Music

Songwriting as a formal area of study takes seriously what has sometimes been treated as purely intuitive, the craft of constructing songs that communicate, resonate, and endure. A song is a small and precise piece of work, combining melody, harmony, rhythm, lyric, and arrangement into something that must achieve its effect in a few minutes. Studying songwriting means developing all of these elements deliberately: understanding how hooks are built, how lyrical storytelling works, how different commercial and artistic genres have developed their conventions, and how to refine ideas through rewriting and collaboration.

At the University of Hull this three-year full-time programme develops the range of musical and technical skills that contemporary songwriting practice demands, alongside the collaborative abilities needed to work confidently across professional contexts. You will explore songwriting across styles and contexts, developing your musical vocabulary and your ability to work both individually and in creative partnerships. You will engage with the recording and production processes that give songs their final form, understanding how production choices shape how music is received.

Hull's music community and the university's creative environment provide a supportive context for developing your practice.

Graduates from music songwriting programmes pursue careers as recording artists, touring performers, professional songwriters writing for other artists, session musicians, and in music production and music publishing. The industry offers many paths, from independent release to working within the commercial music system, and the combination of creative and technical skills the degree develops is relevant across all of them. Some graduates move into adjacent areas including music supervision, A&R, and artist management, while others use their musical knowledge and professional skills in music education and community music practice.