Music

Course detail Description

On this course you may specialise in either Composition or Musicology & Ethnomusicology. (Please note, we do not offer a Performance pathway.) We encourage you to choose modules that reflect your particular interests, and up to a third of your optional module choices may be from other Arts & Humanities departments, meaning you can build a broad and truly individual study pathway.

Our specialist modules will teach you current approaches to academic writing on music as well as advanced techniques for research and composition. At the end of your course, you will submit a special study – either a dissertation or a substantial work of 8-15 minutes in duration – for which we will give you one-to-one supervision.

Our aim is to nurture leaders in musicology, ethnomusicology and composition. If you intend to go on to research or composition at doctoral level, or if you want to build on your existing skills, this course will be ideal for you.

Teaching
If you are studying the Musicology & Ethnomusicology Pathway, we will give you six hours of teaching each week (if you are a part-time student, this is two to four in your first year, and one to two in your second) through seminars, and we will expect you to undertake 24 hours (12 hours for part-time) of self-study.

If you are studying the Composition Pathway, we will give you four hours of teaching each week (one to two hours if you are a part-time student) through seminars and one-to-one teaching, and we will expect you to undertake 26 hours of self-study (13 hours for part-time).

Typically, one credit equates to 10 hours of work.

Assessment
We will assess you entirely through coursework. If you are studying the Musicology & Ethnomusicology Pathway, you will write a 12,000-word dissertation or critical edition. If you are studying the Composition Pathway, you will compose a substantial work lasting 8-15 minutes.

Regulating body
King’s College London is regulated by the Office for Students.

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Structure

Year 1 Courses are divided into modules. You will normally take modules totalling 180 credits. Required Modules

Musicology & Ethnomusicology Pathway

You are required to take:

• Special Study in Musicology or Ethnomusicology (60 credits): a dissertation or critical edition of 12,000 words (c. 8,000 words in the case of critical editions or transcription projects)

Composition Pathway

You are required to take:

• Special Study in Composition (60 credits): a substantial work of 8-15 minutes in duration. The composition must be notated in a conventional manner.

The following is a list of suggested suitable projects:
• a work for small orchestra or large instrumental ensemble
• a choral work
• a string quartet
• a piano sonata or set of variations
• a song cycle

Musicology & Ethnomusicology Pathway

In addition, you are required to take six modules (totalling 120 credits) from a range that may typically include:

• Issues in Historiography & Criticism (20 credits)
• Readings in the New Eighteenth Century (20 credits)
• Medieval Music from the Sources (20 credits)
• Ethnomusicology: Regional Studies (20 credits)
• History in Ethnomusicology (20 credits)
• Mozart: Biography & Criticism (20 credits)
• Issues & Topics in Jazz (20 credits)
• Modernism and Sentimentality (20 credits)
• Ethnographic Writing (20 credits)
• Post-Tonal Music and Compositional Theory (20 credits)
• Puccini and the Twentieth Century (20 credits)

You are also free to choose up to 40 of your 180 credits from Master’s modules offered across the Faculty of Arts & Humanities or from MMus modules (excluding performance and composition) offered by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

Composition Pathway

In addition, you are required to take between three and six modules (totalling 120 credits) from a range that may typically include:

• Post-Tonal Music & Compositional Theory (20 credits)
• Introduction to Free Composition Studies (40 credits)
• Composing for Large Ensemble or Orchestra (40 credits)
• Issues & Topics in Jazz (20 credits)
• Issues in Historiography & Criticism (20 credits)
• Modernism & Sentimentality (20 credits)
• Ethnomusicology: Regional Studies (20 credits)

You are also free to choose up to 40 of your 180 credits from Master’s modules offered across the Faculty of Arts & Humanities or from MMus modules (excluding performance and composition) offered by the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant courses of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.