Full time: 1 year
Part time: 2 years
Full-time: £4,900
Part-time: £2,450
Full-time: £12,900
Part-time: £6,450
Full-time: £12,900
Part-time: £6,450
Northampton Square
The programme provides ideal training for those wishing to enter the professional music world and/or proceed to a research degree. We welcome students from all over the world and from a range of backgrounds.
The MA by Research develops skills within the broad fields of music, including contemporary composition and sound practices (notated and digital music, sound arts, and interdisciplinary practices), performance (classical, jazz, improvisation, popular, and other musical traditions), and scholarship (historical musicology, ethnomusicology, music analysis, and sound studies). This unique course embraces music and sound in all its plurality and cuts across key topics and issues in order to bridge increasingly overlapping sub-disciplines.
Engagement with professional practice lies at the core of the course taught by world-leading artists and scholars who are active creators and researchers. You will collaborate with international visitors in workshops and masterclasses and have the opportunity to present your work and research to the public in our annual City Summer Sounds Festival and Postgraduate Research Conference. The course complements our research centre SPARC (Sound Practice And Research @ City), which hosts an annual interdisciplinary symposium and our groundbreaking record label multi.modal distributed by NMC Recordings.
We have an outstanding reputation for dynamic, inspiring and rigorous postgraduate education and we offer exceptional support to our students who benefit from our location in the heart of London, one of the world’s great cultural hubs.
Applicant should hold (or expect to gain) an honours degree (2:1) from a UK university, or an equivalent qualification, accompanied by a creative or scholarly portfolio. We consider applicants with an honours degree in Music, or related subjects in the arts, humanities and social sciences if they can demonstrate musical expertise and experience.
If your first language is not English, you will need to achieve one of the following English language test scores:
Your English test should have been taken in the last two years.
If you need to improve your English language skills before you enter this course, our partner, INTO City, University of London, offers a range of English language courses.
These intensive and flexible courses are designed to improve your English ability for entry to this degree. Please follow the links below for more information:
International Students (EEA and Non EEA) coming to study in the UK, may need to apply for a visa or entry clearance to come to the UK to study. The way that you apply may vary depending on the length of your course. There are different rules for:
For more information see our main Visa page.
Apply online: MA Music by Research 2021 (full time)
Apply online: MA Music by Research 2021 (part time)
The MA by Research in Music attracts a high number and standard of applications. To make sure you have the best opportunity of gaining a place, please apply as early as possible.
Each application is carefully assessed against the entry requirements so it is important that you include all the required information with your application (for example, degree certificates, certificates of language proficiency levels etc). The processing of your application may be delayed if you do not include these documents.
When applications are open you will be expected to submit the following:
If you wish to send files or hard copies, please email music@city.ac.uk
Fees in each subsequent year of study (where applicable) will be subject to an annual increase of 2%. We will confirm any change to the annual tuition fee to you in writing prior to you commencing each subsequent year of study (where applicable).
The School of Arts & Social Sciences offer a 10% discount on tuition fees for all City graduates.
Department facilities include advanced recording and composition studios, a professional performance space, computer laboratories, rehearsal rooms, practice rooms and world music instruments.
Seven acoustically treated studios include a main recording studio and live room and 8.1 and 5.1 surround studios, all featuring Genelec monitors. All studios are equipped for sound editing, processing and mixing with Neve and SSL mixers, a wide array of outboard effects, reference microphones, and industry standard software including Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, Max, Native Instruments Komplete, Altiverb, and Ircam Forum.
We offer a variety of accommodation options and support services for postgraduate students.
Read more about our postgraduate halls.
Our Accommodation Service can also help you find private accommodation.
We offer a free language course for City, University of London students.
Course timetables are normally available from July and can be accessed from our timetabling pages. These pages also provide timetables for the current academic year, though this information should be viewed as indicative and details may vary from year to year.
Please note that all academic timetables are subject to change.
We offer an extensive support network during your time here at City, University of London – from Learning Support (including disability support) and counselling to financial and career advice – leaving you free to enjoy every opportunity campus life has to offer.
Find out more about the different types of student support available.
Chat to our current students and read their blogs to gain an insight into studying at City and learn more about our undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
To make sure that you can begin or continue your studies with us during the COVID-19 pandemic, we have reviewed and adapted our courses to ensure a safe learning environment for our students and staff. We have modified the way some of our courses are delivered, with many programmes being made available online.
Contact us to find out more about how our programmes will be delivered.
Teaching delivery is through a combination of lectures, group seminars, interactive sessions, practical workshops, one-to-one tutorials and a high level of individual learning. Qualified performance students also have the opportunity to receive one-to-one instrumental or vocal tuition from leading professional performers.
MA students have opportunities to participate the Department of Music concert series, our annual City Summer Sounds Festival, our Postgraduate Research Conference, and our research centre SPARC (Sound Practice And Research @ City). You are welcome to join the Music Department’s many performance ensembles and are also eligible to audition for the University of London Symphony Orchestra.
We use a range of assessment methods, including projects, portfolio submissions and extended creative tasks and accompanying commentary.
On City's MA by Research in Music, you will take a 30-credits core module in which you will enhance your understanding and engage critically with current issues in music research and creative practice. You will then submit a 150-credit Major Project, which allows you to develop your research or creative practice in a variety of ways based on a topic you refine and pursue in consultation with your Major Project supervisor.
The programme specification contains more information on how the course is organised, the requirements for progression for each part and credits required for awards.
Our MA programmes have excellent employment statistics. Students have gone on to teach, compose and perform in a wide variety of settings, and are also employed in areas such as music publishing, broadcasting, music management, arts administration and further musical study at MPhil or PhD level.
100% of our graduates are in employment or further study 6 months after graduation, and our alumni include film sound designer Chris Reading and Nico Casal, composer for the winner of the Best Short Film at the 2016 Oscars.
Apply online: MA Music by Research 2021 (full time)
Apply online: MA Music by Research 2021 (part time)
The MA by Research in Music attracts a high number and standard of applications. To make sure you have the best opportunity of gaining a place, please apply as early as possible.
Each application is carefully assessed against the entry requirements so it is important that you include all the required information with your application (for example, degree certificates, certificates of language proficiency levels etc). The processing of your application may be delayed if you do not include these documents.
When applications are open you will be expected to submit the following:
If you wish to send files or hard copies, please email music@city.ac.uk
Find out more about City and all our postgraduate degree programmes.
