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Course information

Department

Music

Length

1 year full-time or 2 years part-time

Course overview

The MA Music advances your exploration of today’s music in all its complexity. From a range of stimulating pathways, you choose one that best suits your interests. Modules are shared across pathways, and are rooted in academic and practice-based research.  

The MA Music delivers core skills for academic research into music. Providing a uniquely creative approach to graduate studies, the degree accommodates diverse interests and approaches.

The programme and pathways available are:

The MA Music equips graduates to take up careers in music such as journalism, teaching, broadcasting, librarianship, historically informed performance, contemporary composition, and arts administration. The programme’s modules explore music as an evolving subject, covering repertories from Western art music through to electronic, popular, audio-visual, non-Western, and contemporary repertories.

  • You develop systematic, critical and creative approaches, exploring musical practice, discourses, and contexts.
  • You develop an independent and original approach to current questions and debates.
  • You explore interrelationships between music and other subjects, between theory and practice, and between performance and structural interpretation.

The MA Music is an academic rather than a practice-based degree. If you're keen to study composition or performance, please explore our MMus programme and its pathways.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Dr Berta Joncus.

What you'll study

Overview

Each Masters degree is awarded after the accumulation of 180 credits. You take:

  • Compulsory module(s) (30 credits each)
  • Optional modules (30 credits each)
  • Dissertation or Major Project (60 credits)

The topic of your dissertation or project relates closely to the programme outcomes of your pathway and its compulsory modules and is agreed with your pathway leader.

The options provide you with a choice of modules relevant to your chosen pathway. We will offer advice at interview and/or enrolment about your options. Please note that the availability of options may depend upon the department timetable.

Download the programme specification.

Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.

What our students say

Faye Wright
Studying at Goldsmiths made me believe that anything is possible.

Faye's time at Goldsmiths

My favourite part about university and studying my degree was learning! I know it sounds silly, but I love being a student and learning new things. I always want to expand my knowledge. I learnt so much from both lecturers and students at Goldsmiths. Everybody is so unique and interests are so different. The lecturers especially are very knowledgeable and have a great way of sharing that with you. What I found surprising was how involved the students are in the lectures and how we lead the conversation. There is a lot of great discussions that happen and the lecturers really welcome all ideas. Studying at Goldsmiths made me believe that anything is possible, I thought coming to Goldsmiths I would be way out of my league but everyone has made me feel so welcome.

Advice for future students

If I can do it, so can you! I had no A-levels, I went to a stage school at the age of 16 and I hadn't written anything for 10 years before I applied to go to university. I ended up getting a first in my undergraduate degree and now I'm studying for a masters at Goldsmiths, one of the best universities in the country, with a scholarship. Dreams do come true and you can do anything you put your mind to.

It's not that long, when you hear the course is 2 or 3 years it immediately sounds like such a long time. But it isn't. The years go so quick. You are only on campus 2 - 3 days a week. You have plenty of time to work, socialise and do other things as well as study.

Faye's business

Outside of Goldsmiths Faye runs Shrubs & Dubs – a plant and record shop founded in April 2021. You can visit her website to find out more.

Entry requirements

Entry requirements vary depending on your chosen pathway. Please refer to the individual programme and pathway pages for more information.

Students who have completed up to 90 credits (not including final 60-credit projects or dissertations) of a comparable degree at another university can apply for recognition of prior learning status as part of their application for a place on the programme, where such credits are carried forward into your study at Goldsmiths.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study.

Fees, funding & scholarships

To find out more about your fees, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office, who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page.

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. Please check the programme specification for more information.

Funding opportunities

Find out more about postgraduate fees and explore funding opportunities. If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an application deadline.

How to apply

Apply now

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system. 

Before submitting your application you’ll need to have:

  • Details of your academic qualifications
  • The email address of your referee who we can request a reference from, or alternatively a copy of your academic reference
  • Copies of your educational transcripts or certificates
  • A personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online. Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

When to apply

We accept applications from October for students wanting to start the following September. 

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place that is conditional on you achieving a particular qualification. 

Late applications will only be considered if there are spaces available.

If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an earlier application deadline.

Selection process

You will normally be required to attend an interview, and you may be asked to submit examples of your written work in advance (such as an essay of at least 1,500 words on a relevant topic).

Find out more about applying.

Careers

Skills

You'll develop:

  • investigation and evaluation skills
  • intellectual skills in music
  • specific research skills

Careers

The programme is designed with careful consideration of the opportunities, challenges and intellectual demands presented by careers in music, such as:

  • journalism
  • teaching
  • broadcasting
  • librarianship
  • historically informed performance
  • contemporary composition
  • arts administration

Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths. 

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