Music, BA (Hons)

The course at Durham prides itself in combining the traditional and the modern in the study of music, exploring diverse genres from the past and present and developing exciting new approaches in musicology, composition (acoustic and electroacoustic), analysis, ethnomusicology and performance.Our teaching is research-led and enhanced by distinctive staff specialisations that include nineteenth- and twentieth-century British music, Indian and Korean music, popular music, music technology, conducting, music psychology, opera, early music, and contemporary composition.As a student on the BA (Hons) Music, you will receive around 7½ hours of timetabled contact per week on average over the degree. This will include a combination of lectures, seminars, and tutorials (including one-to-one supervision), as well as instrumental or vocal tuition and performance and composition workshops. The number and balance of these activities will change over the degree as you develop your knowledge and abilities as an independent learner.In the first year, you will receive about 9 hours of timetabled contact each week. For each module, weekly lectures will introduce you to the broad questions and current issues in Music and its sub-disciplines. Seminars will give you the opportunity to engage with the topics introduced in lectures, discuss key issues in small groups, and look in detail at music and at writing about music. Instrumental or vocal lessons will help you develop your abilities as a performer, while composition seminars and workshops will allow you to explore approaches to composing. Practical training in both generic study skills and music-specific skills such as using notation software, recording equipment and transcribing music are embedded within the core modules.In the second year, there is an increased emphasis on the development of critical and analytical skills: a core module concentrates on the development of research skills in musicology. As modules specialise more strongly in particular areas such as performance, composition or different branches of musicology, the type of teaching varies more markedly between modules, so the kind of contact you experience will depend to a great extent on the modules you take. The total contact time you will receive will on average be similar to the first year, around 9 hours per week. As in the first year, you will be expected to complement this with about three times as much independent study as there are contact hours.In the third year, you will develop further your independent research skills, culminating in a double weighted project, which can be a dissertation, composition portfolio or public performance recital: this counts for one third of your marks for the year. This project will give you the opportunity to engage, at an advanced level, with creative cutting-edge research at the forefront of the discipline. On account of the time that you will need to undertake this research, during the third year you will receive timetabled contact of 4½ hours each week on average. This includes one to one supervision on your project (6 hours for dissertation, 6 for recital or 11 for composition) as well as group classes. The performance strand has 19 group seminars, as well as time for instrumental or vocal lessons. The contact time for dissertation supervisions reflects the text-based nature of the mode of study. Additional hours in the case of the recital and composition projects takes account of their practical nature and the need to investigate and embed further advanced skills specific to the student such as performance practice, notation and instrumental scoring, and the creative use of music technology. Other modules on offer include single-weighted projects in musicology, composition and performance, as well as taught courses in areas of staff research expertise. Overall, during the third year, you will be expected to spend at least 35 hours on independent research each week.