• Undergraduate

Music Performance BMus (Hons)

Overview

Overview

Why study at UWL? 
  • UWL is the second London modern university for Music, Complete University Guide 2024.
  • In the top 30% of universities nationwide - The Guardian University Guide 2024 
  • University of the Year for Social Inclusion - Daily Mail University Guide 2024 
  • Best university for Student Experience and Teaching Quality in the UK - The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 
  • Number 1 London university (non-specialist) - National Student Survey 2023** 

This dynamic and stimulating course is designed for ​classical or jazz ​instrumentalists and singers who want to work professionally ​in the music industry.

The BMus (Hons) Performance degree course will prepare you for a successful career in music with an internationally renowned team of lecturers, professional musicians, researchers, and acclaimed instrumental and vocal teaching staff.

During the course you will:

  • receive 1:1 lessons and specialist instrumental and/or vocal teaching
  • develop your musicianship and interpretation skills
  • engage with current theories in historical and social musicology and performance practice
  • deepen your understanding of today's music industry
  • nurture your entrepreneurial skills as a freelance musician.

By the end of the course, you will:

  • develop into a confident solo and ensemble performer
  • have the skills to be an inspiring teacher and musical leader in the community.

View some of our students' recent work.

Select your desired study option, then pick a start date to see relevant course information:

Study options:
We support flexible study by offering some of our courses part-time or via distance learning. To give you real world experience before you graduate, we also offer some courses with a placement or internship. All available options are listed here. Your choices may affect some details of your course, such as the duration and cost per year. Please re-check the details on this page if you change your selection.

Start date:

If your desired start date is not available, try selecting a different study option.

Why study Music Performance with us?

Why study Music Performance with us?

What our students say…

I came to London to study Jazz because this is a place full of opportunities. I found this great university with lovely people, lovely teachers and a great environment.

Aurimas Goris

I love the opportunities we’re given to perform in so many different venues, in front of a variety of audiences. We’re given so much feedback that I’ve developed and improved tremendously during my time at LCM.

Laura Oxburgh
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Graphic advising that you will receive one-to-one music lessons
The London College of Music is an all-Steinway school
Image of jazz music being performed highlight the course can help students become musicians
London College of Music: founded in 1887
Course detail & modules

Course detail & modules

The BMus (Hons) Music Performance degree will help you develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence you need to become a professional classical or jazz musician at the highest level.

You will be coached through individual lessons on your main instrument or vocal study in classical or jazz styles, although there are many opportunities to cross over genres and styles. You will develop flexible musicianship skills as you explore new techniques.

Throughout your studies, you will be given opportunities to perform, both as a soloist and as an ensemble musician. You will take part in our many ensembles, from Camerata, our Symphony Orchestra, to Big Band, from our Musical Theatre Showband to student-led Jazz Ensembles, from the Opera Workshop to the Song Class, from our Percussion Ensemble to Chamber Music, Keyboard Skills or Jazz Workshop and many more.

Alongside these practical elements, you will have the opportunity to study music history and music management, and to develop your analytical and critical abilities. These skills will enhance your career prospects as you enter the professional performance world.

With London College of Music's busy diary of weekly concerts, performances, workshops, and masterclasses, you will be immersed in a vibrant cultural and musical life and given opportunities to network and collaborate with fellow students in composition, musical theatre, acting, dance, music technology, but also in film, graphic design, media and photography.

Performance is at the heart of this course and you will have many opportunities to give concerts both within the University and in the wider community. In the final stages of your course, you will have the opportunity to pursue independent project work and showcase your talents as a performer or to undertake an educational placement.

We offer high-quality performance facilities and recording studios and we are the first London University to receive all Steinway School status.

Assessment includes course work, practical assessment, and a portfolio submission. You can also choose to be examined for the ALCM and LLCM performance diplomas while taking the course, so you will have professional accreditation in addition to a first degree.

Compulsory modules

  • Performance Practice

    You will explore a range of creative approaches to solo and ensemble music. Through guided classes and workshops, you will acquire the skills needed to devise, arrange, rehearse, plan and perform.

