Ready to Take It Further?
Applications for September 2027 are open. Apply online in 10 minutes.
UAL Level 3 Developing Band Skills and Live Gigs – Music Performance & Production Diploma
Perform live, be in a band, and build a real career in music. This is where you sharpen your performance and rehearsal skills, write and arrange your own music, and learn how the industry actually works, from promoting yourself and organising gigs to building a fanbase. Study one year for the Diploma, or two for the Extended Diploma, which prepares you for university, auditions and the industry with UCAS points behind you.
Got a question? Ask us
How you’ll learn
Perform Live. Learn the Business. Build Your Future.
At Level 3 you go deeper into performing and rehearsing as a band, writing and arranging your own music, and delivering engaging live sets. Alongside the playing, you’ll explore how the music industry actually works: how artists promote themselves, organise gigs, market themselves, and build a fanbase. You’ll research musical styles, artists and performance techniques, and use that knowledge to plan and improve your own work.
The two-year Extended Diploma is built around your next steps. It brings together everything you’ve learned and applies it to real outcomes: UCAS applications and personal statements, auditions, CVs, professional portfolios, and an extended final project of your own. It’s practical and gig-led, it takes real graft to earn, and it’s the first step on the journey to uni, work, or performing as a career.
Year 1 Units
- How to rehearse and perform effectively as a band
- Writing and arranging your own music
- Understanding roles within a band and live music setting
- Analysing different musical styles and performances
- Improving your work through reflection and feedback
- Researching artists, genres and live performances
- Planning rehearsals, setlists and gigs
- How the music industry works, including live events and gig promotion
- Marketing yourself as an artist or band, and building a fanbase
- An introduction to careers in the music industry
Year 2 Units
- Evaluating your skills and experience, and planning your progression
- Researching universities and music careers
- Writing a UCAS personal statement and CV
- Creating and presenting audition material
- Harvard referencing and industry-standard documents
- Planning and proposing an extended final project
Entry and progression
What you need and where it leads
- Entry requirements
- This course Level 3
- Further study
Entry requirements
- A minimum of 5 GCSEs at Grade 9-4 (or A-C) including English and Maths*, OR a Level 2 Electronic Music and Sound Production
- An audition — you’ll need to be experienced and proficient on your chosen instrument or vocals. A video audition will need to be submitted before your interview
- A genuine passion for performing live and building a career in music
*If you haven't yet achieved Grade 4 in Maths or English, you'll keep working towards them alongside your course, built into your timetable.
Not sure you meet these? Talk to us and we will help you find the right starting point.
Careers it can lead to
- Musicians £30,900 a year
- Arts Officers, Producers and Directors £36,200 a year
- Photographers, Audio-visual and Broadcasting Equipment Operators £27,800 a year
- Artists £35,100 a year
See all 14 careers
- Design Occupations £32,400 a year
- Other Skilled Trades £24,800 a year
- Records Clerks and Assistants £24,600 a year
- TV, Video and Audio Servicers and Repairers £30,900 a year
With further study or experience
- Managers and Directors in the Creative Industries £50,800 a year
- Electronics Engineers £47,700 a year
- Production and Process Engineers £44,100 a year
- Advertising Accounts Managers and Creative Directors £41,000 a year
- Graphic and Multimedia Designers £26,400 a year
- Environment Professionals £38,200 a year
Typical pay is the UK median for each job (Lightcast, October 2026).
Life on the course
See what it’s really like
Our facilities
Your Rehearsal Studio, Your Stage
Most of your time is spent playing, rehearsing and performing, not sat in a classroom. The rehearsal studios become your home.
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Excellent rehearsal studios
proper spaces to rehearse, jam and develop your sound as a band.
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The Café Indie performance link
a real venue connection where you play live to an audience.
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Real gigs and performances
perform regularly at college events and external venues, applying your rehearsal, research and planning skills for real.
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Expert-led tuition
learn from tutors with real industry experience, in a college that isn't like school.
Rehearsal Studios · Café Indie Venue Link · Regular Live Gigs
Student Voice
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Recording our first single was and a great opportunity. It was professionally mixed and mastered. It has been huge for us, a massive jump in our careers. Poet’s Corner is us now and we want to continue. The only way to go is up. We are doing something people only dream of doing. If it were not for the College, we would not have met, and we would not be where we are today.
For parents and carers
Supporting your child’s journey
Tutors With Real Experience
Our tutors bring real industry experience into the classroom. They teach what's actually used in the world of work, and students consistently say this is what makes the course work.
More than a Hobby
This is a practical course. There's real theory and real craft to learn, and students have to work to earn the qualification. It's about turning a genuine interest into a real skill set that hones their craft and gives them great work-ready transferable skills.
Real Career Prospects
These qualifications lead to real jobs. Our courses are built around the skills that employers are actually hiring for, locally and nationally.
Your next step
Apply now, come and see us first, or ask us anything.
Want to visit first?
FE Open Event – 19th January 202719th January 4:30pm to 7:00pm
Got a question?
Ask us about the course, entry requirements or funding.
Call 01724 281 111
What happens after you apply
1
You apply
Apply online and you’ll get a confirmation email.
2
You meet your tutor
We’ll invite you to an interview to talk through the course and your plans, and make sure it’s right for you.
3
You get an offer
We’ll email you a conditional or unconditional offer.
4
You get ready to start
Come to a taster session in the summer, then enrol in August, bringing your results.
