Music and Cultural History

Course details

The one-year MA in Music and Cultural History is a progressive alternative to conventional postgraduate courses in musicology, and it draws on the perse expertise of internationally renowned scholars to combine the very best of traditional and contemporary scholarly practice.

During the course you will be presented with the opportunity to acquire and develop core musicological skills, including research techniques, the critical editing of music, and the close reading and analysis of musical texts. You will also engage with some of the most exciting developments in recent music scholarship, including:

• explorations of politics,
• gender and sexuality in music
• race and ethnicity in music
• (dis)ability in music
• the interaction of music with other media 
• musical globalisation
• the manifold issues in today's popular music and culture, and
• the new links being formed between musicology and other disciplines such as film studies, cultural studies, postcolonial theory, and philosophy.

Course Details

The MA in Music and Cultural History offers a well-rounded but focused introduction to methodologies and issues in contemporary musicology. It presents you with an opportunity to expand your familiarity with musical repertoire, deepen your engagement with key critical concepts and acquire valuable research skills.

Part 1: 

MU6003 Performance Studies (15 credits)

Co-taught with the MA in Ethnomusicology and the MA in Performance (Music), this module introduces the study of musical performance within the discourse of performance theory, and addresses issues of musical meaning, creativity and identity. Recent topics have included:

• the anthropology and ethnography of performance
• performance and media technology, and
• gender and sexuality in performance.

MU6011 Musicology and Theory (15 credits)

This module introduces you to the discipline of musicology from several theoretical perspectives. The emphasis is on recent developments, on musicology's relationship to other disciplines and other arts, and on the value of critical theory and cultural studies for contemporary musicology. 

MU6013 Musicology and Text I (15 credits)

You will focus on popular music studies in historical and global perspectives, from blackface minstrelsy, parlour song, and the music of world fairs, through 20th-century swing, rock 'n' roll and funk, to contemporary pop, world music, postcolonial hip hop, and other global EDM (electronic dance music) forms. 

MU6014 Musicology and Text II (15 credits)

Co-taught with the MA in Film Studies, this module offers an introduction to the aesthetics of sound and music in European film.

Part 2

MU6012 Dissertation (30 credits)

Through a course of inpidual research under the direction of staff, you will explore a particular aspect of the subject, employ appropriate theoretical and methodological approaches, and present the findings in a dissertation. Recent topics include:

• music after 9/11
• opera simulcasts in the cinema
• music in prison
• dramaturgy in Handel’s Serse
• Irishness in the score of The Quiet Man, and
• identity politics in the music of Rory Gallagher.

Detailed Entry Requirements

Applicants must hold a primary honours degree in Music (or one in which Music is a major subject) with at least a second-class honours grade or higher. Applicants with an appropriate professional equivalent will also be considered. All applicants will be required to attend an interview with members of the programme team.