Popular Music Performance (Vocals) MMus

Institute of Contemporary Music Performance

The music industry has seen a rise in demand for talented and qualified vocalists at a time when the power of vocals to lift spirits and change lives has never been more important.

This highly personalised vocal-specific master’s course will see you elevate your vocal creativity and already advanced performance skills in a supportive and nurturing environment.

Whether you’re currently working in the music industry as a musician, vocalist or singing teacher, looking to change careers, or continuing your studies with a postgraduate degree, this inspiring programme will take your vocal talents to the next level.

With the ability to study the master’s as either a one-year full-time or two-year part-time course, this flexible and tailored programme will see you advance your vocal technical ability – studying topics including Alexander technique, Fitzmaurice Voicework and Breathing Coordination – while deepening your performance skills, academic research and critical reasoning capabilities.

As an MMus Vocal student, you’ll be expected to engage in independent self-directed study but with support and guidance from ICMP’s highly experienced professional teaching faculty. During your studies, you’ll be encouraged to focus on your individual learning requirements, while accessing essential resources, and designing and implementing a plan to achieve your goals.

All MMus Vocal masters students complete a substantial practice-as-research vocal performance project, which leads to the creation of a significant body of vocal recital work. With supervision and support from an ICMP Vocal tutor, you can decide upon the form your project takes – whether a live or live-streamed vocal performance, video-recorded voice recital, written dissertation or more.

In addition to four advanced-level core units, you’ll select one of three optional modules to study, which span the use of music in health and wellbeing, an investigation of a performance tradition, or study of vocal pedagogy for prospective singing teachers.

This course will see you regularly collaborating with our wider MMus cohort – all extremely high-calibre instrumentalists, vocalists and performers. You’ll explore your musical management and leadership skills as you perform the role of ensemble musical director, leading to a performance of challenging existing and original repertoire. You’ll also benefit from an ongoing schedule of special guest musicians, vocalists and lecturers from the wider creative industries who’ll discuss their different approaches and philosophies with you.

As an MMus Vocal student, music technology and digital diversity will be a central focus of your learning and you’ll have direct access to ICMP’s world-class facilities. Filled with industry-standard software, hardware and instruments – including multiple recording studios, dedicated performance spaces and high-tech Mac labs – you can book all of these free of charge outside of class time, seven days a week.

The MMus Popular Music Performance (Vocal) postgraduate course will take you on a journey that will change the way you think about yourself as both a vocalist and a person. You’ll graduate with the skills, motivation and self-reliance to create and sustain a successful portfolio career as a talented vocalist, music professional or educator.