The MA in Music embraces your passion for music, providing the guidance, opportunities, and tools you’ll need to flourish in your chosen field. Our course encourages you to draw critically from others’ work and develop your own specialisms, be they in performance, composition, musicology, or a combination of these. As a Masters student, you’ll enjoy studying within a close-knit community, encountering a wide range of interests relating to diverse musical forms from across the globe.

Every Masters student takes a specialist core module, selected from a list of five options: musicology, ethnomusicology, composition, performance, and music psychology. This core module explores the various issues currently at the heart of the discipline while providing the skills and knowledge needed to carry out independent research at Masters level.

Relating to your chosen specialism, you’ll also work closely with one of the Department’s experts to produce a major project in the form of a dissertation, portfolio of compositions, or performance. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to delve deeply into specific musical practices that you find particularly fascinating. Additionally, our Masters programme includes a Research Methods and Resources module (compulsory for all but the Performance specialists) while offering a wide range of elective modules to choose from.

We pride ourselves on being one of the leading music departments in the UK, offering innovative courses and producing cutting-edge music research. As a postgraduate, you will have access to state-of-the-art facilities, including recording studios, practice and rehearsal rooms, our concert room, and an instrument collection. In addition, the University library contains a wide collection of books, scores, and CDs, and offers a rich range of online resources.