Music Durham University

Overview

Up to five specialisms will be offered each year: 

• Musicology (P1)
• Ethnomusicology (P2) 
• Composition (P3) 
• Performance (P4)
• Music and Science (P5)

The structure proposed here is broadly similar to courses offered by other Russell Group university music departments, including Bristol, York, and Birmingham, but has distinctive features informed by the department’s research strength in the emergent sub-discipline of Music and Science.

The Music MA course offered by Durham University will provide intellectually rigorous preparation for the study of music at an advanced level as an independent researcher in accordance with standard professional expectations attendant on the practice of research as articulated by the AHRC and other research councils. It not only affords opportunities for students to explore a chosen area of specialisation in-depth but provides a research culture that fosters inter-disciplinarity and exchange between sub-disciplines. The research training module is taken jointly by all MA students, and all sub-discipline modules will remain available for auditing by any MA student. The degree also facilitates the study of musical repertories from highly diverse international cultural contexts, thereby fostering intercultural dialogue.

Course Learning and Teaching

The course is delivered through a mixture of seminars, practical sessions and one-to-one supervision. Seminars provide opportunities for you to discuss and debate particular issues, and to present your own original work, informed by the knowledge that you have gained through independent study outside the course’s formal contact hours. Practical sessions in areas such as studio or field recording techniques help to prepare you for your own independent work. All students must undertake an independent project (dissertation, composition portfolio, or performance), which is developed with the help of one-to-one expert supervision. Finally, optional modules can be drawn from the undergraduate and postgraduate courses of Music or of other departments –these free-choice modules may involve other forms of staff-student contact, depending on the subject area. The Department actively promotes interdisciplinary approaches to the study of music and you are encouraged to engage with other disciplines in the humanities and sciences.