Edinburgh: Extraordinary futures await.

Subject area: Music

Why choose Music at the University of Edinburgh?

  • Our staff are world leaders in a wide range of musical areas including musicology, acoustics and music technology, composition, improvisation, music psychology, and community music.

  • Flexible pathways enable you to explore a breadth of musical interests spanning scientific study of music through to performance and composition. Placements in social and educational settings are possible through our community music courses in Years 3 and 4.

  • The University hosts more than 25 musical societies and a packed schedule of concerts during the year, ranging from classical and jazz to contemporary and electronic.

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Introducing Music

Music is a vibrant subject spanning the arts, humanities, and sciences.

It includes specific areas such as:

  • performance
  • composition
  • acoustics
  • audio technology
  • music theory
  • analysis

Music also engages with much broader issues in:

  • history
  • anthropology
  • sociology
  • cultural studies
  • philosophy
  • cognitive sciences
  • psychology

Our programmes

Disciplinary variety is at the heart of our programmes.

BMus

Our BMus is a flexible programme, which will provide you with the opportunity to develop critical and technical skills from a variety of perspectives.

You will study a diverse range of musical genres and styles. You will also explore how music is contextually produced and received:

  • sociopolitically
  • historically
  • culturally

If you wish, you can specialise in composition and/or performance. You can also take courses outside of music in each of your four years of study.

BSc

Our BSc programme explores intersections between:

  • music technology
  • physics
  • engineering
  • computer science

You will receive a rigorous grounding in fundamental scientific skills and study:

  • music technology
  • sound recording
  • computer programming in a range of musical contexts

In Years 3 and 4 you can choose:

  • a strongly scientific pathway in physical acoustics
  • a multidisciplinary pathway in computer music systems
  • your own combination of both

Reid School of Music

The University's Reid School of Music is an exciting place to study. You will have numerous opportunities to make music and perform in University ensembles, including by joining:

  • orchestras
  • choirs
  • a big band
  • wind band
  • composers' orchestra
  • opera group

Our lively concert calendar and central Edinburgh location let you immerse yourself in the city's rich cultural scene.

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