Popular Music (Top-Up) BA (Hons)

Course Content

• Course Details

  The Popular Music top-up course at the University of Northampton is the final year of the undergraduate degree. Having already developed the skills and qualifications for years 1 and 2, in year 3 with us you’ll be able to focus from within a range of options including some of the following: Professional Project or do a Popular Music Dissertation, Performance 3, Music and Sound Design for Media, Advanced Recording and Production, Music Education, Pop and the State, and The Philosophy of Music.

  This top-up third year will allow you to hone your already considerable skills in music performance, music technology as well as academic knowledge and communication. Given the different options available you could choose to focus on the academic aspect of your profile or go for a more practical musician industry approach.

  Our modules are informed by staff actively researching, composing, performing and publishing in their specialist areas within the music industry. The skills, knowledge and experience you acquire with us will help you develop the necessary analytical and creative skills, to aid you when evaluating and implementing real-life practice.

  Please note the modules shown here relate to the academic year 24/25. The modules relating to the academic year 25/26 will be available from June 2025.

  • Stage 1
    • Pop and the State (20 Credits)
      Module code: MUS3125

      Status: Designate
      This module examines the relationship between popular music and the political sphere. In the first instance the focus will be on the role of the state in providing legislative frameworks that inform musical practice. Secondly it will examine how popular music has engaged with protest music, political activism and censorship.
    • Music and Sound Design for Media (20 Credits)
      Module code: MUS3127

      Status: Designate
      This module is designed to develop skills in audio production and sound design. Through lectures, seminars and workshops, students will gain an understanding of the context of sound design in media applications including location based media, film and computer games.
    • Performance 3 (20 Credits)
      Module code: MUS3128

      Status: Designate
      This module gives the student the opportunity to apply their musical knowledge in areas such as performance, song writing, composition and/or arrangement. The focus is towards collaborative work with accompanying musicological analytic write ups.
    • Music Education (20 Credits)
      Module code: MUS3130

      Status: Designate
      The Music Education module has been designed to bridge between undergraduate study and post-compulsory teaching qualifications. Much of the content is drawn from PGCE level accompanied by a placement. This module prepares students for teaching by providing information about a wide range of teaching and learning methodologies, theories and practice.
    • The Philosophy of Music (20 Credits)
      Module code: MUS3135

      Status: Designate
      Continuing from the work done in Cultural Theory, this module broadens the study beyond the postmodern culture and into the realms of the analytical and the metaphysical. This module explores the lasting legacy of Enlightenment philosophy on contemporary popular music. In particular students will examine how analytical and metaphysical philosophical traditions and approaches have shaped contemporary popular musical practice across a broad range of styles and genres. Critical thinking is the process of active engagement with texts, theories, ideas and information, and it is the basis for any success in the battle of ideas.
    • Advanced Recording and Production: Client Demos (10 Credits)
      Module code: MUS3143

      Status: Designate
      The module will enable students to develop their recording and production skills to an advanced level in order to produce recordings which are ready for commercial release on our NN1_Records label. Projects will be achieved by working at the University studio and through working with external partners.
    • Advanced Recording and Production: Final Product (10 Credits)
      Module code: MUS3144

      Status: Designate
      The module will enable students to ensure their recording and production skills are to an advanced level by producing recordings which are ready for commercial release on our NN1_Records label. Projects will be achieved by working at the University studio and through working with external partners.
    • Professional Project 40 (40 Credits)
      Module code: MUS4121

      Status: Designate
      This module is for students intending to work in practice-based areas of contemporary music and for students interested in developing a project in a related field of popular music that may be either more entrepreneurial or theoretical.
    • Popular Music Dissertation (40 Credits)
      Module code: MUS4125

      Status: Designate
      This module provides an opportunity for students to develop, at length, a particular disciplinary interest. This may derive either from study in the first two years of the degree, or from reading and/or practice activities on their own initiative. In either case, they will bring to bear on their subject matter the analytical techniques learnt during their degree.

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