Graduate Diploma in Vocal Performance

Royal College of Music

The RCM’s Graduate Diploma in Vocal Performance is designed to equip graduate singers from a non-conservatoire background with the skills to progress to Masters level study at a conservatoire.

This specialist one-year full-time programme is primarily intended for graduates from three-year degree programmes. It provides a learning experience equivalent to the final year of an undergraduate performance degree at the RCM.

During your time on the Graduate Diploma you will build or reinforce a solid vocal technique, while developing your skills in languages and movement. Singers who demonstrate potential for significant vocal achievement, but who lack formal grounding, will have the opportunity to develop their repertoire knowledge.

By the end of the year you will have developed a vocal technique suitable for the demands of Masters level study at a conservatoire. You will be familiar with a broad range of vocal repertoire, coupled with a core of works known in more detail. In addition, you will have a strong grasp of the principal European languages of the vocal repertoire, and an informed awareness of style in performance. Your movement skills and knowledge of stagecraft will have advanced and you will begin to develop the ability to combine these with vocal accomplishment in operatic performance.

Through this year of intensive study you will develop an understanding of potential routes for further study and/or career development, based upon your own critical self-evaluation and an awareness of the demands and opportunities of the profession.

If you achieve a result of 65% or more at the end of the course, you will automatically have the opportunity to progress to RCM Masters study (MMus or MPerf) in vocal performance. This progression route allows you to focus on your technical development during the Graduate Diploma without interruption for Masters audition preparation.

Learning & teaching

You will learn through performances, one-to-one tuition, larger group tuition, seminars, faculty and academic classes, directed rehearsals, masterclasses, competitions and supervised study. Rehearsal and performance contact time will vary according to each student’s discipline and chosen study options.