MMus Music & Culture
Dublin, Ireland
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
EUR 22,600 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* fee per year for nonEU students I fee per year EUR 9300 for EU students
Introduction
The cutting-edge research that lies at the heart of our taught MMus programme has both an Irish grounding and a worldwide reach. We offer students the opportunity to work closely with scholars of international standing in the School’s core disciplines of ethnomusicology, historical musicology and composition. Students take foundation modules in two of these three areas. This provides a solid and diverse methodological foundation from which to progress to specialist modules, where students choose from a wide range of topics based on the research specialisms of our staff. Some of these, including “Sounding Ireland Onscreen” and “Contemporary Music in Ireland, Britain and North America,” display the programme’s deep engagement with Irish musical culture. Others enable students to explore musical practices stretching through history and across the globe, from ‘Creating the Musical Self in Medieval Europe’ to ‘A History of Electronic Music’. These specialist studies provide the perfect springboard for students to carry out their own independent research projects, with which the programme culminates, resulting in either a dissertation or a portfolio of compositions.
Overall, the degree furnishes students with the core intellectual tools for pursuing research and creative practices in musicology, ethnomusicology or composition, while also facilitating specialisation and encouraging independent scholarship. Students form an integral part of our lively, collaborative research culture and engage regularly with visiting seminar speakers. For those students who want to go on to doctoral study, our faculty are experienced in supporting them to develop research ideas and funding proposals. Our graduates also go on to a range of related careers in the arts and cultural heritage sector, media, teaching, and many other professions.
The UCD School of Music is one of the leading centres for graduate musical study in Ireland and a QS World Top 100 Performing Arts department.
Ideal Students
Who Should Apply?
Full-Time option suitable for:
- Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
- International (Non-EU) applicants: Yes
Part-Time option suitable for:
- Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
- International (Non EEA) applicants: No
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Non-EU students are advised to apply by March 1 to receive a decision on course entry in time to apply, if successful in gaining a place on the course, for the UCD Global Excellence Scholarships, which can cover up to 100% of fees (deadline 31 March). The School of Music also offers scholarships specifically in historical musicology, ethnomusicology, and composition, for both EU and non-EU students.
Curriculum
Stage 1 Core Modules
- Doing Research
- New Ideas in Musicology
- Graduate Colloquium
Stage 1 Options - A) Min 2 of:
- Foundations in Ethnomusicology
- Foundations in Hist Musicology
- Foundations in Composition
Stage 1 Options - B)20CR:
- The Symphony in Europe
- Sounding Ireland Onscreen
- A History of Electronic Music
- Contemporary Music in Ireland, Britain, and North America
- Applied Ethnography
- Fieldwork
- Creating the Musical Self in Medieval Europe
Stage 1 Options - C) Min 1 of:
- Dissertation
- Composition Portfolio
Program Outcome
On completion of the programme, students should:
- Have developed a specialised understanding of the principal recent developments and trends within at least two of the core disciplines of historical musicology, ethnomusicology and composition, and be conversant with a wide range of methodological and interdisciplinary approaches;
- Have acquired an understanding of how current Irish musical and musicological discourses relate to those in broader international contexts;
- Have developed, if taking composition options, a good command of a range of compositional techniques in different styles and genres;
- Be able to undertake independent research and deal confidently with the various forms of primary evidence available for research in historical musicology and ethnomusicology;
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of diverse academic viewpoints;
- Unable to deliver oral presentations clearly and confidently, and engage constructively in group discussions;
- Be able to analyse primary and secondary evidence, place it in context, and assess its reliability;
- Demonstrate the ability to participate appropriately in an academic community;
- Have developed solid writing skills including the ability to engage in rigorous and original research-based work;
- Have developed a range of transferable skills and experience, including disciplined work methods, rigorous, and analytical and imaginative thinking, which would facilitate scholarly progression in music and musicology, but also within a wide range of professional contexts
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Many alumni of the MMus Degree have progressed to successful careers in arts administration, teaching, and arts journalism and broadcasting, with recent graduates going on to the BBC, RTÉ (radio and television) and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
Other former students have gone on to pursue doctoral work in musicology and ethnomusicology at internationally renowned institutions such as The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, King’s College London, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Our graduates occupy academic posts throughout Ireland and the UK (including Royal Holloway, Goldsmiths, Leeds, Birmingham and Manchester) and further afield (including Queensland and Sydney)