Music Performance

Become a versatile performer in your preferred musical style and broaden your abilities by trying out new styles, with our Music Performance degree in Cambridge.

Our BA (Hons) Music Performance will challenge your creativity. You’ll learn to analyse and deconstruct existing modes of performance, songwriting and composition before finding your own way to create new performances or rework the music of others.

As the course develops, you’ll examine increasingly complex performance scenarios, using them to inform aspects of your own live work. Weekly performance workshops in Year 2 will help you hone your stagecraft in particular styles of performance, while analysis seminars will allow you to explore vocal and instrument techniques by genre.

As a Music Performance student at ARU, you'll create a diverse portfolio of work and learn up-to-date techniques that will prepare you for the modern collaborative creative industries, whether you want to perform and release your own music, create soundtracks for films and games, or play in a band or orchestra.

Many of your modules will be shared with our other music courses, giving you the chance to collaborate with different students and develop all-important skills for your professional life, such as teamworking and time management. You’ll also have opportunities to work with students on our film and computer game degrees, creating soundtracks for their projects.

In Year 2, you’ll broaden your understanding of the modern music industry by seeking and completing a work placement in an area of your own interest. This will also help you learn to self-evaluate your transferable and employability skills and develop them further.

Our optional modules allow you to shape the course for your chosen career. For example, Music in Therapy will introduce you to the theory and practice of music therapy, as practised by registered professionals in the UK, giving you the perfect preparation to continue onto our MA Music Therapy. Composition and Orchestration will allow you to produce a portfolio comprising original compositions of your own, and arrangements of existing works, for orchestra. Audio for Film or Audio for Games will develop your competence in creating soundtracks and sound effect creation, alongside specialist skills like automated dialogue replacement or production of non-linear interactive experiences.

You can even opt for a placement year between years 2 and 3 to get ahead in the creative industries.

Professional facilities

All our music students have access to:

• Five climate-controlled recording studios featuring analogue-digital hybrid studio set ups and two mixing suites, all equipped with Pro Tools, Logic and outboard hardware recording equipment (Neve, Universal Audio, Audient, SSL); and an audio-visual studio

• A spacious recital hall, band rooms and practice rooms

• Electronic and orchestral instruments; five grand pianos, including a Steinway Model D; synthesisers; traditional instruments from India, China and Africa; a Balinese Gamelan

• An impressive inventory of professionally rated microphones and recording equipment

• podcast and video capture system

You'll also have access to all our other creative facilities and equipment.

Careers
Throughout our BA (Hons) Music Performance, you’ll not only develop the latest skills and knowledge for a career in music performance, but also get the support you need to grow into a confident and creative graduate with a willingness for lifelong learning, and the desire to seek continuing personal and professional development in all aspects of your career.

By the time you graduate, you’ll have built up a professional portfolio of your music performance projects, which will act as an enhanced CV for you to present to future employers and clients. This might consist of video showreels, commercial music releases, or other demonstrations of your technical expertise, as well as a fully-developed online profile.

Year 1 core modules: Music in Context; Dots, Lines and Waves - Songwriting 1; Studio Techniques; Music Performance 1. Year 2 core modules: Chords, Contours and Grooves - Songwriting 2; Ruskin Module. Year 2 optional modules: Audio for Film; Audio for Games; Composition and Orchestration; Principles of Music Therapy; Music Performance 2; Music Business; Music Industry. Year 3 core modules: Final Project; Collaborative Project; Portfolio. Modules are subject to change and availability.

Our open assessment tasks will challenge you to come up with your own creative responses, giving you space for active and creative rehearsals, collaborative experimentation and the development of your own independent work.

You’ll also be assessed using different methods and strategies that reflect the wide variety of activities involved in music-making. As well as creative projects, these might include presentations/performance; essays; analytical work; portfolio development; and written and practical exams.