Popular Music (Top-Up) BA (Hons)

Program Overview

This top-up BA (Hons) in Popular Music allows students who have completed two years of undergraduate study in a related field to specialize in popular music, developing skills in performance, technology, and academic knowledge. The program includes modules in performance, music production, music theory, and industry practice, and offers opportunities for real-world experience through internships and industry connections. The program is designed to prepare students for careers in the music industry, with a focus on contemporary specialisms in popular music performance.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This course is a top-up BA (Hons) in Popular Music, designed for students who have already completed the first two years of an undergraduate degree in a related subject. It allows students to choose their own focus within popular music, blending practical music-making with traditional academic studies.

Objectives:

The program aims to:

• Develop students' skills in music performance, music technology, academic knowledge, and communication.
• Provide opportunities to perform in real-world situations across Northampton.
• Foster interaction with the partner degree in Music Production.
• Offer industry expertise from published and researching music team.
• Equip students with contemporary specialisms in many areas of popular music performance.
• Provide access to cutting-edge hardware/software: Mac OS X, Logic Pro X, Ableton, Pro Tools, Native Instruments.
• Offer extra-curricular masterclasses.
• Provide access to contemporary rehearsal booths, bookable outside of lectures/seminars.
• Help students build a network of musicians from within the course as well as within the local and national arena.
• Introduce students to local music industry organizations.
• Provide guest lectures from industry specialists.
• Allow students to choose modules totaling 120 credits with either a Professional Project or Dissertation.
• Offer a guaranteed paid internship with the Northampton Employment Promise .

Outline:

The Popular Music top-up course is the final year of the undergraduate degree. Students will be able to focus on a range of options, including:

• Professional Project: This module is for students intending to work in practice-based areas of contemporary music and for students interested in developing a project in a related field of popular music that may be either more entrepreneurial or theoretical.
This may derive either from study in the first two years of the degree, or from reading and/or practice activities on their own initiative.
• Performance 3: This module gives the student the opportunity to apply their musical knowledge in areas such as performance, song writing, composition and/or arrangement.
The focus is towards collaborative work with accompanying musicological analytic write ups.
• Music and Sound Design for Media: This module is designed to develop skills in audio production and sound design.
Through lectures, seminars and workshops, students will gain an understanding of the context of sound design in media applications including location based media, film and computer games.
• Music Education: The Music Education module has been designed to bridge between undergraduate study and post-compulsory teaching qualifications.
Much of the content is drawn from PGCE level accompanied by a placement.
• Pop and the State: This module examines the relationship between popular music and the political sphere.
The focus will be on the role of the state in providing legislative frameworks that inform musical practice and how popular music has engaged with protest music, political activism and censorship.
• The Philosophy of Music: Continuing from the work done in Cultural Theory, this module broadens the study beyond the postmodern culture and into the realms of the analytical and the metaphysical.
This module explores the lasting legacy of Enlightenment philosophy on contemporary popular music. Students will examine how analytical and metaphysical philosophical traditions and approaches have shaped contemporary popular musical practice across a broad range of styles and genres. Projects will be achieved by working at the University studio and through working with external partners.

Teaching:

• Teaching is delivered through a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, and practical sessions.
• The program is informed by staff actively researching, composing, performing and publishing in their specialist areas within the music industry.

Other:

• The course is Industry Accredited by JAMES representing APRS, MPG and associate industry bodies.
• The program has strong ties to both the local music scene and industry, as well as nationally.
• Students will have the chance to network with industry insiders and develop their own network of fledgling professionals.
• The program offers high-calibre rehearsal spaces, recording studios and live performance equipment.

2024/25 Tuition Fees Fees quoted relate to study in the Academic Year 24/25 only and may be subject to inflationary increases in future years. UK – Full Time: £9,250 UK – Part Time: £1,540 per 20 credit module International – Full Time: £16,500 2023/24 Tuition Fees Fees quoted relate to study in the Academic Year 23/24 only and may be subject to inflationary increases in future years. UK – Full Time: £9,250 UK – Part Time: £1,540 per 20 credit module International – Full Time: £15,500