Program Overview

Music - BMus

Overview

The BMus (Hons) degree at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire will help you to realise your potential and prepare you for a career in the music profession, whether that is in performance, composition, or music technology.

What's covered in this course?

• In addition to benefiting from individual tuition in your specialist area, you will enjoy a range of activities designed to develop your artistry, musical fluency, and personal and professional awareness.
• You will find yourself immersed in regular masterclasses and performance or composition workshops. Individual ensemble coaching and playing and teaching techniques complete the picture, helping you to become a well-rounded musician.
• Top-flight singers and musicians – including baritone Roderick Williams, violinist Tasmin Little OBE, cellist Ben Davies, soprano Danielle de Niese, and pianist Stephen Hough – are among the many musicians who have worked with and inspired our students.
• In terms of Professional Development, you will also explore themes such as musicianship, history and performance practice, education, and outreach work, not to mention other topics such as health and wellbeing for performers, community music-making, conducting skills and other musical traditions.
• Towards the end of your course, you will embark on a final project that allows you to explore your personal musical aspirations. This can range from live performances to business projects; musicological dissertations to multi-media installations; educational events to professionally marketed recordings.

Why Choose Us?

• Top 15 in the UK for Music (Guardian League Table 2025).
• Our performance health programme — including performance coaching, physiotherapy, movement workshops and Alexander technique classes — allows students to develop as confident and effective performers.
• Individual specialist tuition throughout all four years of the course – far more than is typically offered by academic university music courses.
• We are recognised by the Association of European Conservatoires. All our tutors are professional musicians who bring a lifetime of musical experience and insight to their teaching.
• We have countless partnerships and long-established professional relationships with organisations including the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Welsh National Opera, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Orchestra of the Swan and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
• You will have full access to our superb £57 million facilities. These include our wonderful performance spaces: the 500-seat Bradshaw Concert Hall, the 150-seat Recital Hall, our black-box performance space known as “The Lab”, the Organ Studio, and our fabulous Eastside Jazz Club. We’ve not even mentioned our seven recording studios and more than 70 practice rooms, ensemble rooms and workshops in addition; all acoustically designed to provide a music-making environment that is absolutely world-class.

Entry Requirements

Essential requirements

• 32 UCAS Tariff points.
• Applicants will also need to complete an audition for this course; see audition arrangements below.

GCSE and other level 2 requirements

• This course does not require evidence of GCSE qualifications.

A Level, BTEC and other level 3 requirements

• Qualification| Entry requirements
  • A Level / AS Level |
    • A Level: 32 UCAS Tariff points / EE (or equivalent)
    • AS Level: Must be in a different subject to A Levels
    • A maximum of three subjects will be considered
  • Pearson BTEC (Diploma / Extended Diploma/ Extended Certificate) |
    • 32 UCAS Tariff points
    • Diploma accepted with one A Level or equivalent level 3 qualifications
    • Extended Certificate accepted with two A Levels or equivalent level 3 qualifications
  • T Level | Pass overall (E or above on the core) All subjects accepted
  • Access to HE Diploma | Pass with 60 credits, 45 credits at level 3 Accepted subjects: Arts, Media and Publishing subjects preferred but other subjects also considered
  • OCR Cambridge Technical qualifications | 32 UCAS Tariff points
  • NCFE CACHE Level 3 qualifications | 32 UCAS Tariff points
  • WJEC Level 3 qualifications |
    • 32 UCAS Tariff points
    • Considered with two A Levels or equivalent level 3 qualification(s)
  • Irish Leaving Certificate (Highers) | Minimum of 32 UCAS Tariff points, achieved in five Higher level subjects
  • Scottish Higher / Advanced Higher | 32 UCAS Tariff points from three Advanced Highers (DDD) or two Advanced Highers (DD) plus two Highers (DD)
  • Welsh Baccalaureate | 32 UCAS Tariff points. Considered with three A Levels or equivalent level 3 qualifications
  • UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma | Pass overall
  • Foundation Studies (Art and Design, and Art, Design and Media) | Pass overall

Audition arrangements

• Applications for this course are made via UCAS Conservatoires.
• Entry to the BMus (Hons) is by audition only. Applicants will be required to demonstrate general musical knowledge and musicianship skills, including harmony and aural. Audition requirements differ per instrument/specialism applied for. Visit Conservatoire audition requirements for full details.

Mature students

• Applications from mature students (21+) with alternative qualifications and/or considerable work experience will be considered on their merits.

International qualifications

• International Baccalaureate Diploma
  • Obtain a minimum of 24 points overall
• EU / International students
  • Please see your country page for further details on the equivalent qualifications we accept. In addition to the academic entry requirements listed above, IELTS 5.5 or equivalent is required in all four skills areas for international and EU students.

