Curious about studying Popular Music Performance MAat Leeds Beckett University? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
MA - Master of Arts
City Campus
Full Time
Sep 2026
1 Year
MA Popular Music Performance course helps you sharpen your skills, define your creative identity, and build a thriving career in today's music industries.
You'll explore performance as both a creative and research-informed discipline. Through live practice, recording, interdisciplinary projects, and critical reflection, you'll develop advanced technical, expressive, and entrepreneurial skills to create music that's widely appealing and accessible.
The course encourages experimentation, collaboration, and self-directed growth, ensuring your work is original, professional, and relevant. You'll engage with current professional practices while drawing on cutting-edge research, giving you the tools to adapt, innovate, and lead in an ever-changing arts sector.
As part of this course, you'll:
Deepen your music performance practice by exploring what performance means within contemporary popular music. You'll examine how popular music infuses culture through live performance and a range of mediated forms while experimenting with different approaches in professional studios, rehearsal rooms, and performance spaces. Through creative process, applied research, and critical reflection, you'll refine your artistic approach, document your creative process, and explore new methods within an inclusive and stimulating environment.
Develop the research knowledge and skills needed for master's level study within popular music performance and the creative arts. You'll explore a range of research methods, critically evaluating their strengths and suitability before applying them to your own small-scale research project. Along the way, you'll strengthen your analytical critical thinking, independent enquiry, and ability to design and deliver rigorous creative research.
Create, refine, and present an advanced final performance that reflects your artistic vision and emerging professional identity. Through practice-based research, experimentation, and critical reflection, you'll evaluate your own performance methods while demonstrating originality, technical excellence, and an informed understanding of contemporary popular music practice. The module culminates in a substantial body of work that showcases your creativity, professionalism, and artistic integrity.
Explore the realities of today's professional songwriting industry while developing the creative and collaborative skills needed to succeed within it. You'll gain experience of writing to commercial briefs, collaborating as part of a songwriting team, and presenting work to managers, publishers, and other industry professionals. Throughout the module, you'll refine your songwriting craft of songwriting while building the confidence, discipline, and professional awareness required for a career in the music industry.
Bring together the knowledge, skills, and creative practice developed throughout your course to produce a substantial self-directed project. Working independently, you'll plan, research, and realise a significant piece of work while critically evaluating the methods, techniques, and creative decisions that shape your project. You'll also reflect on the academic, ethical, and professional considerations involved, producing work that engages an academic, industry, or public audience.
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