Music

Specialise in either Musicology or Composition by selecting from a wide range of modules inside and outside the department. Ideal as a foundation for further research or composition at doctoral level or to build on existing skills.

• Intensively taught programme covering a wide range of specialised topics.
• Provides a foundation for further research focusing on current approaches and advanced techniques.
• Musicology students choose from historical and theoretical modules taught by distinguished staff in Music and, if they wish, from modules in other Arts and Humanities departments. 
• Composition students benefit from one-to-one lessons and participation in composition seminars and have the opportunity to hear their works performed by resident ensemble Lontano.
• Located in the heart of London.

Student destinations Programme leader/s Awarding Institution Credit value (UK/ECTS equivalent) Duration Location Year of entry 2013
Offered by Closing date Intake Fees Contact information Email Website

For students intending to go on to research or composition at doctoral level, or wishing to build upon their existing skills. To provide training beyond undergraduate level in current techniques of music research and composition. To nurture leaders in musicology and composition.

You may specialise in Musicology (broadly defined) or Composition (please note, we do not offer Performance). Composers work closely with their teachers throughout, while musicologists benefit from seminars with leaders in the field. We encourage you to select modules according to your particular interests. A third may be from other Humanities departments.

Specialist modules cover current approaches to scholarly writing on music as well as advanced techniques of research and composition. You will submit an individually supervised special study (a dissertation or portfolio of compositions) at the end of the programme.

Core programme content
N/A

Indicative non-core content

• Issues in Historiography and Criticism (20 credits)
• 21st Century Bach (20 credits)
• Theories of Modernism and the Avant-Garde (20 credits)
• Readings in the New Eighteenth Century (20 credits)
• Advanced Studies in Music Analysis and Criticism: Beethoven's Late Works (20 credits)
• Music in Nineteenth Century London (20 credits)
• Issues in Biography and Criticism (20 credits)
• Music and Empire: India and the Indian Ocean (20 credits)
• Post-Tonal Music and Composition Studies (20 credits)
• Introduction to Free Composition Studies (40 credits)
• Composing for Large Ensemble or Orchestra (40 credits)
• Special Study in Historical Musicology or Composition (60 credits).

See departmental website for full details;
www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/music/study/pgt/mod/index.aspx

Modules worth 120 credits, plus a special study (dissertation or portfolio) worth 60 credits.


General entry advice

Applications are normally considered within four to six weeks of receipt of references and written work. They are seen by at least two members of the teaching staff; candidates may be called for interview or (for overseas candidates) interviewed by phone or email.

Please supply a personal statement, giving your reasons for applying and achievements to date. In the first sentence of your personal statement, please make clear which pathway you are applying for, Musicology or Composition.

Applications should be accompanied by a sample of appropriate and recent written work. Please note that there are different application procedures for Musicology and Composition pathways.

Applicants for the Musicology pathway should upload an undergraduate dissertation (if available) or two or three recent essays to the Admissions Portal. Your work should engage with the existing scholarly literature (so essays that are purely descriptive or technical are unlikely to be appropriate).

Applicants in Composition should send a portfolio of recent scores (in hard copy), accompanied by recordings of the works if available, by post to this address:

M.Mus. Applications
c/o Laura Brown
Music Department
King’s College
Strand
London
WC2R 2LS
UK

AHRC, Graduate School and School of Arts & Humanities scholarships and bursaries, self-funding.