Popular Music Performance and Songwriting

Popular music performance and songwriting is a discipline that takes the craft and practice of contemporary music seriously as a subject of academic and vocational study. It recognises that writing, performing, recording and releasing music require genuine technical skill, creative discipline and professional knowledge, and it provides a structured environment in which to develop all three. The discipline draws on musicology, production studies, the creative industries and professional practice, and it asks students to be both reflective about what they are making and technically fluent in how they make it.

This three-year full-time degree at Coventry University includes a sandwich year with a work placement and a year abroad, providing professional and international experience embedded in the programme. You will develop your skills as a performer, songwriter and recording artist, learning how to compose, arrange, produce and release music in ways that are relevant to the contemporary global marketplace. You will work in recording and production environments, develop your understanding of the music industry, and build the portfolio of work and professional connections that a career in music requires.

The degree asks you to position yourself as an artist with a distinctive voice and a realistic understanding of the industry landscape.

Graduates work as recording artists, session musicians, songwriters, producers, music educators, artist managers, and in record labels, music publishing and live events. The skills in creative practice, studio production and professional self-management that the degree develops are applicable across the full breadth of the music industry. Many graduates combine performance and creative work with roles in music education, music technology or arts administration, and some go on to postgraduate study in music, performance or the creative industries.