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Why choose this course

This course will equip you with the necessary skills to enter the diverse and exciting field of popular music. The course is ideal for you if you wish to work as a session musician; become a freelance player/producer of your own music or promote your own band.

You will study with experts in the field, undergoing rigorous training in a broad range of performance styles. You will have frequent opportunities to play with accomplished industry professionals and create working musical relationships with your peers.

Course structure and content

As well as individual and group lessons, regularly visiting artists deliver specialist workshops. An emphasis upon performance is supported through detailed coverage of music theory in popular song, improvisation and the arrangement of music for strings and brass. Student concerts and recordings take place in the specifically designed Performance Space at the College on a weekly basis, as well as events and festivals in venues in and around Bristol.

Plenty of studio opportunities and training in engineering, mixing and production techniques from industry professionals will give you the skills you need to make top quality recordings of your music. You will construct a promotional package based around a demo, and learn how to establish a meaningful presence within the music industry through the study and application of marketing techniques and the analysis of commercial musical trends. The development of promotional skills will be put into practice through the staging of a series of live concerts.

Modules include:

• Performing
• Studio production
• Understanding and composing popular music
• Performing, composing and arranging
• Live sound and events management
• Producing and marketing your music.

Assessment

• Coursework
• Portfolios of creative and practical work
• Written reports.