst developing valuable skills for a range of modern, music-related careers.

Start date

September 2023

UCAS code

W300

Duration

3 years full-time
4 years with placement or study abroad year

Institution

City, University of London

Location

Northampton Square

Entry requirements

Below is a list of countries with information on each about which qualifications we accept.

English language requirements

If your first language is not English, we will require evidence of English language proficiency. Minimum requirements are:

IELTS:

6.5 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in each component.

PTE Academic: 59 overall with a minimum of 59 in each component.

English language programmes

Don’t meet the English language requirements? INTO City, University of London offers English language programmes to help prepare you for study at university. These intensive and flexible courses are designed to improve your English ability for entry to degree courses.

Apply now

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Prospectus

Music BMus (Hons) Course overview

This music degree provides an exciting, global and interdisciplinary approach to the study of music, blending theory, practice and performance.

City’s wide range of ensembles - including classical, contemporary, jazz and world music - conduct regular concerts and a summer festival, providing you with opportunities to perform and discover world-class musicians.

Learn in a highly energised department, with internationally recognised staff who share your devotion to music
Study with leading music professionals and performers, many of whom also teach at the leading London conservatoires
Enjoy up to 20 hours of 1-2-1 solo instrumental/vocal tuition each year, with tuition guaranteed throughout your course of study
Train in facilities that include advanced recording and composition studios, and performance and practice spaces
Prepare for a range of music-related careers through optional modules in sound recording, music business, music education and more
Gain exciting new perspectives on music and its relationships with culture, technology and society through a close study of classical, popular and world music
Follow in the footsteps of students who have undertaken a placement year with Les Miserables, London Philharmonic, and other organisations.

Structure

Course content

This three-year BMus Music degree includes academic study, performance, practise and music tuition delivered by acknowledged specialists in their fields.

Year 1
Year 2
Year 3

Year 1

Year 2

Analysing Music (30 credits)
Ensemble Performance (15 credits)

In this module you will expand your knowledge and understanding of ensemble playing and repertoire. You will further develop professional and practical musical skills in ensemble performance as you engage in collaborative musical practice with others.
Practical Musicianship 2 (15 credits)
Global Perspectives: London’s Musical Communities (15 credits)
Performance 2 (30 credits)
Performance 2A (15 credits)
Composition: Studio (15 credits)
Composition: Instrumental and Vocal (15 credits)
Composition: Moving Images (15 credits)
Digital Storytelling: Research, Writing, Design (15 credits)

You will learn about the history of online media and become familiar with the current digital landscape. During guided workshops in the university’s computer labs, you will acquire a range of digital research skills and writing and design techniques, including how to use digital archives, search for digital content, and write for digital consumption.
Fifty Shades of Red. Russia in the Twentieth Century (15 credits)
The American Century (15 credits)
Creative Writing Workshop (15 credits)
Micro-Placement (15 credits)

The module seeks to enhance career exploration and will provide you with professional level experience in the form of a self-contained project with one of City’s external employer partners. Completing the Micro-Placement module at level 5 will preclude you having the option to take the Micro-Placement elective module at level 6.
Jazz (15 credits)

This module will take you through the critical developments in the history of jazz, considering the music’s attributes and styles within cultural, geographic, and social contexts. This will be complemented by a practical element comprising performance, musicianship, transcription and composition.
Global Popular Musics (15 credits)

Introduction to a wide range of popular music styles and genres from around the world and explores current issues around popular music in a global context.
Sound, Music and the Moving Image (15 credits)

Explore the use of music and sound in combination with moving images from a variety of historical, creative, theoretical and cultural perspectives.
Electronic Dance Music (15 credits)

Investigate a number of dance music scenes that have emerged from the last four decades and up to the present day.
Rhythm (15 credits)

Explore the phenomenon of rhythm from theoretical, historical, and analytical perspectives.
Sound, Art and Technoculture (15 credits)

Examine the evolution of sound in the arts, and of sound as embedded in technoculture and within collaborative and transdisciplinary work.
Orchestral and Instrumental Studies (15 credits)

Explore the development of orchestration in Western Art music, from the mid-eighteenth century to the present day.
Nineteenth-Century Opera (15 credits)

Explore the breadth and diversity of nineteenth-century opera from the 1820s until the end of the century, taking in German, Italian, French and Russian developments.
The Classical Style: Music, Aesthetics, Society (15 credits)
Music in East Asia

This module explores the music of East Asia, primarily in China, Korea and Japan. It will also discuss the relationship between music and other aspects of East Asian society, including culture, politics, religion, and other artforms and media such as theatre, dance, and cinema.
Video Game Music (15 credits)

In this module you will investigate video game music and the emergent field that studies it: ludomusicology. It will combine historical, technical and analytical approaches to explore a range of video game music and cultures across many genres, platforms and eras.

