Why study Music?

• We ÔstudyÕ music by reading, listening, performing and composing.
• We investigate, through analysis, the relationships between the various parts of the composition.
• We use documentary evidence to explore how reliable and authoritative a score is and how to perform it.
• We investigate the various uses of music to see how a musical work (or repertory or style) has been shaped over time, and how it might differ from that of earlier ages or of different cultures.

Music at Oxford

• Music has been part of the life of Oxford for more than 800 years.
• 30 academic staff Ð scholars with distinguished reputations as musicologists, performers or composers.
• Numerous visiting speakers and professional performing ensembles.
• Students enjoy performance and composition workshops, and play an active part in the life of their colleges Ð in chapels, orchestras, ensembles, bands and stage performances.
• The faculty building incorporates practice rooms, electronic music and recording studios, and probably one of the best music libraries in a British university. The world-famous Bate Collection of Musical Instruments, in the faculty, lends historical instruments to students.
• The course is broadly based but allows increasing specialisation and choice as you proceed. Performance and composition are prominent, but you can concentrate on other areas such as history or analysis.
• Students graduate as mature and well-rounded musicians with an informed and lively sense of the contemporary study and practice of the subject.

Music Careers

Teaching, performance and arts administration are among the more popular destinations for Music graduates, but others include broadcasting, publishing, law, politics and the Civil Service. Many students undertake further study in performance often at conservatoires in the UK and abroad.