BA (Hons) Songwriting Institute of Contemporary Music Performance Degree level: Undergraduate Awarded by: University of East London

Course summary

The BA (Hons) Songwriting is a practically focused, industry-led course designed for those looking to become professional songwriters.

As a specialist music education provider, we don’t attempt to ‘teach’ you how to write songs but, instead, guide you through a structured and personalised journey that enables you to develop your own individual writing ability and style. Each week, you’ll explore the art and craft of contemporary songwriting, and will write at least two songs to brief which cover a range of topics, styles, genres and approaches. You’ll collaborate with other ICMP students to showcase your material with a professional band and will engage in small group ‘A&R-style’ feedback and critical discussion with your professional songwriting tutors and talented peers, regularly critiquing each other ’s works-in-progress across all three years of the degree.

Our core aim is to nurture your individuality and independence as a writer and empower you with the knowledge, skills and understanding required to establish and maintain a songwriting career, in whatever form you choose. You’ll achieve this with the help of our impressive teaching faculty, made up of highly practiced songwriters and producers, all of whom have active careers in both the music industry and the higher education sector.

The degree offers many opportunities for collaborative work, both within ICMP and with the wider music and creative industries, providing excellent opportunities for building your showreel and networking within the music business. The final year sees a research-based dissertation and frequent interaction with established industry professionals, allowing students to leave ICMP ‘career-ready ’. By the time you graduate, you’ll have a deep understanding of the discipline of songwriting; an impressive creative repertoire of work; a grasp of the history and culture of songwriting; solid production and recording skills; and expertise in musicianship, business, entrepreneurship and live performance. You’ll also have gained a working knowledge of the way the music industry operates, thanks to regular songwriting-specific masterclasses and events, visits from industry specialists, and ICMP’s connection with the wider London music industry.

This course will prepare you for a career in the music industry, in jobs such as performing songwriter, producer, standalone songwriter, songwriting tutor and music business executive, or you can progress to further postgraduate study in songwriting.

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