Music

Entry requirements

Our regular standard of admission is at least an Upper Second Class Honours degree (2:1), although candidates will usually also have completed or be undertaking a Masters qualification.

Research proposal

Candidates are required to provide an outline of the proposed research subject in about 1000 words. This need not be a final thesis proposal but should include:

• a straightforward, descriptive, and informative title
• the question that your research will address
• an account of why this question is important and worth investigating
• an assessment of how your own research will engage with recent study in the subject
• a brief account of the methodology and approach you will take
• a discussion of the primary sources that your research will draw upon, including printed books, manuscripts, archives, libraries, or museums
• an indicative bibliography of secondary sources that you have already consulted and/or are planning to consult

Your application, including your references and research proposal, will be passed to members of staff whose expertise and research interests most closely match the area of your proposed study.

Months of entry

Anytime

Course content

Music at Glasgow has a dynamic, supportive but rigorous research culture with a strong sense of community linked by ideas and practice.

Music PhDs at Glasgow comprise a process of research over 3 years full-time or 5 years part-time that leads to either a thesis that may be supported by practical work, or a portfolio of practical work supported by a written component. If your work is centred on cultural or historical musicology, this provides great opportunity to support your main thesis with performance, edition or other forms of musical practice. If you are a composer, improvisor, or sonic artist, this provides a great opportunity to develop your creative work and present this as a substantial piece of practice research.

Topics in which we would welcome postgraduate research include:

• Composition, including experimental music, intercultural aspects of composition and music and the moving image
• Historical and cultural musicology, including philosophy and aesthetics of music, music in popular culture, music and politics and music and modernism.
• Sonic arts and audiovisual practice, including live electronics, spatial composition and sound design and sound art aesthetics
• Performance, including historically informed performance and contemporary music practices.

Information for international students

International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic and Academic Online (not General Training)

• 7.0 overall with no subtest less than 7.0
• IELTS One Skill Retake Accepted
• Tests must have been taken within 2 years 5 months of start date. Applicants must meet the overall and subtest requirements using a single test.

Fees and funding

Prices are based on the annual fee for full-time study. Fees for part-time study are half the full-time fee.

Irish nationals who are living in the Common Travel Area of the UK, EU nationals with settled or pre-settled status, and Internationals with Indefinite Leave to remain status can also qualify for home fee status.

Fee status and policies

Alumni discount

We offer a 20% discount to our alumni on all Postgraduate Research and full Postgraduate Taught Masters programmes. This includes University of Glasgow graduates and those who have completed a Study Abroad programme, Exchange programme, International Summer School or Erasmus programme with us. This discount can be awarded alongside most University scholarships. No additional application is required.

Possible additional fees

• Re-submission by a research student £540
• Submission for a higher degree by published work £1,355
• Submission of thesis after deadline lapsed £350
• Submission by staff in receipt of staff scholarship £790

Depending on the nature of the research project, some students will be expected to pay a bench fee (also known as research support costs) to cover additional costs. The exact amount will be provided in the offer letter.

• College of Arts & Humanities Graduate School funding opportunities
• MRes Scholarship: Creativity, Inclusion and the Virtual