MMus Popular Music Performance | University of West London - Our postgraduate music performance courses offer substantial one-to-one instrumental tuition, with recitalists of international renown. They comprise fascinating and engaging modules that support and extend your practical musicianship and academic skills.
You can also benefit from London College of Music's (LCM) weekly Postgraduate Research Seminars and Composition Workshops, which offer great opportunities to learn new skills and network with students from other postgraduate courses. LCM also has several large ensembles, including the LCM Sinfonia, LCM Big Band, LCM Choir, and LCM Glee Choir, which students are able to participate in.
Course Detail
The course runs throughout each calendar year.
Modules
Modules
- Performance Portfolio 1 (20 credits) (TMS)
- Performance Portfolio 2 (40 credits) (TMS)
- Ensemble and Music Direction Skills (20 credits) (TMS)
- Critical Perspectives (20 credits) (TMS)
- Research Methods (20 credits) (London College of Music)
- Dissertation or Project (40 credits) (Supervision)
You will also study:
- Songwriting (20 credits) (TMS ) Or
- Studio Recording Project (20 credits) (TMS) Or
- Music Pedagogy Project (20 credits) (TMS)
Performance Portfolio 1 - 20 credits (delivered by Tech Music School)
This module aims to enhance technical, creative and innovative performance skills as well as consolidating and heightening your evaluation of stylistic and interpretative issues. You will be expected to achieve and maintain a high level of advanced performance skill in order to fulfil your potential and develop practical skills to a professional level. The module is delivered through fortnightly one-to-one sessions in your chosen discipline with a specialist teacher, with a focus on stylistic interpretation, technique and creativity. Under guidance from your tutor, you will select an appropriate practitioner who works within a style from the popular music idiom, and devise a repertoire for an assessed performance approximately 20 minutes in duration held in-house.
This module aims to enhance technical, creative and innovative performance skills as well as consolidating and heightening your evaluation of stylistic and interpretative issues. You will be expected to achieve and maintain a high level of advanced performance skill in order to fulfil your potential and develop practical skills to a professional level. The module is delivered through fortnightly one-to-one sessions in your chosen discipline with a specialist teacher, with a focus on stylistic interpretation, technique and creativity. Under guidance from your tutor, you will select an appropriate practitioner who works within a style from the popular music idiom, and devise a repertoire for an assessed performance approximately 20 minutes in duration held in-house.
Ensemble and Musical Direction Skills - 20 credits (delivered by Tech Music School)
The Ensemble and Musical Direction Skills module features you engaging in collaborative work with fellow musicians, within an ensemble performance environment. Musical direction is a key focus of this module with group-based learning and teaching occurring within workshops led by faculty and visiting tutors, that include areas such as ensemble musician and repertoire selection, rehearsal preparation, planning, final event delivery and event management schematics. You may address various forms of repertoire, but significant emphasis is placed on ensemble direction, creative interpretation and technical skill. You will find and rehearse your own band, construct a repertoire and lead the band through to a final assessed rehearsal.
Critical Perspectives - 20 credits (delivered by Tech Music School)
The Critical Perspectives module gives you the opportunity to develop an understanding of key critical approaches to the study of popular music through examination of key literature. Through analysis, critical thinking and research methodologies you will enhance your status as an informed practitioner, greatly expanding your meta cognitive approach to the popular music idiom. During group lectures and seminars you will study a series of important practitioners, genres and milestones from the landscape of popular music with an emphasis on analysis and critical thinking. Lectures and seminars will also include the study of established academic practices and conventions with relevance to the study of popular music, including basic quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
Performance Portfolio 2 - 40 credits (delivered by Tech Music School)
Extending the frameworks defined in the Performance Portfolio 1 module, individual lessons will continue to be structured around the study of appropriate performance concepts via one to one fortnightly consultation with your specialist tutor. Key factors will include the further development and expansion of heightened technical performance ability alongside interpretative and stylistic traits. You will be expected to explore a range of complex discipline specific techniques, taking account a diverse myriad of popular styles and be able to assimilate and solve performance demands with robust independence and authority. Under guidance from your tutor, you are expected to create a unique musical personality, bespoke artistic and/or musical identity and deliver an assessed performance that showcases your chosen repertoire.
Research Methods - 20 credits (delivered by Tech Music School)
As preparation for research, this module will require you to undertake a number of tasks related to your discipline. These include a précis of an article, a critical commentary of two book reviews, your own book review, and a proposal for a dissertation with an annotated bibliography. Seminars will take place weekly in the first semester, with one-to-one supervision for any dissertation's following thereafter.
Project - 40 credits (Supervision)
For the final project students have an opportunity to undertake an ambitious, substantial, self-managed performance project that expands and enhances both skills and knowledge acquired during their course to date, on a style of the individual's choice. Students can choose to pursue elements of the project throughout the academic year, but it is envisaged that the bulk of the work will happen over the summer period leading to a performance in August/September. Students will be assigned a supervisor who will help guide their workflow and support the development and performance of the chosen repertoire.
Optional Modules:
Songwriting - 20 credits (delivered by Tech Music School)
The Songwriting module gives you the opportunity to engage in the development, management and execution of a high quality song portfolio. Applying a myriad of songwriting techniques and conventions you will create a song portfolio, realised via basic recordings and lead sheets which may feature any source of instrumentation (real or virtual) desired. The material can be in any genre, key and tempo applicable to the popular music cannon. The repertoire created for this module may form part of the set list for Performance Portfolio 2 module, or it may be completely bespoke for this project. Teaching is conducted through a series of group workshops that focus on songwriting methodology, composition conventions, lyrical creation techniques, song form and structure and project management skills, alongside a review of existing material. The module aims to provide you with an opportunity to enhance your performance practice via the addition of transferable skills relevant to the wider songwriting arena.
Studio Recording Project - 20 credits (delivered by Tech Music School)
The Studio Recording Project module gives you the opportunity to engage in the development, management and execution of a high quality music production project. Acting in the capacity as the over arching producer, you will step 'to the other side of the glass' and manage a recording project. You will be responsible for selecting and/or creating the repertoire, sourcing and rehearsing a band, booking studio time, collaborating and booking an engineer, acting as MD for the recording sessions and developing, directing and producing all aspects of the final portfolio. The repertoire recorded may be sourced from material to be performed within the Performance Portfolio 2 module, or it may be completely bespoke for this project. Teaching is conducted through a series of group workshops that focus on production, project and studio management skills, alongside an overview of overarching recording methodology and protocols. The module aims to provide you with an opportunity to enhance your performance practice via the addition of transferable skills relevant to the wider music production arena.
Music Pedagogy Project - 20 credits (delivered by Tech Music School)
The Music Pedagogy Project module provides you with the opportunity to engage in learning and teaching activities based within a community music practice. Early in the semester, under guidance, you will source a relevant community music based practice and engage in a placement planned for the latter half of the semester, with the aim to develop and execute two observed sessions. The module aims to provide you with an opportunity to enhance your performance practice via the addition of transferable skills relevant to the wider music teaching arena.
