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Music (Musicology) at University of Manchester - UCAS

Course options

2024 - 2025
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There are other course options available which may have a different vacancy status or entry requirements – view the full list of options

Course summary

Our PhD Music (Musicology) programme will enable you to develop historical and/or analytical skills at an advanced level, with independence and originality of thought combined with technical skill. Your supervised research will normally be related in some way to the research interests of a member of staff. These currently include but are not limited to:

  • Early modern material culture and source studies * Early modern music theory and performing practices * Music and multimedia culture in early modern and Enlightenment England * Reception of early modern English music * Beethoven and his contemporaries * Music, politics and aesthetics in 19th-C Germany * Analysis and reception of 19th-C instrumental music * Music in 20th-century Russia and the Soviet Union * The 20th-century symphony * New music reception, historiography and methodology * Music in contemporary culture * Music of South Asia and the South Asian diaspora * Music of the Mediterranean, Balkans and Caucasus * Politics of world music * Music revivals in the 20th and 21st centuries * Theorising listening and listeners * Jazz performance and improvisation studies * Historical performance practice * Manuscript studies * Child composers
Our research across the department involves particular focus on eight core research areas , which are built around themes and topics that are of interest to a number of members of staff, who are able to bring contrasting perspectives and methodologies to solving shared problems within these themes because of their contrasting areas of specialism. These core research areas comprise:
  • Creative and performing practices * Sound, space and interactive art * Politics, protest and power * Nationalism, mobility and identity * Historically and culturally informed analysis * Critical reception studies * Voice and vocality * Inter-cultural musicking
Musicologists and ethnomusicologists will produce an 80,000-word dissertation that presents independent and original research executed at a high standard. You will be assigned a research panel consisting of your supervisor, a co-supervisor and advisor who will meet with you on a regular basis to monitor your progress. Postgraduate students are expected to take part in the academic community of the department and the University by participating in seminars and presenting their research at regular intervals. Find out more about our Music research , our staff and what our current PhD postgraduate research students are working on.

Entry requirements

A Bachelors (Honours) degree at 2:1 level or above (or its international equivalent) in a related subject; and a UK Master's degree with an overall average of 65% or higher, with a minimum of 65% in the dissertation/portfolio and with no mark below 55% (or its international equivalent) in Music or a related subject. Any strong, relevant work experience will be considered on a case by case basis.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees

No fee information has been provided for this course

Additional fee information

Fees for entry in 2023 have not yet been set.

Sponsorship information

We offer a limited number of bursaries and studentships on a competitive basis. Please note that while we do not have closing dates for programme applications, all funding competitions have a specified deadline for submitting the funding application form and a separate (earlier) deadline for submitting the online programme application form. You may also be eligible for a postgraduate loan from the government. Find out more about this and other sources of funding on the funding opportunities page.

Music (Musicology) at University of Manchester - UCAS