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SOAS University of London Research Degrees (MPhil/PhD) in Music
SOAS University of London

Research Degrees (MPhil/PhD) in Music

London, United Kingdom

4 Years

English

Full time, Part time

Request application deadline

Sep 2024

GBP 22,490 / per year *

On-Campus

* for overseas student full-time | GBP 4,860 home student full-time | overseas student part-time: GBP 11,245 per year | home student part-time: GBP 2,430 per year

Introduction

Staff and students of the Department of Music pursue research on a wide range of subjects, mainly but not exclusively focused on the music of Asia and Africa. Staff have special interests in the music of China and Central Asia (Harris), Korea (Howard), Japan, Indonesia and Thailand (Gray), India and Nepal (Widdess), the Islamic Middle East (Wright), the Jewish world (Wood), West Africa and Cuba (Durán) and South and East Africa (Impey). But research is not limited to these areas: projects have been undertaken on American jazz, and on the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and Eastern European music, for example. Staff often have research interests in issues that cross regional boundaries; see the Department Staff page for a summary of their interests, and select the name of a lecturer for further details of their individual research specialisms and activities.

Whatever its regional origin, music is studied as a cultural phenomenon, and also from analytical and historical perspectives. Instrumental and vocal, sacred and secular, art and popular, traditional and modern musical forms are all of equal interest. Research methods employed include fieldwork, interview, archive research, recording and filming, performance, transcription and analysis, and composition.

The Department of Music at SOAS has been ranked best in the UK for research impact and 5th overall in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

Residence Requirements

MPhil/PhD students are required to be resident in London, with the following exceptions:

  • In Year 2, you may spend up to 12 months overseas on fieldwork
  • In Year 4, you may apply for permission to work away from SOAS (this does not affect your fees).

Part-present or Distance Learning research degrees are not currently available.

Duration

4 years full-time or part-time

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