MA Music: Musicology and Sound Studies pathway
Birmingham, United Kingdom
DURATION
1 up to 2 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline *
EARLIEST START DATE
Request earliest startdate
TUITION FEES
GBP 10,530 / per year **
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* for UK students | 7 May 2024 for international students
** for UK students full-time, £5,625 part-time | £23,310 for international students full-time
Introduction
The program features two core modules, allowing you to tailor the content to areas of specific interest with your choice of optional modules. This program is ideal for those who wish to extend their study of historical musicology and/or ethnomusicology further and explore particular topics in-depth, and it can also be used as a route into Ph.D. research.
The MA in Music at Birmingham offers first-class, world-recognised staff who are experts in their fields meaning students learn from people who really are the best at what they do.
Students study within the excellent facilities available at the Elgar Concert Hall, which is one of the most flexible concert halls of its type in any UK university.
Why Study this Course?
- Long-standing history – The Department of Music is one of the most distinguished in the UK, with a history stretching back to 1905 when Edward Elgar was appointed the University's first Professor of Music.
- Exceptional facilities – You will benefit from some of the best facilities for music study and practice in the country, including state-of-the-art facilities in our Bramall Music Building along with practice rooms, electro-acoustic music studios, early instruments, and computer workstations. We are also home to the Centre for Early Music Performance and Research (CEMPR); the Centre for Composition and Associated Studies (COMPASS); and Birmingham Electroacoustic Music Studios (BEAST).
- Employability – we have an excellent record of postgraduate employment, with many former students holding academic posts at institutions such as the University of Manchester, Edinburgh University, the University of Sheffield, the Royal Scottish Academic of Music and Drama, the University of Malaysia, and Harvard University.
- Flexibility - you have the opportunity to study this program full or part-time.
Career Opportunities
The University's Careers Network provides expert guidance and activities, especially for postgraduates, which will help you achieve your career goals. The College of Arts and Law also has a dedicated careers and employability team that offers tailored advice and a program of College-specific career events.
You will be encouraged to make the most of your postgraduate experience and will have the opportunity to:
- Receive one-to-one career advice, including guidance on your job applications, writing your CV, and improving your interview technique, whether you are looking for a career inside or outside of academia
- Meet employers face-to-face at on-campus recruitment fairs and employer presentations
- Attend an annual program of careers fairs, skills workshops, and conferences, including bespoke events for postgraduates in the College of Arts and Law
- Take part in a range of activities to demonstrate your knowledge and skills to potential employers and enhance your CV
What’s more, you will be able to access our full range of career support for up to 2 years after graduation.
Postgraduate Employability: Music
Birmingham's Music postgraduates work in a wide range of careers within and beyond the music world. A postgraduate degree in Music develops a broad base of skills including general skills such as communication, problem-solving, and research, and also specific skills developed through practice and performance such as self-management, teamwork, and presentation.
Over the past 5 years, 75% of Music postgraduates were in work and/or further study 6 months after graduation (DLHE 2012 - 2017). While some graduates pursue music-related careers or go on to teaching and lecturing roles, others choose to use their transferable skills to follow career paths in fields including teaching, social care, and publishing.
Gallery
Curriculum
Core Module
You will study two core modules:
Music as Critical Practice
This module introduces the aesthetics and criticism of contemporary music and sound art. Its themes cross the notation/sound-based divide and may include post-formalism and conceptual music; music and the Anthropocene; inter-and post-media art; music as social activism; music and posthumanism; music and the digital; music and contemporaneity; practice-based research. A key problem for twenty-first-century music is its relationship to what is not music, whether that be sound, the other arts, other media, or the social and political. We will explore this, discussing examples that challenge the legacies of high modernist formal aestheticism and medium specificity. But we will also reflect on what this situation means for our own practices as composers and musicologists, and in what ways writing music and music writing should change to reflect contemporary music's transmediality.
Assessment: Written project, Sound-based project, and Listening diary
Music Employability
Music Employability offers opportunities to develop applicable skills to foster a music career and identify transferable skills for adjacent career trajectories. You will improve your grant writing skills, cultivate public presentation skills, acquire skills in content creation, and explore new means of self-promotion. Using a combination of seminar discussions, masterclasses, and project-based work, you will draw on the resources of the University of Birmingham Careers Network and connections to the wider city community to pursue topics that may include leadership cultivation, digital literacy, professional development, copyright awareness, public presentation tools, podcast, and video creation, and website development.
Assessment: Professional Development Statement and Portfolio and Creative Project
Optional Modules
You will also choose optional five modules from a range that typically includes:
- Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art
- Sound Studies
- British Music in Performance
- Sonic Alchemy: Live Electronic and Mixed Music Ensemble
- Fieldwork Methods
- Introduction to Global Popular Musics
- Topics in Early Music
- Electronic Music Studies
- Historically Informed Performance
- Classical and Romantic Keyboard Music
- Gustav Mahler: The Philosophy of Music
- Postsocialist Music and Ethnography
Subject to availability, you may also select one relevant undergraduate Music module to take at the MA level (these modules change regularly). In addition, you may also take one relevant module from other College of Arts and Law MA programs.
Dissertation
In addition to your taught modules, you will conduct a piece of independent research with the support of a supervisor, culminating in a 13,500 - 16,500-word dissertation. Students are also required to attend and write short summaries of research seminars presented during the academic year.
Admissions
Program Tuition Fee
Scholarships and Funding
Scholarships and Studentships
Scholarships to cover fees and/or maintenance costs may be available. To discover whether you are eligible for any award across the University, and to start your funding application, please visit the University's Postgraduate Funding Database.
International students can often gain funding through overseas research scholarships, Commonwealth scholarships, or their home government.
Postgraduate loans
Government-backed Master's loans are available to help UK and EU students to finance their studies. For those starting courses after 1 August 2020, loans are available of up to £11,836 for Master's students in all subject areas. Criteria, eligibility, repayment, and application information are available on the UK government website.
Student Testimonials
Program delivery
We have three teaching terms per year, the autumn, spring, and summer terms. Term dates can be found on our website.
As a full-time student, you will typically take three modules in each of the first two terms, followed by your dissertation. If you are a part-time student, you will typically take three modules each year, followed by your dissertation.
Each module represents a total of 200 hours of study time, including preparatory reading, homework, and assignment preparation.