Actor Musician

Leeds Conservatoire's Actor Musicianship programme offers practical training for actors with instrumental skill. Through practical skills training in Acting, Music, Movement, Spoke and Sung Voice and Performance-based Research you will develop the skills to be a highly employable, multi-disciplinary storyteller.

Training as an Actor Musician in a conservatoire environment puts you in a unique position. You will benefit from the teaching expertise of the music conservatoire, working with 1:1 instrumental teachers and the industry professional team delivering the BA Acting programme. Training is physical, practical and demands consistent creativity. You are required to be fearless, as you acquire new skills and challenge those you arrived with. Training includes ensemble skills classes, 1:1 instrumental lessons, music ensembles, skills in context, seminars and rehearsals; culminating in a final year season of performance that serves as your industry introduction.

The programme celebrates individualism. You will develop your acting and music skills alongside your individual artistry, practically exploring ways of sustaining a portfolio career as a multi-disciplinary artist. We actively encourage cross programme collaboration with artists from other disciplines throughout your training, supporting our ambition for students to establish a creative network in training, originate live performance and carry both into the profession. Throughout training, students are given the opportunity to collaborate with theatre companies and leading artists in the region developing new live performance.

This course is a full-time, high-contact, vocational training programme, taught in six academic semesters over three years. Contact time averages 30 hours per week, across 30 teaching weeks each year. The course has two core strands; Skills Training and Artistic Development, and the time assigned to each adjusts each year to promote the transition from learner to independent artist.

All modules on the programme have been developed around key themes at each level:

Self and other (Level 4)
Style and Character (Level 5)
Public performance and transition to the industry (Level 6)

Year 1 (Level 4)
Compulsory modules:
Actor Musician Skills: Acting Technique
Actor Musician Skills: Music
Actor Musician Skills: Voice
Acting Skills: Movement
Acting Skills: Research for Performance
Artistic Development: Self as an Artist

Year 2 (Level 5)
Compulsory modules:
Acting Skills: Rehearsal Practices
Acting Skills: Voice in Context
Acting Skills: Movement in Context
Actor Musician Skills: Music in Context
Artistic Development: Arts Industry
Project 1: New Work and Adaptation

Year 3 (Level 6)
Compulsory modules:
Artistic Development: Live Performance
Artistic Development: Recorded Performance
Artistic Development: Self in the Industry

Module specifications can be found via the Leeds Conservatoire website: http://bit.ly/LC-ActorMuso-UCAS

The course is assessed via practical assessments and performances, coursework, portfolios, technical tests, presentations and written work. Formal assessments tend to take place over a period at the end of each semester or the end of the year. There are a handful of assignments with deadlines halfway through a semester.