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BMus Popular Music Performance (NTU London)

  • Bachelor of Music
  • 3 Years
  • Full-Time
  • September 2027
  • Undergraduate
NTU London Campus
More about Nottingham Trent University

Course options

2026-20272027-2028
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Course summary

This degree is delivered at our London Campus in Whitechapel.

Built for drummers, guitarists, bassists and keyboard players, this course focuses on performance at a professional level. You’ll push your technique, tighten your sound and learn how to perform consistently in high-pressure, real-world settings. You’ll spend your time rehearsing, recording and performing, developing the skills needed for live work, session playing and musical direction. Alongside this, you’ll build an understanding of how the industry works, from production to performance.

The course is practical and performance-led. You’ll play regularly, work with other musicians, and develop your identity as an artist.

Key features

  • Specialist training for serious musicians: Specifically designed for drummers, guitarists, bassists, and keyboard players.

  • Stand out with skills the industry wants: Develop the practical, hands-on skills that today’s music industry demands, with a specialist qualification designed to get you noticed.

  • Start your creative journey in London: Study in the heart of East London, a vibrant hub for the UK’s music, media, and tech industries.

Employability

Your time at Nottingham School of Art & Design doesn’t have to stop once you finish your undergraduate course. Choose to continue your studies on our postgraduate degrees that can help you further develop your skills and obtain the experience you need to get a head start in your career.

Typical job roles in industry might include:

  • Professional musicians working in West End musical theatre

  • touring with pop artists

  • high level corporate functions

  • musical director

  • recording/studio musicians

Facilities

Whether you’re a songwriter, performer, producer or someone who wants to get into the live events industry, you’ll study and learn in the heart of a world-class venue – Metronome.

By day, it’s an incredible place to study music performance, live events and audio technology. By night, Metronome transforms into a live events venue, hosting sell-out music gigs, comedy nights, theatre productions, esports tournaments, spoken word – the list goes on!

For our students, we can offer unrivalled facilities which include:

  • 450-capacity live music venue

  • 10 rehearsal spaces

  • 4 recording studios

  • Mastering, Atmos and post-production studio

  • Live events production workspace.

Modules

Course Modules

Year One
Popular Music Repertoirs (20 credit points)
Music Industry in Numbers (20 credit points)
Instrumental Technique & Live Performance (20 credit points)
Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) Skills (20 credit points)
Contemporary Styles & Analysis (20 credit points)

Year Two
Principal Instrument & Industry Practice (20 credit points)
Co Lab: Research, Exploration and Risk-taking (20 credit points)
Extending the Repertoire (20 credit points)
Advanced Styles & Analysis (20 credit points)
Optional Modules - choose one of the below:
Sound Design for Visual Media (20 credit points)
Applying World Rhythms to Performance and Composing (20 credit points)
Songwriting & Live Performance (20 credit points)

Optional Placment Year (Sandwich):
We have an option for all of our students to undertake a placement year and allow you to decide whether this is right for you once you have completed years 1 and 2 of your course. This time spent working in industry provides our students with crucial work experience, which is highly prized and much sought after by employers upon graduation.

* If you choose to take the sandwich route option, you will need to apply for this course by using the full-time UCAS code.

Year Three
Industry Briefs (20 credit points)
FInal Capstone Project: Preproduction (20 credit points)
Future Pathways (20 credit points)
Final Capstone Project (40 credit points)
Advanced Ensemble Practice (20 credit points)

https://www.ntu.ac.uk/course/art-and-design/ug/bmus-hons-popular-music-performance?year=2027#module-information

Ways to study this course

Campuses

  • NTU London Campus

Study options

  • Bachelor of Music • Full-Time • 3 Years

Start dates

  • September 2027

Apply by
13 January 2027

This is the equal consideration deadline. You can still apply after this date, but your application may not receive guaranteed consideration.

Application codes

Course code:
W318
Institution code:
N91
Campus name:
NTU London Campus
Points of Entry:
Year 1

Nottingham Trent University has participated in the Teaching Excellence Framework. These ratings were awarded in 2023, for four years.

See why these ratings were awarded
What does this TEF outcome mean?

How to apply

Apply by
13 January 2027

This is the deadline for applications to be completed and sent for this course. If the university or college still has places available you can apply after this date, but your application is not guaranteed to be considered.

Application codes

Course code:
W318
Institution code:
N91
Campus name:
NTU London Campus

Points of entry

The following entry points are available for this course:

  • Year 1

Entry requirements

Typical qualification requirements

A level

104 - 112 UCAS Tariff points from up to four qualifications (two of which must be A-level or equivalent)

T Level

We will consider T Levels for entry to this course, either as stand-alone qualifications or in conjunction with other Level 3 qualifications, in accordance with the specified course tariff points.

UCAS Tariff
104-112

104 - 112 UCAS Tariff points from up to four qualifications (two of which must be A-level equivalent or equivalent).

Access to HE Diploma

Pass your Access course with 60 credits overall with a minimum of 45 credits at level 3

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

104 - 112 UCAS Tariff points from your BTEC Level 3 National Diploma and up to two other qualifications

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
DMM

DMM from a BTEC Extended Diploma

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)

104 - 112 UCAS Tariff points from your BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate and up to three other qualifications (one of which must be A-Level equivalent)

A lower offer may be made based on a range of factors, including your background (such as where you live and the school or college you attended), your experiences and individual circumstances (you may have been in care, for example). This is called a contextual offer and we get data from UCAS to make these decisions. NTU offers a student experience like no other, and this approach helps us to find students who have the potential to succeed here, but may have faced barriers that can make it more difficult to access university.

We also consider equivalent qualifications and combinations. Please contact Nottingham Trent University Admissions team for further information.

Additional entry requirements

Other
Links to 2 videos of contrasting performances on your instrument/voice.

Contextual admissions

Universities and colleges consider more than grades when assessing applications and may make offers based on a range of criteria. Learn more about contextual offers.

NTU makes contextual offers for this course to give everyone a fair chance to access their chosen degree.

Contextual offers are lower than our standard entry criteria or may be an unconditional offer for courses that require a portfolio. We also take individual circumstances into account when we receive results and may accept grades lower than our published criteria.

We use a range of data from UCAS to make our offers and more information on our approach is available at the link below.

Learn more on the Nottingham Trent University website

Historical entry grades data

This section shows the range of grades that students who received offers were previously accepted on to this course with (learn more).

It is designed to support your research but does not guarantee whether you will or won't get a place.

Admissions teams consider various factors, including interviews, subject requirements, and entrance tests. Check all course entry requirements for eligibility.

Not enough data available

We are unable to show previous accepted grades for this course. This could be because the course is new, it's a postgraduate course, there isn't enough historical data, or the provider has opted out of sharing their entry grades data for this course - learn more.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website.

Additional fee information

Tuition fees for 2027 entry are yet to be confirmed. As a guide and to enable you to plan your finances, the fees for Home undergraduate students for 2026 are £9790 .The current expectation is that the University may increase this for future and subsequent years of study in line with inflation and as specified by the Government.

Related courses

At Nottingham Trent University

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