Fees & How to Apply

UK students

• Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
• Award: BMus
• Starting: Sep 2026
• Pathway: Composition
  • Mode: Full Time
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Fees: £9,535 in 2026/27
  • Apply via UCAS
• Award: BMus
• Starting: Sep 2026
• Pathway: Music Technology
  • Mode: Full Time
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Fees: £9,535 in 2026/27
  • Apply via UCAS
• Award: BMus
• Starting: Sep 2026
• Pathway: Performance
  • Mode: Full Time
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Fees: £9,535 in 2026/27
  • Apply via UCAS

International students

• Annual and modular tuition fees shown are applicable to the first year of study. The University reserves the right to increase fees for subsequent years of study in line with increases in inflation (capped at 5%) or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament. View fees for continuing students.
• Award: BMus
• Starting: Sep 2026
• Pathway: Composition
  • Mode: Full Time
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Fees: £28,460 in 2026/27
  • Apply via UCAS
• Award: BMus
• Starting: Sep 2026
• Pathway: Music Technology
  • Mode: Full Time
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Fees: £28,460 in 2026/27
  • Apply via UCAS
• Award: BMus
• Starting: Sep 2026
• Pathway: Performance
  • Mode: Full Time
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Fees: £28,460 in 2026/27
  • Apply via UCAS

Course in Depth

Year one

• In order to complete this course you must successfully complete one of the following principal study modules and all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
  • Principal Study: Performance 1 60 credits
  • Principal Study: Percussion 1 60 credits
  • Principal Study: Composition 1 60 credits
  • Principal Study: Music Technology 1 60 credits
  • Language of Music 1 20 credits
  • Contextual studies: Performance Traditions 1 20 credits
  • Professional Portfolio 1: Community Engagement 20 credits

Year two

• In order to complete this course you must successfully complete one of the following principal study modules and all the following CORE modules (totalling 120 credits):
  • Principal Study: Performance 2 60 credits
  • Principal Study: Percussion 2 60 credits
  • Principal Study: Composition 2 60 credits
  • Principal Study: Music Technology 2 60 credits
  • Language of Music 2 20 credits
  • Contextual Studies: Performance Traditions 2 20 credits
  • Professional Portfolio 2: Pedagogy and Practice 20 credits

Year three

• In order to complete this course you must successfully complete one of the following Principal Study modules and all the following CORE modules (totalling 100 credits):
  • Principal Study: Performance 3 60 credits
  • Principal Study: Percussion 3 60 credits
  • Principal Study: Composition 3 60 credits
  • Principal Study: Music Technology 3 60 credits
  • Language of Music: Specialism 1 20 credits
  • Contextual Studies: Specialism 1 20 credits

Year four

• In Year four, all students will select a total of 120 credits which must include one module from List A (Principal Study), one module from List B (Project) at least 20 and no more than 40 credits from list C (indicative list of optional modules).
  • List A: Principal Study 40 - 60 credits
    • Final Recital (40 credits)
    • Final Recital (60 credits)
    • Final Composition Portfolio (40 credits)
    • Final Composition Portfolio (60 credits)
    • Final Music Technology Portfolio (40 credits)
    • Final Music Technology Portfolio (60 credits)
  • List B: Project 20 - 60 credits
    • Final Project (20 credits)
    • Final Project (40 credits)
    • Final Project (60 credits)
  • List C: Options 20 credits
    • Further pedagogy (20 credits)
    • Music, Community and Wellbeing (20 credits)
    • Language of Music: Specialisms 2 (20 credits)
    • Contextual Studies: Specialisms 2 (20 credits)
    • Professional development (20 credits)
    • Work Placement (20 credits)

Employability

Enhance Employability Skills

• All of the UK's Conservatoires aim to do the same thing: to train students for the music profession with the emphasis firmly on your principal study, whether that is in performance, composition or music technology.
• As a vocational programme, it is easy to see how all your principal-study work adds to your professional development. Yet Royal Birmingham Conservatoire believes other areas of the course are just as important: the skills in writing, research, communication and critical and reflective thinking that you develop in the academic modules are exactly the types of graduate skills that make you more employable in any area of professional life, musical or otherwise.

Placements

• There are variety of extracurricular schemes that take students out of the Conservatoire and into the professional world. Numerous professional engagements for students are administered through the Conservatoire’s Book a Musician service, which provides direct experience of paid professional work.
• We also run a number of placement schemes. These include long-running schemes with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), the Orchestra of the Swan, and the Welsh National Opera where students participate actively or as observers; a collaboration with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group (BCMG) which gives composition students the opportunity to have their music played by experienced professionals who also give feedback; and many other partnerships with organisations including:
  • BBC Radio 3
  • Welsh National Opera
  • Arco Project
  • Leamington Festival
  • THSH
  • Birmingham Cathedral
  • St Chads
  • Birmingham Opera Company
  • Birmingham Philharmonic Orchestra
  • Dudley Arts
  • Heartlands Hospital
  • Birmingham Music Service
  • Birmingham Royal Ballet
  • Jazzlines
  • Town Hall Symphony Hall
  • and for pedagogy/education specific projects:
  • Music in Hospitals and Care
  • Air Arts, Derby Royal Hospital
  • Birmingham Children's Hospital
  • Elmhurst Ballet School
  • Services for Education Music Service
  • Sandwell Music Service
  • Warwick School
  • Calthorpe Academy
  • In Harmony

Facilities & Staff

• UK prospective students
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• Non-UK prospective students
  • E: International enquiry form
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• Already applied?
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