  • Understanding Creative Industries

    Understanding Creative Industries is designed to give you an appreciation and knowledge of the development of the fundamental structures of the global creative industry structures. In doing this, you will obtain a comprehensive grounding in the key skills and knowledge appropriate to building, developing and maintaining a career in your chosen area of the industry. You will also receive a grounding in key figures within the industry and support organisations available to you to help in developing your professional careers.

  • Practical Musicianship

    This module presents the opportunity to transform your existing theoretical knowledge into essential practical skills for your musical career. Through innovative strategies like Froseth Technique and relative-pitch ear training, alongside more traditional approaches, you will acquire invaluable skills that hinge on your musical development both as a performer and lifelong student of music.

  • Applied Musicianship (Community Music)

    Community music comes in many forms; from singing in a choir to exploring new technology and song writing, and has many benefits. You will be introduced to the creation and facilitation of music-based activities for individuals and groups in a wide range of community settings. The module aims to give you a good foundation for becoming a music teacher, music therapist, workshop facilitator or community musician.

  • Performing on Stage

    In this module, you will further develop your solo and ensemble musicianship skills in preparation for performing on stage. You will embark on a series of practical projects which embrace a variety of styles and media. There will be performance opportunities in:

    • orchestra
    • jazz band
    • choir
    • concert series
    • musical theatre.
  • Music, Culture and History

    You will be presented with an overview of concepts and selected works in music history from the birth of opera (around 1600) to post-modernism. You will consider history, aesthetics, musical language and the performance of music through readings and musical works. 

Compulsory modules

  • Exploring Performance

    This module is designed to develop your skills as an advanced solo and ensemble music practitioner. You will develop your problem-solving skills by focusing on solo and ensemble musicianship on your first study instrument or voice. 

  • Practical Arranging

    As a portfolio musician, you will be expected to arrange material for a variety of instrumental and vocal combinations. This could be anything from a conventional mixed orchestra, to an ad hoc group, like a school choir or band. Or it could be a commission with strict time constraints such as a TV or radio advertisement, or a symphonic piece of work. This module will give you the tools to tackle these real-life musical challenges.

  • Business Skills for the Music Industry

    This module looks at the key skills and abilities required for entrepreneurs to develop new business ideas in the creative industries. As new technologies and media converge, the need to understand how new concepts are generated is one of the key tools for contemporary and future creative industry practitioners. Generating successful business ideas is a process of creative thinking and a critical awareness of the business landscape.

    This module will focus on both the theoretical and practical aspects of initiating and developing a creative enterprise in the modern marketplace. A study of entrepreneurial traits provides the framework for the module, which includes the development of a credible business idea and the presentation of a formulated and considered business plan.

  • From Stage to Studio

    This module aims to develop your critical understanding of the challenges behind solo and ensemble performance through the lens of performance psychology. By understanding the roots of today's performance culture in historical, social and cultural contexts, you will work at developing and enhancing your own effective solo and ensemble live and recorded performance strategies. 

  • Music Scholarship

    This module investigates the ways in which topics in music history have been constructed in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. You will explore specific musical works alongside musicological responses. These works will be discussed in the context of culture and cultural transfer, race and ethnicity, musical analysis, gender, psychoanalysis, listening, music and the body, music and exoticism, film music, music and religion/spirituality, jazz studies, and music technology and recorded history.

  • Music Pedagogy

    Research suggests that the majority of musicians earn a significant proportion of their income through teaching and, therefore, knowledge and experience should be considered an important addition to the skill-set. This module provides an excellent opportunity for you to test your potential as a music educator. We intend to give you a flavour of working in education, researching into pedagogical ideas and equipping you with valuable skills that are transferable to your career.

Compulsory modules

  • The Professional Portfolio

    The aim of the module is to foster the skills needed to become a dynamic, creative and engaging team-player, demonstrating leadership and problem-solving qualities as well as an independent, empathic and reflective musician. This module aims to consolidate the range of skills needed for you to engage with the creative industries as an expert and versatile performer. 

