Music

Course details 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.

Why Durham University? Durham’s Department of Music is a vibrant and stimulating environment which is internationally recognised for its expertise. We provide an enriching experience to help develop the creativity that is essential in the world of music. We pride ourselves on being one of the leading music departments in the UK, offering innovative courses and producing cutting-edge music research. Areas of expertise comprise musicology, music analysis, ethnomusicology, music psychology, performance, and acoustic and electroacoustic composition. We offer a flexible MA with guidance on choosing the subject that is in tune with personal interest and aspiration, and which can be studied on a part-time or full-time basis. One of the highlights of our taught MA programme is the joy in becoming part of a vibrant international music-loving postgraduate community and studying with scholars, composers, and performers who have achieved international recognition in their fields.

Facilities Our cutting-edge facilities include a beautiful concert room, four fully equipped practice rooms, three studios with production equipment offering analogue and digital technology. Our recording studio comprises a control room and up to three recording rooms, with state-of-the-art equipment. We also have an audio-visual documentation and analysis laboratory, a music and science lab and a fully equipped music technology workshop.

Career Opportunities Postgraduates are able to seek a range of careers in music or to use the transferable skills they develop in a different setting. You will have an excellent grounding that will serve you well if you wish to continue research at a higher level. The same skills and knowledge will also help meet ambitions to gain rewarding careers in a range of fields including for example: performance, teaching, arts administration/management, broadcasting, journalism, and music production. We help with professional development by preparing postgraduates for the world of employment, providing opportunities to work as teaching and research assistants, to disseminate research, and to participate in dedicated training courses.