Commercial Music (Professional Placement Year)
Bath Spa University
UCAS Code: FTFB | Bachelor of Arts (with Honours) - BA (Hons)
Entry requirements
A level
A level Grades BBC-CCC including Music, Music technology or related subjects preferred but not essential. Applicants with standard A levels who can evidence music ability will be considered.
Access to HE Diploma
Typical offers for applicants with Access to HE will be the Access to HE Diploma or Access to HE Certificate (60 credits, 45 of which must be Level 3, including 30 at merit or higher). Any selection procedure/further requirements will also apply. Applicants must also provide evidence of a high level of performance or composing skill, music technology experience or performance experience.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme
A minimum of 27 points are required along with evidence of a high level of performance or composing skill, music technology or performance experience.
Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)
Extended Diploma in Music Technology or related subject grades Distinction, Merit, Merit (DMM) accepted.
UCAS Tariff
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About this course
This is the 4-year course which includes a Professional Placement Year.
Commercial Music at Bath Spa University offers a vocational course for songwriters, producers and performers that will build your career through personal development and industry engagement. If you have a flair for original music ideas, our Commercial Music course can take you on a creative journey to inspire and define a lifelong career. This course is about creation: songs, projects, bands and entrepreneurial ideas.
- We focus on original creativity.
- We build careers through personal development and industry engagement.
- Write original material alongside exploring identity, promotion and the wider business context of your music.
- All our staff have music industry experience at a high level.
**More about the Professional Placement Year**
A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where a student undertakes a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between the students' second and third years of undergraduate study. Students can engage in up to 3 placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) themselves with support from the Careers and Employability Team.
Modules
Year 1 focuses on songwriting, performance and production; this raw material will determine this structure of your second year. During the first year you will write songs songs, create journalistic and promotional material, and learn how to produce and develop your material in the recording studio.
In Year 2 you’ll write, produce and record your own original material, explore practical and theoretical topics. You will also create an online presence for yourself, designing and editing your own promotional video, as well as other web and audio-visual content, using this for promotion where you’ll set up your own national tour.
Your Final Year will see you specialise in production, songwriting or music business, whilst exploring an aspect of music culture for a final dissertation. You’ll also be given ‘seed funding’ to work with a team on a music related business project.
Please refer to our website for more information.
Assessment methods
There are no formal exams. You’ll be assessed through the production of your portfolio materials which will include: songs, live performances, audio productions, promotional material, website design, photographic output, video staging, video editing, critical thinking, tour management, written dissertations, business plans, business diagnostics, and presentations.
Tuition fees
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The Uni
Bath Spa University
School of Music and Performing Arts
What students say
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Performing arts
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£14k
£16k
£22k
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