BA (Hons) Musical Theatre Performance Bachelor's degree at the University of Chichester

You will be taught by professional dancers and choreographers to develop a foundation for different dance styles and ensemble skills, with a focus on jazz, tap and ballet. With the help of your tutors, you will develop correct alignment and posture and increase core and upper body strength. You will develop versatility in performance to include specific knowledge of dynamics, use of space and the stage, and the relationship with other dancers.

You will develop performance skills in acting and learn a range of styles, strategies and techniques under the direction of specialist acting tutors. In this module, you will be introduced to acting exercises and techniques, for example, Stanislavski, Meisner, improvisation, etc, and through narrative and script work as an individual and ensemble performer.

Individual singing lessons will be supplemented by vocal repertoire and ensemble classes designed to broaden your awareness of the range of vocal styles available to you. You will explore your individual voice with tutors, and your skills will be strengthened and nurtured to support stylistic and dramatic choices for your solo and ensemble performances.

The first year of performance project study is intended to develop combined discipline performance skills in musical theatre and to broaden your awareness of a range of styles, strategies and techniques. You will develop your effectiveness within a group under the direction of specialist tutors in preparation for your involvement in a performing company in Years 2 and 3.

You will be introduced to a range of strategies designed to offer support to the emerging arts practitioner, including models of successful self-development. This module will help you develop self-awareness in your strengths and weaknesses, and will include workshops on a variety of tools, such as mindfulness, managing stress, nutrition, setting achievable goals, employability and careers, yoga, tai chi and vocal health.

This module will introduce, reintroduce and familiarise you with a range of music theories (traditional, jazz, rock) and aspects of musical structure and notation. Alongside this, you will present and discuss your work, both individually and in groups, enhancing skills in teamwork and presentation and building confidence.

This module builds upon the foundational work covered at level 4 and leads you towards more challenging assessment tasks and a higher level of performance quality.

This module builds upon the first year modules British and American Musical Theatre by relating an historical overview of the development of the genre to an examination of current trends and practices in musical theatre both here and in the USA.

This module explores the development of jazz music and its impact on the American musical. Key works from the Gershwin brothers, Rodgers and Hart, Kern and Hammerstein II and Warren and Mack will be utilised as tools to develop your understanding of style and genre. You will be required to learn repertoire made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan and Chet Baker to perform in weekly jazz workshops.

The module will introduce students to key skills in examining repertoire drawn from succeeding periods of movie musical history, supporting an examination of musical structure with a parallel focus on developments in dance and drama within the genre.

You will explore examples of different types of musical theatre performance and the function of a range of professional roles in commercial and publicly funded contexts.

This module further enhances the foundational and developmental work covered over the first two years, with the addition of specifically embedded, industry-focused audition technique sessions. The importance of critical self-reflection will be emphasised across the final year of study.

The last week of the semester is reserved specifically for our annual devising week, where you will need to draw upon all your skills to complete your final challenge – write, stage and perform an original musical in just five days. You will work with your peers and with support from the faculty to take on this enormous task!

The last week of the semester is reserved specifically for our annual devising week, where you will need to draw upon all your skills to complete your final challenge – write, stage and perform an original piece of theatre in just five days. You will work with your peers and with support from the faculty to take on this enormous task!

You will be required to form a theatre company and create an educational workshop and accompanying performance, targeted at a particular area of the primary curriculum, then deliver your workshop/performance to children at local schools. You will develop skills as a workshop leader, creative practitioner and educational facilitator. Communication, organisation and collaborative skills will be tested and enhanced as part of this module.

This module allows you to enhance your contribution to ensemble performance and to develop your skills in solo work in the context of a large performance project. Longer term planning, rehearsal and preparation strategies for performance techniques will be emphasised. The module will work towards, and culminate in, a semi-staged performance. You will be required to prepare effectively and thoroughly for this performance.