MusM Music (Musicology)

University of Manchester

Course description

Our MusM Music (Musicology) course offers a solid master's-level foundation in musicology. With a strong focus on theory, methodology and current debates in the discipline, together with appropriate research techniques and presentational styles, it offers excellent preparation for doctoral study and also for applied work.

You will be able to choose units and a dissertation/critical edition topic that best matches your special interests and aspirations. Together, the taught units encompass a wide range of topics and approaches - from musicology as cultural history, through musicology and the body, source studies and performance practice, to postcolonial theory and postmodernism.

Seminars allow for close collaboration between lecturers and students, with ample opportunity for you to present your own work and receive individual feedback. Discussion and debate forms an important part of most course units.

You can also choose to take a placement unit where you will spend a minimum of 20 days over a period of up to 12 weeks with an arts and cultural organisation, business or service provider to gain valuable workplace experience.

Aims

We aim to:

• build on undergraduate studies of music and society and the cultural study of music, introducing you to a wide range of advanced methodologies, theories, discourses and practices;
• enable you to refine and develop your individual skills, talents and interests;
• prepare you for a career, either inside or outside music, where critical judgement and developed powers of communication are needed;
• foster the skills in critical thinking, argumentation, and effective written and oral communication necessary for further postgraduate study;
• enable you to gain an expert and detailed knowledge of a specialist topic, and to formulate ideas that can later be pursued within further research programmes.

Career opportunities

Our graduates have pursued successful careers in musical and non-musical fields. Some continue to further study via a PhD before securing an academic position. Some go on to teach in schools or further education, both in the UK and overseas.

Other areas of work for which advanced musical training has been directly relevant include arts management and the culture industries, music publishing, music journalism, librarianship, music therapy and performance.

Careers outside of music have included accountancy, law, social work and human resources.