  • Research Project

    This module provides you with the experience of undertaking a detailed investigation into a well-defined area of musical knowledge and/or practice, which you will choose yourself. The balance of text and other materials is to be negotiated with the module leader. The resultant dissertation or project may be entirely written text (dissertation) or could take the shape of a combination of written material and performance material such as, for example, a lecture recital. 

  • Promoting Your Career

    This module is designed to develop the level of personal entrepreneurial skills needed by a current day portfolio career musician. You will examine and investigate current social and consumer trends of the creative industries and learn how to interact with and reflect this in your commercial and entrepreneurial skills.

  • Performance Project

    This module aims to bring together the business, performance, and academic skills which you have been developing and linking across different module strands on your course. The Performance Project module prepares you to put on a performance event through the development of a personal, creative, innovative and collaborative performance project which showcases your vocational instrumental or vocal talents.

  • Creative Leadership

    You will develop your wider collaborative and leadership skills which you will draw upon during your professional career. You will develop a mentoring role to support your peers in a variety of ensemble performance contexts such as orchestra, opera, big band, musical theatre etc, as well as multimedia, collaborative and cross-genre projects. You will acquire conducting and workshop leading skills and gain insights into diverse professional contexts.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements

112-128 UCAS points required from level 3 qualifications

These can include:

  • A Levels at grade B, B and C, or above
  • BTEC Extended Diploma with Distinction, Merit, Merit
  • Access to HE Diploma
  • T Levels

Your Level 3 qualifications would normally include Music or an alternative relevant subject area.

You also need GCSE English and Maths (grade 9 – 4 / A* - C) or Level 2 equivalents.

 

We require you to have a minimum standard of musical ability - currently Grade 8 standard or equivalent (on your stated first instrument, or voice), alongside Grade 5 Music Theory and sight-reading at Grade 5 or 6 (or equivalent).

Looking for BMus (Hons) Music Performance with Foundation Year?

View Foundation Year course
Whether you are changing career or don't have the exact subjects and grades required for this course, you might want to choose this course with a foundation year. This will give you an extra year's study to prepare you for the standard degree programme, where you can go on to graduate with a full Honours degree. Follow the link to see full details of the course with foundation year.

Mature applicants (aged 21+): If you do not hold the qualifications listed but have relevant work experience, you are welcome to apply. Your application will be considered on an individual basis.

Level 5 (year 2) entry
To directly enter the second year of this course you will need to show appropriate knowledge and experience. For example, you are an ideal candidate if you have 120 undergraduate credits at Level 4 or a CertHE in a related subject area.

Level 6 (year 3) entry
To directly enter the third year of this course you need to show appropriate knowledge and experience. For example, you are an ideal candidate if you have 240 undergraduate credits (at Levels 4 and 5), a DipHE, Foundation Degree or HND in a related subject area.

Looking for BMus (Hons) Music Performance with Foundation Year?

View Foundation Year course
Whether you are changing career or don't have the exact subjects and grades required for this course, you might want to choose this course with a foundation year. This will give you an extra year's study to prepare you for the standard degree programme, where you can go on to graduate with a full Honours degree. Follow the link to see full details of the course with foundation year.
6.0 IELTS or above

You need to meet our English language requirement - a minimum of IELTS 5.5 for each of the 4 individual components (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening). Visit our English language requirements page for information on other English language tests we accept. 

You also need academic qualifications at the same level as UK applicants. In some countries where teaching is in English, we may accept local qualifications. Check for local equivalents

We offer pre-sessional English language courses if you do not meet these requirements.

Find out more about our English Language courses.

We require you to have a minimum standard of musical ability - currently Grade 8 standard or equivalent (on your stated first instrument, or voice), alongside Grade 5 Music Theory and sight-reading at Grade 5 or 6 (or equivalent).

Looking for BMus (Hons) Music Performance with Foundation Year?

View Foundation Year course
Whether you are changing career or don't have the exact subjects and grades required for this course, you might want to choose this course with a foundation year. This will give you an extra year's study to prepare you for the standard degree programme, where you can go on to graduate with a full Honours degree. Follow the link to see full details of the course with foundation year.

