BA (Hons) Songwriting & Artist Development Bachelor's degree at Institute of Contemporary Music Performance

In this module, you'll examine, reflect on and test your writing process, gaining the skills and knowledge you need to be a successful songwriter. Working both individually and collaboratively, you'll produce a collection of original songs, as you discover the cultural, historical, social and political aspects of songwriting through a number of academic and applied practices. By the end of the module, you'll have developed a body of research and portfolio of work to be proud of – ready to presen

In this module, you'll build on learnings from the earlier Creative Songwriting module to create and edit a portfolio of original songs. You'll apply essential elements of songcraft to your work, backing it up using social, political, historic and cultural research. You'll also realise self-reflection skills while continuing to enhance your songwriting abilities.

By providing you with a foundation in theory and musicianship, you'll expand your music literacy and confidence in this module. Learning about melody, harmony and rhythm, you'll build your aural recognition skills to push new boundaries in your performance work and compositions. You'll also engage musically in a variety of ensemble contexts, exploring a range of different instruments. Each concept you study will be looked at contextually, theoretically and technically, so you'll gain a thorough

During this module, you'll gain a practical, in-depth understanding of the modern music business. As you develop a portfolio career as a songwriter and artist, it's important to understand the way the wider creative industries work and get a strong grasp of concepts like copyright. You'll investigate the three main areas of modern music – live music, recorded music and music publishing – and the processes and practices of each. You'll also examine music's key revenue streams through real-world p

Across this module, you'll be introduced to a digital audio workstation-based approach to developing, writing and presenting songwriting material. You'll explore how to use DAWs as creative tools in your songwriting process, producing unique, innovative music using a blend of research, applied listening and practical instruction and application. By the end of the module, you'll have a full grasp of how invaluable digital recording skills can be to the process of songwriting.

Through this module, you'll learn what it means to be a live performer in today's ever-changing music landscape. By playing both in a group and on your own, you'll improve your performance skills and stagecraft, learning how to communicate your music to a crowd in both live and online 'livestreaming' settings. You'll also consider the various elements that make up a fantastic live performance – from choosing an appropriate venue and building a memorable stage set, to deciding how to move and com

Assessment: Assessment-wise, you'll take part in an end-of-term performance where you'll have the opportunity to display the practical skills you've learned across the module. You'll also submit a research project demonstrating your understanding of how to stage a thrilling live performance.

In this module, you'll begin to contextualise your art according to professional songwriting practice standards and norms, as you develop new music and explore your technical understanding of songcraft across a number of creative projects and environments. You'll also analyse your songwriting strengths and examine how to constructively reflect on your own work and that of your classmates.

In Embedding Songcraft, you'll broaden the technical knowledge and experience you gained in the previous Applied Songwriting module to create a body of songwriting work that realises a set of measured results. As you write songs across a range of contexts, you'll experiment by adding different methods, practices and approaches into your creative processes. Using a mixture of peer feedback and reflective practice, you'll discuss how your songwriting choices affect your audience and evaluate the s

As a modern artist, musician and performer, you'll need to be independent, adaptive and multi-talented to succeed. Across this practical second-year module, you'll create your own artistic performance project, discovering the many possibilities available to you as an artist in both the online and offline worlds. Through practical workshops, demonstrations, collaborative exercises and critical discussion, you'll explore the conceptual and psychological aspects of a performance-centred life and ca

In this module, you'll examine contemporary production practice from a variety of contexts. Through a blend of research, practical instruction and application, and applied listening, you'll craft a sonic identity for your music, rationalising your creative decisions with relevant academic and sonic references. You'll also explore modern vocal production techniques and use digital audio workstations and a variety of sample-based processes used by rappers and beatmakers to produce a showreel of pr

Your ability to market yourself and your talents plays a vital role in your success as a freelance songwriter and artist. In this module, you'll study essential marketing theories, fundamental marketing principles and contemporary promotional approaches. You'll explore how the ever-changing marketing business has created both challenges and opportunities for artists and creatives, and how marketing is evolving to meet the shifting demands of musicians and songwriters. At the end of this module,

This module has been designed to accompany the Marketing Strategies module, equipping you with the ability to design, create and build a portfolio of press shots, behind-the-scenes material, artist biographies and call-to-action content. You'll learn how to employ these materials as part of your marketing strategy and use them build your brand and promote your unique artistic voice.

In this highly artistic module, you'll use your skills and experience from across the degree to visualise, design and produce a comprehensive professional songwriting portfolio. Using detailed research, you'll plan and create an integrated repertoire of original music, taking creative ownership of your work to communicate a clear understanding of your songwriting and critically reflect on your skills. Directly applying your knowledge from other ICMP modules to your creative work will see you beg

This double module will see you build your academic and professional skills for the planning, execution and evaluation of a major music project. Across your classes, you'll evolve your conceptual and practical knowledge of the codes, conventions and issues used when designing musical projects. In realising your venture, you'll learn transferable skills in communication, analysis, negotiation and project management and planning. To make sure you're on track with your project, you'll initially pre

Across this module, you'll pitch a business project to a potential investor in a real-world setting. Developing strong knowledge of entrepreneurial thinking and business strategies, you'll explore what it means to be 'enterprising' across the contemporary music industry – from conceiving and modelling your ideas, to launching a new business venture and gaining finance. Continuing your learning across the year, the business proposal and plan you develop in this module will be expanded upon in The