Course summary

This MA Music (Audiovisual Cultures) offers you a unique opportunity to engage with cutting-edge interdisciplinary research on music and the moving image. You will investigate the audiovisual culture of film, video games, social media, augmented reality, protest chants, music videos, opera, television and the sounding visual arts from a range of perspectives and approaches, including theoretical and aesthetic debate, ethnographic filmmaking and multimedia collage. Study across disciplines As a student of audiovisual culture, you will gain an interdisciplinary understanding of how music and the moving image work together in a variety of contexts. Modules from the Department of Music cross the spectrum of audiovisual cultures from pop and contemporary art music to ethnomusicology and the sonic arts. You can also choose from a range of related topics in other departments on subjects including world cinema, postcolonial theory, gender and sexuality and communication theory. Explore new approaches to critical thinking This MA degree combines essay-based assignments with refreshed forms of scholarship, including the curation of online content, filmmaking, vlogging, installation work, sound walks, digital archiving and collaborative creativity. Throughout your time at Goldsmiths, you will be encouraged to cultivate a creative approach to your critical thinking and to challenge the norms of academic scholarship. Pioneering teaching As a student on this programme, you will join a department renowned for its progressive and creative work with audiovisual theory, composition and performance-as-research. You will be exposed to Goldsmiths’ unique approach to learning and teaching, which combines theory with creative practice and welcomes cross-cultural perspectives. Vibrant audiovisual community The Department of Music is celebrated for its multi-disciplinary work with music and media, with staff producing internationally significant work in audiovisual theory, orchestration for film, audiovisual composition, music computing, creative practice and ethnographic filmmaking. You will be encouraged to attend lively events programme, which includes our international research seminar series and various related research units, such as the Unit for Sound Practice Research, the Contemporary Music Research Unit, the Popular Music Research Unit, Music and Ethnographic Film and the Fringe and Underground Music Group. As students of audiovisual media, you can also become involved in several bespoke projects:

• Postgraduate students in the Department of Music edit their own peer-reviewed scholarly journal, Sonic Scope: New Approaches to Audiovisual Culture (https://www.sonicscope.org/). You will gain valuable work experience by joining the scholarly editorial team to source, edit and promote content for the new issues, make promo videos, work with the social media and publicity team and submit work for possible publication.

• Longplayer is a bi-annual festival of experimental music what threads through the streets of Deptford from the campus to the River Thames. You will be welcome to join the planning team for the event.

• PureGold is the Department’s annual live music festival, run in collaboration with the Department’s record label, NX Records. You will be encouraged to join the vibrant team of performers, presenters and technicians during your time at Goldsmiths.

• Music Week is a festival that opens every academic year. All music students participate by joining one of our numerous ensembles to perform around campus.