Mature applicants (aged 21+): If you do not hold the qualifications listed but have relevant work experience, you are welcome to apply. Your application will be considered on an individual basis.

Level 5 (year 2) entry
To directly enter the second year of this course you will need to show appropriate knowledge and experience. For example, you are an ideal candidate if you have 120 undergraduate credits at Level 4 or a CertHE in a related subject area.

Level 6 (year 3) entry
To directly enter the third year of this course you need to show appropriate knowledge and experience. For example, you are an ideal candidate if you have 240 undergraduate credits (at Levels 4 and 5), a DipHE, Foundation Degree or HND in a related subject area.

Looking for BMus (Hons) Music Performance with Foundation Year?

View Foundation Year course
Whether you are changing career or don't have the exact subjects and grades required for this course, you might want to choose this course with a foundation year. This will give you an extra year's study to prepare you for the standard degree programme, where you can go on to graduate with a full Honours degree. Follow the link to see full details of the course with foundation year.
Fees & funding

Fees & funding

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The fee above is the cost per year of your course.

If your course runs for two years or more, you will need to pay the fee for each academic year at the start of that year. If your course runs for less than two years, the cost above is for your full course and you will need to pay the full fee upfront.

Government regulation does affect tuition fees and the fees listed for courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year are subject to change.

If no fee is shown above then the fees for this course are not available yet. Please check again later for updates.

Funding your studies

You may be eligible for a student loan to cover the cost of tuition fees, or a maintenance loan. Additional funding is available to some types of students, such as those with dependants and disabled students.

We offer generous bursaries and scholarships to make sure your aspirations are your only limit. In recent years, hundreds of students have received our Full-time Undergraduate Student Bursary.

Additional scholarships specifically for music students are also on offer.

View full details, including conditions and eligibility.

{{ formatCurrencyValue(currentVariantData.field_p_cv_int_main_fee.name) }} per year

The fee above is the cost per year of your course.

If your course runs for two years or more, you will need to pay the fee for each academic year at the start of that year. If your course runs for less than two years, the cost above is for your full course and you will need to pay the full fee upfront.

Government regulation does affect tuition fees and the fees listed for courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year are subject to change.

If no fee is shown above then the fees for this course are not available yet. Please check again later for updates.

International students - funding your studies

We offer scholarships for international students including International Ambassador Scholarships. 

Further information about funding and financial support for international students is available from the UK Council for International Student Affairs.

 

Teaching staff

Teaching staff

Annie Yim

Dr Annie Yim

Annie Yim is a Hong Kong-born Canadian concert pianist, creative collaborator and founder of MusicArt based in London. Her performance has been described by The Times as "the most beautiful sounds, radiantly coloured, thoughtfully articulated.” Known for her wide-ranging solo and chamber music repertoire that encompasses canonic works and new music, Annie has broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and national radios in Canada and Portugal, and she made her UK concerto debut at LSO St Luke’s, London.

Passionate about collaborations and commissioning new works across art forms, Annie founded MusicArt in 2015 in London, an initiative to create original artist-led performance projects. From London to Berlin and Salzburg, her performances with artists and art spaces were featured in New York T Magazine, Artnet and Gramophone. She is a recipient of Art Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice award in 2021 for her current work in making connections between music and nature and Help Musicians UK’s Do It Differently award in 2022.

Annie has worked closely with contemporary artists including painter Sir Christopher Le Brun PRA, composers Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Raymond Yiu and poets Zaffar Kunial and Kayo Chingonyi, as well as with leading art galleries and national organisations including The Poetry Society (UK) and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (US). Her most recent collaboration has brought together the piano etudes of Philip Glass and the drawings of artist Richard Serra. Her book chapter “MusicArt: Creating Dialogue Across the Arts” was published by Palgrave Macmillan in the edited volume ‘Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists’ in 2020.

