Postgraduate Online Open Day

Students take the following core modules:

Advanced Instrumental Studies (30 Credits)

Advanced Ensemble Studies (30 Credits)

Studio Performance (30 Credits)

Performance Research Project (60 Credits)

Students choose one of the following optional modules:

Cultural and Philosophical Studies (30 Credits)

Music and Wellbeing (30 Credits)

Investigating Performance Traditions (30 Credits)

As a songwriter, identifying the conditions that encourage your best work is crucial. You’ll learn how to examine and evaluate your creative process during this module, and will determine ways to further develop your songwriting. Through research, discussion, and self-directed writing exercises, you’ll explore subjects such as idea generation and organisation, song drafting and development, and explorative writing techniques.

This module will provide context for your own songwriting practice through analysis of popular musicological perspectives, and reflecting upon the societal role and cultural identity of the songwriter. Your viewpoints will be broadened through the study of songwriting ideology and criticism, and with guidance, you’ll improve your ability to form and express critical arguments, particularly through essay writing and debate.

To be a successful songwriter, you need a versatile toolbox of musical techniques and the confidence to apply them appropriately in a wide range of contexts. This module will equip you with those skills, helping you to develop a deeper musical proficiency, greater understanding of approaches, and a clearer standpoint when selecting appropriate methodologies. You’ll cover subjects including song analysis, alternative approaches to fulfilling ideas, and musical meaning and ideology.

Your writer’s voice is the key to defining your identity as a songwriter. This module is designed to help you develop and refine this unique voice, through a detailed exploration of the discipline of lyric writing. With support, you’ll partake in discussion seminars and practical workshops, evaluate a variety of creative approaches and their influence upon lyrical content, and apply your learning to your own lyric writing. This empirical approach will support you in achieving professional expertise in your writing.

This module provides an opportunity to create a major new songwriting project, during which you’ll receive individual supervision by a dedicated tutor. Your project will typically take the shape of an artist album, song cycle, comprehensive collaboration, or a similar body of work. You’ll apply your skills in planning, creating, and evaluating material for your project, while also developing a delivery strategy for the particular context of your project. The Major Repertoire Project is designed for those wishing to pursue a career as a professional songwriter and/or performing songwriter.

The Dissertation is the perfect option for songwriters who decide to develop an extended research project. This investigatory module may lead you to consider one or more of the complex contexts, histories, themes or technical aspects of songwriting. You’ll produce a research proposal, detailed research plan, and a final extended written work, supervised by a dedicated tutor with specialist knowledge of your area of research. The Dissertation is designed for those wishing to pursue further study at the Doctoral level, and/or a career in academia or as a songwriter.

This module will provide you with clarity regarding your individual artistic intention within the field of music production, enabling you to evaluate current methodologies and establish a vision for future production practice. During seminars, you’ll analyse a range of personal and external influences, and through discussion and self-directed research, you’ll develop your communication skills by articulating and comparing ideas, while identifying new areas of creative exploration.

During this module, you’ll develop an understanding of a range of music production techniques, while exploring creative intention and processes. Through practical work, discussion, and self-directed exercises, and by studying topics including creative production processes, idea generation and organisation, creative intention, drafting and development, you’ll examine and critique your own creative work, identifying areas to cultivate and explore.

This module will equip you with innovative production skills applicable to a range of circumstances. You will explore the role of innovation in studio production, especially in the context of your own work, and study alternative production approaches across different styles and genres. Your confidence will improve as you expand your outlook, practical skill base, and knowledge of innovative production techniques.

During this module, you’ll develop your production skills through advanced mixing and mastering workshops focused on the use of equalisation, advanced dynamic processing, automation and time-based effects. The module explores mixing as a creative technical process by evaluating current methodologies, and you will develop a comprehensive understanding of the role of mastering within the delivery process.

Your Major Production Project acts as a developmental “bridge” into professional work contexts, supporting artistic independence and the creation of generic and specific creative and entrepreneurial skills. As you develop your piece, you will be guided by an ICMP tutor who specialises in your chosen field. Projects typically take the form of an artist album, or similar body of creative production work.

The way audiences consume music is changing and expanding at a faster rate than ever before – leading to new challenges and opportunities in regards to rights management, revenue streams and legal implications.

In this module, you’ll explore how the industry deals with issues relating to intellectual property, reputation, image, contractual frameworks and more, as well as the nature of revenue streams like merchandising, sponsorships and brand deals. You’ll come away with a comprehensive understanding of the financialisation of music, able to lend significant insights into the latest trends, debates and discussions around rights and revenue.

A fascinating deep-dive of the music industry’s ever-evolving infrastructure, this module examines the dynamic relationship between two core subsectors – live and recorded music. You’ll begin with critical analysis of current business models and working practises in the UK, as well as the global scene, before moving on to explore the wider political and cultural discourse across the commercial spectrum.

Through discussions around ethical decision-making, artist empowerment, carbon-neutral touring and more, you’ll examine the latest advances in technology, changing cultural and political norms, and ways in which industry roles are shifting to become a forward-thinking, innovative leader in the fast-paced music landscape.

Through this module you’ll master the core competencies, personal attributes and entrepreneurial skills you need to become a highly intuitive and competitive key player in your chosen field. Supported by industry professionals and experts, you’ll gain specialised insights and techniques to apply to business modelling, planning, financial management and more, putting you at a significant advantage whether you’re developing a business idea or solving a complex industry challenge.

You’ll take learnings from specific decision-making approaches and ethical frameworks, analyse the attributes of prominent innovative thinkers in the sector, and learn how to leverage business intelligence in order to maximise the potential of your ideas.

Shifts in consumer habits, new music discovery and data-analysis capabilities have transformed music marketing – and in order to engage communities, develop successful campaigns and optimise customer experiences, today’s marketers must stay on the pulse of innovation.

This module will give you the critical knowledge of marketing philosophies, strategies and approaches you need to cut through the noise in heavily saturated markets, putting professional tools and cutting-edge techniques at your fingertips to help you become fluent in tactical marketing decision-making. You’ll learn how to plan and support a product release, analyse data to inform your strategies, utilise your insights into the design of global music brands and build awareness through storytelling – setting you apart as an imaginative, intuitive marketing force.

With a strong focus on your own personal and professional goals, your final project will consolidate the knowledge, skills and insights you’ve gained throughout the course, culminating in a professional, industry-standard project relevant to your career objectives.

Incorporating a range of relevant theories, frameworks and strategies gathered across the programme, you’ll work closely with your project mentor – as well as a range of industry guests and external coaches – to produce a highly innovative piece of work which offers a solution to a challenge or issue impacting the industry today.