Music BA (Hons)
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UCAS Code: W300|Duration: 3|Full Time|Creative Campus
UCAS Campus Code: L46
Work placement opportunities|International students can apply|Study Abroad opportunities
About the course
Liverpool Hope University is in a famous music city, making it a great place to earn a music degree. Liverpool has a vibrant music scene. It includes popular, classical, jazz, folk, electronic, and experimental music. Our university is a great place for both creative work and academic study.
Our BA Music course lets students dive into many musical areas. They can perform, compose, and produce music. They also engage critically with various genres. These include popular, classical, jazz, electronic, and world music traditions.
Why choose our Music course?
- An inclusive approach to all genres, helping students explore their interests and new styles
- A broad curriculum that builds skills in performance, composition, and academic study
- Opportunities to perform and compose in university ensembles and student-led groups
- Expert staff who are active in professional music beyond the university
The School of Creative and Performing Arts is in the Capstone building on our Creative Campus. It is one of the few All-Steinway Music Schools in the UK. It has a Steinway Model D in the Capstone Theatre. There are soundproof rehearsal and recording rooms. Plus, it offers a wide range of instruments and technology for every genre.
Our music programme also supports multi-instrumentalists with one-on-one tuition and performance chances. Students get hands-on experience with groups like Liverpool Sound City, Immix Ensemble, Liverpool Hope Metropolitan Orchestra, Ditto Music, and The Vocal Booth studio. Guest lectures by industry pros give students a peek into the music world. They help prepare students for successful careers.
Join Liverpool Hope University’s vibrant music community. Take the next step in your creative and professional journey with our music degree.
Course structure
Our Music programme is carefully designed to:
1. Balance a broad range of skills with the opportunity to deeply explore your specific musical interests.
2. Offer exposure to a wide variety of experiences that reflect the current music industry.
3. Foster an environment that promotes high-level musicianship and critical engagement with music.
These goals are guided by our commitment to diversity, accessibility, and sustainability in music education.
Teaching on this music degree is delivered through lectures, seminars, and tutorials, with regular one-to-one meetings with your tutor. All Music students receive 15 hours of one-to-one tuition on their chosen instrument or voice each academic year, with additional hours available for scholarship or bursary recipients.
Teaching hours:
- Single honours: First-year students have around 14 hours per week, reducing to 12 hours in the second year and 9 hours in the third year.
- Combined honours: First-year students have around 8 hours per week, reducing to 7 hours in the second year and 6 hours in the third year.
In addition to teaching hours, students are expected to dedicate approximately 30 hours per week to independent study, including group work for collaborative assessments. Extra-curricular musical ensembles are a key part of the curriculum, and active participation is expected from all students.
Students also attend a series of compulsory concerts and events, designed to complement the music studied in class and provide additional real-world context and enrichment.
Assessment and feedback
During your music course, you will complete a variety of assessments, including written and practical exams, portfolios of compositions and written pieces, reports, and essays.
Feedback is an integral part of your learning experience and comes in several forms:
- In-class feedback: Tutors provide regular guidance during lectures and seminars
- Performance feedback: Receive personalised input during one-to-one instrumental or vocal lessons
- Composition feedback: Gain additional insights from the musicians performing your works in Composition workshops
- Formal submissions: Written feedback for essays, exams, and portfolios is typically provided within four working weeks. You can always request further clarification through a meeting with your tutor
It’s important to note that feedback differs from a mark. While marks indicate your performance numerically, feedback focuses on your strengths, areas for improvement, and practical suggestions for development. Some feedback sessions may also include presentations to the whole group, offering a broader perspective on how a task was approached.