Annie is founding member of the Minerva Piano Trio, who made their London debut at the Southbank Centre in 2014. She was St John’s Smith Square Young Artist in Residence in 2016/17. Her trio album ‘Dance!’ was released on the SOMM label in 2022 to critical acclaim, which includes her arrangement of a work by Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Caroline Shaw. 

Raised in Vancouver, Annie studied piano with Robert Silverman at the University of British Columbia and Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music. She was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts for her performance-based research on Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms at the Guildhall School of Music and City, University of London.

In July 2023 Annie was appointed Lecturer in Music Performance at the London College of Music, University of West London.

Annie Yim is a Hong Kong-born Canadian concert pianist, creative collaborator and founder of MusicArt based in London. Her performance has been described by The Times as "the most beautiful sounds, radiantly coloured, thoughtfully articulated.” Known for her wide-ranging solo and chamber music repertoire that encompasses canonic works and new music, Annie has broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and national radios in Canada and Portugal, and she made her UK concerto debut at LSO St Luke’s, London.

Passionate about collaborations and commissioning new works across art forms, Annie founded MusicArt in 2015 in London, an initiative to create original artist-led performance projects. From London to Berlin and Salzburg, her performances with artists and art spaces were featured in New York T Magazine, Artnet and Gramophone. She is a recipient of Art Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice award in 2021 for her current work in making connections between music and nature and Help Musicians UK’s Do It Differently award in 2022.

Annie has worked closely with contemporary artists including painter Sir Christopher Le Brun PRA, composers Cheryl Frances-Hoad and Raymond Yiu and poets Zaffar Kunial and Kayo Chingonyi, as well as with leading art galleries and national organisations including The Poetry Society (UK) and the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (US). Her most recent collaboration has brought together the piano etudes of Philip Glass and the drawings of artist Richard Serra. Her book chapter “MusicArt: Creating Dialogue Across the Arts” was published by Palgrave Macmillan in the edited volume ‘Researching and Writing on Contemporary Art and Artists’ in 2020.

Annie is founding member of the Minerva Piano Trio, who made their London debut at the Southbank Centre in 2014. She was St John’s Smith Square Young Artist in Residence in 2016/17. Her trio album ‘Dance!’ was released on the SOMM label in 2022 to critical acclaim, which includes her arrangement of a work by Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Caroline Shaw. 

Raised in Vancouver, Annie studied piano with Robert Silverman at the University of British Columbia and Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music. She was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts for her performance-based research on Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms at the Guildhall School of Music and City, University of London.

In July 2023 Annie was appointed Lecturer in Music Performance at the London College of Music, University of West London.

Study & career progression

Study & career progression

BMus (Hons) Performance piano trio play in Weston Hall

The diversity in the university is something that is to be treasured and is unique. One cannot find a university with such great pollination between various courses. Specially with having the other colleges part of the university. One can have help from the law society, business students, film and media..."

Gavin Fernandes, violin graduate, BMus (Hons) Music Performance

Once you graduate, you will have many careers options. You could go on to work as:

  • a freelance soloist
  • a chamber musician 
  • a session musician
  • a touring musician
  • an orchestral musician
  • a principal/section leader in an orchestra
  • a member of a choir or opera company
  • a musician in a musical theatre pit band
  • a conductor
  • a composer and arranger
  • a private instrumental or vocal teacher
  • an instrumental or vocal teacher in a music hub or school
  • a leader of music in the community
  • a music entrepreneur and festival artistic director
  • a music librarian
  • an orchestra or opera company manager.

You could also pursue a career in the wider music industry and go into events management, record production, as well as work in television, film, and media, talent agencies, instrument sales, and product development.

On completing a music performance undergraduate degree, you can also choose to continue your studies at postgraduate level. Please see our postgraduate courses.

How to apply

How to apply

ARTSFEST

Singer

Find out more about the work our students produce and view some of their recent work by visiting our Music Performance and Composition ARTSFEST page.

Highlights from BMus Performance students

Dido in a BMus (Hons) Performance and MMus Performance production of Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas in Lawrence Hall

Dido in a BMus (Hons) Performance and MMus Performance production of Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas in Lawrence Hall.

