Acting and Music

Acting and music are two performing arts disciplines that share deep roots. Both require you to inhabit a character or a piece fully, to communicate with precision and emotion, to collaborate with others, and to perform under pressure with technical and interpretive skill. Studying them together gives you a distinctive creative profile: the ability to use your voice, body, presence and musicianship in the service of storytelling, and an understanding of performance practice across both traditions.

At Liverpool Hope University, this three-year full-time degree develops your skills as a performer in both acting and music. The acting component is designed to equip you with the craft, knowledge and creative range to work on stage and screen, addressing technique, characterisation, rehearsal practice, physical and vocal training, and the repertoire of dramatic traditions you will need to draw on as a professional. The music component develops your instrumental or vocal performance, your understanding of musical style and history, and your capacity to collaborate with other musicians.

Bringing the two together creates opportunities for musical theatre, devised performance, and other forms of practice that draw on both skill sets. A sandwich year placement, a year abroad, and a work placement are all available, giving you significant professional and international experience to complement your training.

Performance, rehearsal and collaborative project work are central to the degree. You will develop discipline, resilience, creative flexibility and the ability to take and respond to direction, all of which are essential in professional performance contexts. Critical and reflective skills are also developed alongside practical ones.

Graduates move into professional acting, musical theatre, music performance, arts education, directing, community arts, casting, stage management, and a wide range of roles in the arts and entertainment industries. Further training and postgraduate study in drama, music or music theatre are well-established pathways.