Year One
In the first year of your Music degree, you will be introduced to the key disciplines within the field of music and the fundamental technologies that support them, including:
- Musicianship & Performance: Explore solo and ensemble repertoire across diverse musical styles while developing essential musicianship skills
- Composition: Learn fundamental compositional techniques applicable across a wide range of musical genres
- Musicology: Develop critical and creative listening skills with an inclusive approach to different genres and areas of music study
- Music Technology: Gain fluency in current software for recording, editing, and manipulating audio while engaging with the concepts, ethical considerations, and sustainable practices that shape music technology
- Music Theory and Analysis: Build skills in various music theory styles—including Western art music, popular music, and jazz—developing intermediate theory and analysis abilities across multiple genres
For students on the single honours Music programme, further study complements these core disciplines, including:
- Music Performance: Deepen your skills in ensemble performance, stagecraft, improvisation, and evaluating professional performance
- Composition: Expand your knowledge in arranging, orchestration, songwriting, and music for moving image.
- Creative Leadership: Develop as a leader in the creative arts by exploring contemporary issues in music, professionalism, and employability skills
- Music Studies: Examine diverse case studies from classical, popular, and traditional music-making around the world—covering Europe, Latin America, Africa, Oceania, Asia, the Middle East, and North America—enhancing your intellectual curiosity and skills as a critical music scholar through cross-disciplinary approaches
Year Two
In your second year of the Music degree, you will build on the skills developed in your first year, with further study in:
- Musicianship and Performance: Continue developing the skills needed to achieve a high standard of performance and overall musicianship
- Composition: Explore compositional concepts and processes in greater depth, enhancing your creative output
- Applied Musicology: Apply conceptual approaches to music studies across a wide range of musical styles
- Creative Practitioner: Learn to apply your creative practice toward developing a sustainable career in music, with a focus on areas such as music education, publishing, promotion, and event planning
This year emphasises connecting students as creative practitioners with the wider community.
For single honours Music students, additional study includes:
- Musical Specialisms: Develop expertise in specific areas of performance or composition, guided by specialised staff practice
- Technology for Musicians: Explore the role of technology in live sound environments and its interaction with musicianship
- Studies in Popular Music: Enhance your analytical, critical reading, and writing skills while investigating theoretical approaches to popular music
- Applied Music Theory: Further develop theory skills from Year One, applying analytical frameworks to your own music practice
- Professionalism and Employability: Receive guidance on leadership, professionalism, and employability skills to prepare for a career in music
You will continue individual lessons on your chosen instrument or voice, and attend a series of compulsory concerts and events throughout the year to support and enrich your studies across the programme.
Year Three
In your final year of the Music degree, you will focus on refining your skills and preparing for life as a professional musician. Your studies will include:
- Music Performance: Tackle advanced solo and ensemble repertoire with regular concert practice, developing the professional-level performance and presentation skills expected in the industry. This is supported by one-to-one instrumental or vocal tuition
- Composition: Refine your unique compositional style through projects modelled on real-world commissions and opportunities, while exploring the role of the composer within the wider arts ecosystem
- Advanced Applied Musicology: Apply conceptual approaches to music studies in greater depth across diverse musical styles
- Advanced Creative Practitioner: Strengthen your career-building skills by focusing on professional networking, articulating and pursuing career goals, and gaining real-world experience
For single honours Music students, additional areas of study include:
- Advanced Musical Specialisms: Deepen your expertise in specific areas of performance or composition aligned with your interests, supported by staff specialists
- Technology for Musicians: Explore how technology can enrich live performance through hardware and software for live audio processing, signal chains, performing to track, and creative interaction with technology on stage
- Advanced Music Studies and Analysis: Continue to develop advanced analytical, reading, writing, and critical thinking skills while exploring theoretical, historical, and ethical perspectives on music. Your creative practice will be informed by interdisciplinary approaches and critical engagement with music studies
A key feature of the third year is the Creative Research Project/Dissertation, where you will carry out an in-depth study based on your personal music interests. With support from academic supervisors, this project often serves as a launchpad into students’ professional careers as creative music practitioners.
Throughout the year, you will continue to receive one-to-one lessons on your chosen instrument or voice, alongside compulsory concerts and events that enhance your studies and connect you to the wider musical world.