BMus (Hons) Performance piano trio play in Weston Hall

BMus (Hons) Performance piano trio play in Weston Hall.

Jazz Vocal Ensemble

Jazz Vocal Ensemble.

jazz vocalist performance

BMus (Hons) Performance jazz vocalist.

Winner of our concerto competition playing with LCM's Camerata orchestra

Winner of our concerto competition playing with LCM's Camerata orchestra.

BMus (Hons) Performance students playing Big Band solos

BMus (Hons) Performance students playing Big Band solos.

LCM Camerata Orchestra

LCM Camerata Orchestra.

String Quartet Masterclass

String Quartet Masterclass.

 BMus (Hons) Performance classical pianists in collaboration with BMus (Hons) Composers and Film students on a audio and video recording for LCM's Morricone Festival

BMus (Hons) Performance classical pianists in collaboration with BMus (Hons) Composers and Film students on a audio and video recording for LCM's Morricone Festival.

Dido in a BMus (Hons) Performance and MMus Performance production of Henry Purcell's opera Dido and Aeneas in Lawrence Hall
BMus (Hons) Performance piano trio play in Weston Hall
Jazz Vocal Ensemble
jazz vocalist performance
Winner of our concerto competition playing with LCM's Camerata orchestra
BMus (Hons) Performance students playing Big Band solos
LCM Camerata Orchestra
String Quartet Masterclass
 BMus (Hons) Performance classical pianists in collaboration with BMus (Hons) Composers and Film students on a audio and video recording for LCM's Morricone Festival

Facilities

Facilities

Lawrence Hall, a black box theatre at the University of West London

Performance spaces

Our flexible, professionally-equipped performance spaces include Lawrence Hall, a 200-seat black box studio theatre, and Vestry Hall, a classical music performance space featuring a Steinway B Concert Grand piano, concert tuned percussion and seating for up to 150 

Production Studio 1 at the University of West London

Production studios

We have four black box production rooms featuring performance dance floors, ballet barres, wall mirrors and ¾ drapes. All rooms have PA and AV support in all rooms. The digital stage pianos are by Roland.

A music practice room at the University of West London

One-to-one teaching pods

We have five acoustically isolated teaching pods featuring Roland and Korg digital pianos and mirrors to facilitate one-to-one teaching in voice.

A music performance room at the University of West London

Music performance rooms

All music performance rooms feature drums and backline plus PA support.

  • Drums by Roland and Pearl.
  • Backline by Marshall, Orange, Line 6, Fender and Gallien-Kruger
  • Stage pianos by Korg and Roland
  • Synths by Roland and Kurzwiel
  • PA by Yamaha, ABT and Nexo.
Basement practice room at the University of West London

Basement practice rooms

  • All LCM practice rooms benefit from LCM’s All Steinway School status to bring you the very best instruments.
  • Three percussion practice and teaching rooms.
  • Percussion rooms feature Pearl kits with recording and playback systems.
Media Resource Centre at the University of West London

Media Resource Centre

At our Media Resource Centre (used by all subject areas) you'll find extensive portable audio recording systems, including up to 24 track digital HD recording and portable Focusrite RedNet systems.

There is also video-camera and accessory support, including LED and tungsten lighting systems, track and dolly systems and stedi-cam rigs.

Important notes for applicants

Disclaimer

*Modern universities - defined as higher education institutions that were granted university status in, and subsequent to, 1992.

**The National Student Survey 2022 and 2023 - Based on an average of all 27 questions. Excludes specialist institutions.

Testimonials - our students or former students provided all of our testimonials - often a student from the course but sometimes another student. For example, the testimonial often comes from another UWL student when the course is new.

Optional modules - where optional modules are offered they will run subject to staff availability and viable student numbers opting to take the module.

Videos - all videos on our course pages were accurate at the time of filming. In some cases a new Course Leader has joined the University since the video was filmed.

Availability of placements - if you choose a course with placement/internship route we would like to advise you that if a placement/internship opportunity does not arise when you are expected to undertake the placement then the University will automatically transfer you to the non-internship route, this is to ensure you are still successful in being awarded a degree.