Research Degrees
Two research degrees in music are available:
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Master of Philosophy (MPhil)
Each of these qualifications can be taken through full-time or part-time study. The usual requirement for acceptance is a very good honours degree in music, but you also have to convince the music department that you have a valid and practicable topic for research. We welcome applicants from students who have passed the Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma in Music with good grades.
Research Degrees in Music at the OU
The Open University Music Department has a very strong interest in research and achieved a 4 rating in the last research assessment. The quality of its teaching has been formally assessed and rated ‘excellent’. Several members of staff are internationally recognized as leading scholars in their fields of research.
The department has both full-time and part-time research students. Part-time students may be supervised by an external as well as an internal supervisor, though students are principally accepted for research topics that are close to the interests of the internal staff. At present those interests include:
- Historical studies (which may include studies of individual works or repertories) of music from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries
- English music of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, particularly William Byrd
- Eighteenth-century British music, particularly Handel and related topics concerning Italian opera
- Performance practice in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, especially keyboard instruments
- Late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century opera, especially in Britain
- Fin-de-siècle Vienna and modernism
- Brass instruments and their music in Britain
- Nineteenth- and twentieth-century performance history
- Twentieth-century British music
- Early sound recordings as evidence of performance practice
- Music of South Asia
- Ethnomusicology. We welcome applications relating to any ethnomusicological topic, but have particular interests in studies of time, rhythm and experience; rhythmic theory and analysis; and comparative musicology and the history of ethnomusicology
- Analytical theory and method, especially in tonal music and in ethnomusicology
How to find out more and apply
Before you apply you have to formulate a research proposal. There is scope to amend your topic as you proceed, but it is important that you have a clear idea of what you wish to research and how you intend to do so. Your research proposal should clearly outline the aims, the scope and the method of enquiry of the proposed project. If you would like some advice before making a formal application, please send a brief outline (not more than one side of A4) of your proposal, together with indications of your qualifications and experience, to the Research Degrees Co-ordinator, Music Department, Faculty of Arts, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, tel: 01908 653280.
The Open University Research School administers and co-ordinates the University’s research degree programmes. You should visit this site for more information and to ask for a prospectus.
What topics are suitable for PhDs and what do theses look like?
The Open University Library ‘Theses’ page has extensive information about research degree topics. You can view full-text versions of some successful theses online.