Entry requirements
| A-Levels | BCC - BBB |
|---|---|
| UCAS Tariff Points | 104 - 120 UCAS Tariff points must come from a minimum of two A Levels (or equivalent). Additional points can be made up from a range of alternative qualifications |
| BTEC | DMM - DDM |
| Access to HE | 104 - 120 Tariff Points |
| IB | 26 |
| Irish Leaving Certificate | 104 - 120 Tariff Points from Higher Level qualifications only |
| Welsh Baccalaureate | This qualification can only be accepted in conjunction with other relevant qualifications |
| T-Levels | Merit |
| Subject Requirements | Applications should have a relevant level 3 qualification in music, for example A' Level Music, BTEC or equivalent. The ability to read and write music is essential, and we encourage applicants to be of at least ABRSM Grade 5 theory standard or the equivalent, although they need not necessarily have taken the ABRSM exam. An audition will be required for applicants who are not studying music A Level or BTEC. |
International entry requirements
| Specific Country Requirements | Select your country |
|---|---|
| IELTS | 6.0 overall (with reading and writing at 6.0) and no individual score lower than 5.5. We also accept a wide range of International Qualifications. For more information, please visit our English Language Requirements page. |
Careers
Graduating with a Music degree from Liverpool Hope University means leaving with a broad and versatile musical education, as well as the opportunity to specialise in areas that reflect your individual interests.
Many of our graduates choose to continue their studies at postgraduate level, with an increasing number progressing onto our MA Creative Music Practice course, or pursuing a teaching career through our PGCE programmes.
Our graduates also develop portfolio music careers in the private sector, working across performance, recording, production, composition, and music teaching. Others move into roles within the charity and public sectors, where they influence national music and arts initiatives and policy.
The skills you gain on this music course go far beyond technical musicianship. You will graduate with advanced practical and creative abilities, alongside transferable skills in critical and reflective thinking, communication, analysis, and business. These strengths open doors to a wide range of careers in both music-related industries and broader creative sectors.
In recent years, Liverpool Hope Music graduates have entered the commercial and management sectors, while others have launched their own specialist businesses. Students also benefit from enhanced career development opportunities during their degree, including work placements, SALA, and Study Abroad.
Our Music degree is designed to prepare you for success—whether you choose to continue in scholarship, enter the music industry, or build a career beyond it.
Enhancement opportunities
Work Placement Opportunities
In your third year of study, you have the opportunity to undertake a music-related work-based placement. Placements are available with a range of our partner organisations (including Wild Hope Records, the Vocal Booth, the English National Ballet, the European Opera Centre, and Liverpool's two cathedrals). Past students have recently also undertaken placements with the Angelfield Arts Festival, BBC Radio Merseyside, and in music education settings.
SALA
The Service and Leadership Award (SALA) is offered as an extra-curricular programme involving service-based experiences, development of leadership potential and equipping you for a career in a rapidly changing world. It enhances your degree, it is something which is complimentary but different and which has a distinct ‘value-added’ component. Find out more on our Service and Leadership Award page.
Study Abroad
As part of your degree, you can choose to spend either a semester or a full year of study at one of our partner universities as part of our Study Abroad programme. Find out more on our Study Abroad page.
Tuition fees
The tuition fees for the 2026/27 academic year are £9,535* for full-time undergraduate courses.
If you are a student from the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, your tuition fees will also be £9,535*.
The University reserves the right to increase Home and EU Undergraduate and PGCE tuition fees in line with any inflationary or other increase authorised by the Secretary of State for future years of study.
*subject to Council approval.
Additional costs
On top of your tuition fees, you need approximately £100 to buy core textbooks.
As part of your music course, you are expected to use your own instrument for practical sessions and performances. If your instrument is of high value, we strongly recommend arranging insurance (costs will vary depending on the instrument).
At the Creative Campus, we provide access to a range of equipment to support your studies, including pianos/keyboards, drum kits, and amplification equipment for use in classes and practice sessions.
You will also need to consider the cost of your accommodation each year whilst you study at university. Visit our accommodation pages for further details about our Halls of Residence.
Scholarships
We have a range of scholarships to help with the cost of your studies. Visit our scholarships page to find out more.
International tuition fees
The International Tuition fees for 2026/27 are £14,500.
Visit our International fees page for more information.
Course combinations
This course is also available as a Combined Honours degree with the following subjects: