Popular Music

This course is designed for practising musicians who want to understand the technical environment within which commercial music takes place. 

This is one of the few courses of its type in the country and is designed to equip you with the ability to interact and innovate within a vibrant environment, nurturing a specialism in popular music and related industries. The area of popular music is a dynamic, well established creative aspect of the music industry involving sophisticated craft, technical, analytical and scholarly approaches. 

You will develop a wide range of disciplines through performance, composition, technology, media production and musicology. You will also develop an in-depth appreciation of the increasing significance of popular music in economic and professional terms. 

Here's what you can expect from this course: 

• You'll explore popular music performance, composition and production together with music technology. We'll help you to develop your creative and entrepreneurial flair so you can respond to technological and artistic innovations in the industry. 
• You'll develop your skills on your chosen instrument through group based learning activities. You'll also develop your expertise in composition and song writing and will study the social and business context of the world of commercial music. 
• You'll have regular opportunities to perform in public, and we'll encourage you to take part in the local music scene. 
• You will be taught by experienced lecturers, many with international research portfolios and current professional experience. 
• You will be inspired by our recording studios and rehearsal facilities, which will enable you to produce professional quality recordings of your performances. 
• You will benefit from our strong links with the music industry and will be invited to participate in our yearly Music Production Show, with guest presentations from industry professional such as: Sound on Sound, Avid, Yamaha, Ableton and Focusrite. 

Take a look at the professional Music facilities at Markeaton Street:

The music technology part of the course covers the technology of the recording studio, video production, along with the application of music software on digital audio workstations and the production/post-production of music for a variety of commercial applications.‌

You could enhance your skills further, by going on to study our MA Music Production. 

Please note that our modules are subject to change - we review the content of our courses regularly, making changes where necessary to improve your experience and graduate prospects.

The timetable contains around 12 hours of contact with staff a week, with the remainder of the academic week engaged in directed study. All modules are supported through UDo, the University of Derby Online, so you have access to essential support materials at any time of the day or night.

Facilities 

You’ll discover a superb range of music making facilities at our Markeaton Street site, including state-of-the-art recording studios, rehearsal space, music technology labs and three post-production rooms equipped with latest software.  

The University has invested almost £350,000 in these facilities, ensuring you have access to resources which match those of professional studios in the UK and overseas. We offer a wide range of instruments, amplifiers and outboard gear on which you can develop your skills, together with a classic 48-channel Neve recording console. 

We are one of the leading universities conducting research into surround-sound technologies and all of our control rooms accommodate 5.1 speaker arrays. We also have a surround-sound research lab which has a 40-speaker ambisonics surround speaker array allowing height and depth parameters.

While these studio facilities will provide an excellent setting for your taught sessions, they are also available for you to book at other times to fine-tune your personal music projects. You will also be encouraged to hone your performance skills at venues across the city.

Learning and assessment

A variety of assessment methods will be used. Some Popular Music modules are assessed through coursework only, others by a combination of coursework, portfolios, assignments, case studies, oral and graphic presentations, collaborative and interdisciplinary team work projects, computer testing and examinations, so providing a flexible and effective means of assessing your progress. Assessments are designed to enable you to demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes for your module. An assessment component may sometimes take the form of a number of small submissions eg lab reports or short in-class tests.

The two major music projects during your final year will focus on developing your professional practice in both performance and composition. The aim is to maximise your potential for securing employment in the creative industries.

You will be taught by very experienced lecturers, many with international research portfolios and current professional experience.

Our graduates are equipped for employment within the modern commercial music sector as performers, composers, producers, educators, promoters, publishers, academics, recording studio engineers and entrepreneurial freelance musicians. They also work in a range of media organisations.  

Others have gone on to further study, at MA, MSc or PhD level, or successfully completing PGCE for school of college level teaching, some gaining QTS teaching qualifications for primary or secondary education. This enables them to become teachers, entering the primary and secondary education sector, lecturing for colleges of further education and freelance instrumental teaching. 

Notable graduates

• Charlotte Carpenter has gone on to become a successful performing artist. Take a look at Charlotte's YouTube channel
• Jake Graham and Chris Burns established the band Fahran performing at festivals around the UK and Europe; they have returned to headline the Popular Music Showcase two years in a row. See some of their work on the FahranTV YouTube channel
• Simon France is a Sound Technician at Curve Theatre, Leicester
• Nathan Lewis - music teacher at Birmingham Ormiston Academy 
• Luke Gibbs – Studio Engineer at Angelic Record Productions, Oxford

2025 entry

These are the typical qualification requirements for September 2025 entry.

Contextual offers may apply to students who meet certain criteria.

Offers will be made initially based on your application, including predicted grades and/or grades you have already achieved. Following this, if you submit a strong portfolio we will make you an unconditional offer, to reflect the quality of your work and your potential.

Additional entry requirements

• Portfolio: Recommended - view portfolio details

2025/26

Further information about our fees and support you may be entitled to.

Additional costs and optional extras

Additional information about your studies

Teaching hours

Like most universities, we operate extended teaching hours at the University of Derby, so contact time with your lecturers and tutors could be anytime between 9am and 9pm. Your timetable will usually be available on the website 24 hours after enrolment on to your course.

Course updates

The information provided on this page is correct at the time of publication but course content, costs and other individual course details do change from time to time and are updated as often as possible, so please do check these pages again when making your final decision to apply for a course. Any updated course details will also be confirmed to you at application, enrolment and in your offer letter.

If you are thinking about transferring onto this course (into the second year for example), you should contact the programme leader for the relevant course information as modules may vary from those shown on this page.