Popular Music Performance - Vocals
About this course
This vibrant and dynamic one-year course will see you develop an impressive overview of technical vocal skills, performance creativity and musical literacy in a very short space of time. A practical tailored programme, you’ll focus on your future career as a vocalist, but you’ll also work with your fellow students keen to launch careers as professional guitarists, bass players, keyboard players and drummers.
In a progressive and increasingly digital global music scene, there are more opportunities than ever for audiences and musicians to connect in innovative new ways. As well as building your technical and creative abilities, this highly current vocal performance course will see you grow your digital and entrepreneurial business skills, as you launch yourself as a competent and confident vocalist to the industry.
At the heart of your CertHE is developing your technical ability on your principal instrument – in your case, your voice – but you’ll also improve your musical literacy by playing with and studying alongside those on your course studying guitar, bass, drums and keys. You’ll also have many chances to work and perform with students from the whole spectrum of ICMP programmes.
As you explore popular music genres, styles and repertoire, you’ll develop a thorough understanding of technique, theory and technology for live, livestreamed and recorded performances. You’ll also learn about stylistic techniques, music technology, the music business, and how to pull off an effective live performance.
In addition to lectures and seminars, you’ll take part in skills sessions – both one-on-one with your ICMP vocal tutor, and with peers during collaborative workshops and ensemble practice. A central focus of education at ICMP is teamwork, as well as regular ‘A&R-style’ peer-to-peer feedback, so you’ll learn to give and receive performance critiques and use these to improve your performances.
Across your CertHE year, you’ll learn in ICMP’s state-of-the-art industry-standard facilities as you’re supported and guided by our expert tutors – all highly qualified educators and professional musicians. They’re ready to give you comprehensive insight into the modern music business and how it operates. They’ll also ensure you to participate in a host of music business events, masterclasses featuring special guest artists, networking opportunities and performances at venues across London.
At the end of your studies, you’ll graduate with exceptional technical vocal skills and essential live, recorded and virtual performance experience, so you’ll be ready to forge a successful career across whichever music business path you choose to progress. If you’d prefer to keep up with your learning, the CertHE Vocal course offers a direct path to the second year of the BMus (Hons) Popular Music Performance and BA (Hons) Creative Musicianship degrees, where you can continue to advance your skills for a career as a portfolio musician and professional vocalist.
Modules
- Live Performance Skills
- Theory, Technique & Technology
- Theory Technique & Technology II
- Music Business for Performers
- Performance & Identity
Tuition fees
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Extra funding
For students to be eligible for SLC funding, they must be studying a designated course. Courses at the ICMP are designated each year by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. We have developed together with valued partners several scholarships and bursaries which supplement our outreach and widening participation activities and enhance access to our courses. Please contact our admissions team for more information.
The Uni
Institute of Contemporary Music Performance
Music
What students say
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How do students rate their degree experience?
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Music
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
After graduation
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Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Music
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
£15k
£20k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
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Post-six month graduation stats:
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It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
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Graduate field commentary:
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The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
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