Year 3

Major Project: Dissertation (30 credits)
Major Project: Composition (30 credits)
Major Project: Performance 3 (30 credits)
Composition: Studio (15 credits)
Composition: Instrumental and Vocal (15 credits)
Composition: Moving Images (15 credits)
Global Perspectives: London’s Musical Communities (15 credits)
Performance 3A (15 credits)
Visual Storytelling (15 credits)

The study of literature is often seen as primarily a textual activity, but many narrative forms use moving and still images, as well as other visuals, to tell stories. This module gives you the opportunity to analyse cultural products that tell stories using visual mediums
Disruptive Divas, Riot Grrrls and Bad Sistas: A History of Women in Popular Music (15 credits)
Sound, Music and the Moving Image (15 credits)

This elective module explores the use of music and sound in combination with moving images from a variety of historical, creative, theoretical and cultural perspectives
Nineteenth-Century Opera (15 credits)

Explore the breadth and diversity of nineteenth-century opera from the 1820s until the end of the century, taking in German, Italian, French and Russian developments.
Global Popular Musics (15 credits)

Introduction to a wide range of popular music styles and genres from around the world and explores current issues around popular music in a global context.
Electronic Dance Music (15 credits)

Investigate a number of dance music scenes that have emerged from the last four decades and up to the present day.
Rhythm (15 credits)

Explore the phenomenon of rhythm from theoretical, historical, and analytical perspectives.
Sound, Art and Technoculture (15 credits)

Examine the evolution of sound in the arts, and of sound as embedded in technoculture and within collaborative and transdisciplinary work.
Lieder (15 credits)

This module looks at one of the most important genres of Western concert and Hausmusik: the art song for (usually) a single singer accompanied by a piano.
Jazz (15 credits)

This module will take you through the critical developments in the history of jazz, considering the music’s attributes and styles within cultural, geographic, and social contexts. This will be complemented by a practical element comprising performance, musicianship, transcription and composition.
Music in East Asia

This module explores the music of East Asia, primarily in China, Korea and Japan. It will also discuss the relationship between music and other aspects of East Asian society, including culture, politics, religion, and other artforms and media such as theatre, dance, and cinema.
Video Game Music (15 credits)

In this module you will investigate video game music and the emergent field that studies it: ludomusicology. It will combine historical, technical and analytical approaches to explore a range of video game music and cultures across many genres, platforms and eras.
Romantic Aesthetics (15 credits)

This interdisciplinary module investigates the aesthetics and ideologies associated with the Romanticism movement from the late-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries in Europe. You will explore manifestations of Romanticism in music, visual art and literature from the English-speaking world, France, Germany, Italy and Russia.
The Classical Style: Music, Aesthetics, Society (15 credits)
Micro-Placement (15 credits)

The module seeks to enhance career exploration and will provide you with professional level experience in the form of a self-contained project with one of City’s external employer partners. Completing the Micro-Placement module at level 5 will preclude you having the option to take the Micro-Placement elective module at level 6.
Industry Projects (15 credits)

Using knowledge and skills gained through your degree, you will work in small multi-disciplinary groups on real-life professional level practical projects for employers, choosing between 5 sector streams, such as policy, finance, community, business and arts and culture.
Year Placement: Integrated Professional Training (15 credits)

This module aims to consolidate the learning and development you have gained through professional level experience in the form of a substantial work placement.
Mentoring and Coaching for Leadership (15 credits)

Download course specification:

USMUSC-BMus-Music.pdf

Teaching and assessment

Our music degrees will be delivered by passionate academics who are internationally recognised as leaders in their fields – and dedicated to helping you succeed in your studies. To maximise the amount of attention given to you on the BMus Music programme, we offer a considerable amount of tuition in small groups and individually. This enables you to tailor your work to your own interests as much as possible.

Your learning, teaching and assessment will take the form of a combination of the following:

Lectures
Student-focused group discussions
Individual tutorials
Seminars by visiting professionals
Workshops for composition and performance with visiting ensembles and ensembles in residence, including with musicians in residence
Private performance tuition (for solo performers)
Ensemble rehearsals and performances.
Studio-based composition/recording work.
Guided listening and reading.
Independent study and library research.
Written examinations.
Oral presentations.
Ethnographic fieldwork assignments.
Project work.

Individual Instrumental/Vocal Tuition

If you pursue solo performance, you will receive instrumental or vocal tuition at the Department of Performing Arts with highly accomplished professionals who are active in and around London and many of whom also teach at leading conservatoires in the city.

Concerts and the summer festival

Throughout the year, we host public lunchtime concerts and evening recitals as well as a summer festival, featuring performances from a host of world-class musicians to inspire you. Students also perform at these events, so you will have the opportunity to gain professional performance experience.

The BMus course also includes regular performance workshops led by professional musicians. Students participate through both performing and giving peer feedback. This builds a supportive and co-operative culture and helps familiarise students with the experience of performing in front of other musicians.

Assessment methods

Throughout the three years of the music degree, assessment is by a combination of project-based or practical and creative work, and examinations or coursework. You will receive a considerable amount of tuition in small groups and individually to maximise contact and enable you to tailor your work to your personal interests.

Marks obtained in all years contribute to the final degree awarded.

Coursework and examinations are typically worth 30% of the overall module mark, and the end-of-module project worth 70%, although this varies across modules. Composition and creative practice modules are assessed by portfolio, and performance modules are assessed by final recital and interim components.

Percentage of the course assessed by coursework

The balance of assessment by examination, practical examination (including recitals, ensemble performance and oral presentations) and assessment by coursework, extended project work, portfolio and dissertation will depend on the optional modules you choose. The approximate percentage of the course assessment, based on choices made by students in 2019/20 is as follows:

Assessment

Year 1

Written examination: 20%

Practical: 25%

Coursework: 55%

Year 2

Written examination: 16%

Practical: 30%

Coursework: 54%

Year 3

Written examination: 4%

Practical: 39%

Coursework: 57%

Overall workload

Most contact hours will take the form of a mixture of lectures, seminar presentations, workshops and tutorials, depending on the nature of the module. This programme will include an average of 12 contact hours per week. In addition, you will be expected to undertake 23 independent study hours per week. Approximate study time, based on choices made by students in 2019/20 is as follows:

Workload

Year 1

Scheduled learning: 25%

Independent learning: 75%

Year 2

Scheduled learning: 18%

Independent learning: 82%

Year 3

Scheduled learning: 15%

Independent learning: 85%

Fees and funding

Fees for year 2023/24

£9,250

Overseas/EU

£16,230

The tuition fees indicated are for the 2023/24 academic year only. Fees for each subsequent year of study are subject to an annual increase to take account of City's increased costs of delivering educational services. This increase will be 5% for each subsequent year of study. You should expect your fee to increase by this amount and budget accordingly.

Funding options

Explore up-to-date information about funding options, available financial support and typical living costs.

Fee waivers are available for this course.
Means tested support is available for 2023/24 entry.

Performance scholarships

We offer performance scholarships for entering instrumentalists and vocalists that are renewable each year of study subject to satisfactory academic progress. Twelve scholarships, each worth up to £2,000, are available.

The scholarships will typically be offered to advanced performers beyond Grade-8 level. Our scholarships include two piano-accompanist scholarships of £2,000, and ten of £1,000 each, including up to 5 vocal/choral scholarships.

Additional expenses

Some of our degrees may involve additional expenses which are not covered by your tuition fees. Find out more about additional expenses.

Career

City Music alumni work for a wide range of organisations including the BBC, Royal Opera House and Sony.

Recent graduates have gone on to become music teachers, music managers, and music marketing specialists.

City’s BMus degree also provides professional skills that are transferrable to a wide range of professions beyond music.

Some of our alumni have gone into careers in finance, marketing, management, media production (television, radio, theatre), digital industry and events organisation among other areas.

Many pursue further study at postgraduate level, including Masters degrees in sound art, and applied performance.

Placement opportunities

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.

How to apply

Applications for degree courses must be made through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

Apply now

You will be able to apply through your school or college using the Apply system, which enables you to submit your application directly to the UCAS website.

You can apply to up to five universities or institutions on the form. The UCAS code for City, University of London is C60.

Please take care to enter the correct course code when applying, particularly for subjects with a Foundation year or with BEng (Hons) and MEng (Hons) or BSc (Hons) and MSci (Hons) options.

UCAS has implemented an 'invisibility of choices' policy so that, on the initial application and while you are receiving decisions, each institution can see only their entry and not those of other institutions you have chosen. This ensures that your application for a course at City is considered solely on your academic and personal qualities.

You should submit your completed application form to UCAS with a £26.50 application fee. If you want to apply to City, University of London only, you can make a single choice application at a reduced rate of £22.

For enquiries about the admissions process at City, please contact our Admissions Office

Complete the Admissions enquiry form

Call: +44 (0)20 7040 8716.

If your enquiry is about admission to a particular course, please use the contact details provided on the course page.

When to apply

Your application for entry in September 2023 should arrive at UCAS between September 2022 and 25^th January 2023. Applications that arrive after 25^th January 2023 will be considered only at City's discretion.

Contacting UCAS

Website: www.ucas.com

Address: Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), Rosehill, New Barn Lane, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL52 3LZ

Telephone:

from inside the UK 0871 468 0468
from outside the UK +44 (0)871 468 0468

For callers with hearing difficulties:

from inside the UK use the Text Relay service on 18001 0871 468 0468
from outside the UK dial +44 151 494 1260 (text phone) and then ask the operator to dial 0871 468 0468.

Facilities

The performing arts department has outstanding facilities for performance, sound recording and composition.
City is home to a Balinese Gamelan Ensemble; an ornate orchestra of sonorous bronze gongs and metallophones.
You can take advantage of a wide range of facilities including: Advanced recording and composition studios, Professional performance space, Computer laboratories, Rehearsal rooms and Practice rooms.
Our recording studio is equipped to deliver multitrack recording and mixing to a professional standard. Our composition studios include four surround studios (8.1/5.1).
All rooms are spectrum-analysed, soundproofed and acoustically treated to a very high standard.