Popular Music

Why study BMus Popular Music at Goldsmiths

• This ground-breaking degree embraces popular music in its many forms, and centres on exploration and experimentation in creative practice.

• This programme will allow you to acquire and develop a variety of skills, both individually and collaboratively, including musicianship and ensemble playing, songwriting, production and recording (at Goldsmiths Music Studios), composition and making music for film, and alternative sites for music.

• We have strong links with the music industry, employing professional musicians, producers, and artists as lecturers.

• We also present frequent, high-profile speakers from the music industry at our talks and events. Recently, these have included Dave Okumu, Nigel Godrich, Darkstar, Mica Levi, Matana Roberts, and Arts Council Music Relationship Managers.

• You’ll be very well set-up for the world of work. Employers look for initiative-driven graduates who think critically about their actions, work well with others and adapt quickly and creatively to new ideas. These ideas are written into the DNA of the degree, which will help you develop these skills.

• Through a collaboration with Matthew Herbert's Accidental Records we have created NX Records, an independent record label based at Goldsmiths, giving us the potential to promote our students' work on an international stage.

• You'll be within easy reach of South East London's many venues, as well as those across the capital, which provide a connection to music, art, dance, and theatre with an international focus, but also to local promoters, labels and the London-based music industry.

• You'll have the opportunity to perform at student-run showcases, in department ensembles, and at PureGold, our annual music festival that celebrates music created and performed at Goldsmiths.

• Our location in London means that we are able to attract visiting instrumental and vocal teachers of the highest quality, with many of our staff also teaching at the major music conservatoires. We provide a generous allocation of tuition time. Our performance modules are supplemented with ensemble classes and workshops/masterclasses given by top professional musicians.

Course Modules

Year 1 (credit level 4)
In your first year you study a range of areas including creative and practical music studies, textual and contextual analysis of popular music, and an introduction to music technology.

All modules are compulsory at this level as we feel it is essential that all our students develop the necessary key skills and knowledge base before further specialisation.

The modules are:

• Creative Popular Music 1

• Creative Popular Music 2

• Popular Music Cultures

• Contemporary Creative Industries

Year 2 (credit level 5)
In your second year, you'll study the following compulsory modules:

• Performance: New Contexts

• Songwriting

• The Goldsmiths Elective

• The Goldsmiths Project

The Goldsmiths Elective and Goldsmiths Project are cross-school modules which aim to provide you with a broad academic context.

Optional modules
You'll then choose 2-4 (60 credits) optional modules from the following list:

• Global Musics

• Music and the Moving Image

• Sonic Art: Contexts and Practices

• Electronic Music Studio Skills

• Music Production

• Ensemble Performance

• Pitching Creative Businesses

• Japan, Music and Cultural Identity

Year 3 (credit level 6)
In your final year, you will complete the following compulsory module:

• Major Project

You'll then choose 3-6 optional modules from the following list:

• Writing to Brief

• Creative Performance

• Music Teaching and Outreach

• Global Musics

• Sonic Art: Contexts and Practices

• Music and the Moving Image

• Music in Focus

• Psychological Approaches to Music

• You as Your Future: Developing Creative Careers

• Improvisation

• Creative Strategies in Music Production

• Experimental Musics

• Performing South-East Asian Music

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.