Music postgraduates at Sussex find a community of interests and a shared passion for questions of music's wider role and meaning, which fosters an atmosphere of lively and rigorous enquiry and debate.
In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 95 per cent of our music research was rated as internationally recognised or higher, and 65 per cent rated as world leading or internationally excellent.
The Department of Music is a major international centre for the study of contemporary music, contemporary musical thinking and music theatre, offering a unique range of interrelated research disciplines.
We offer expertise in opera and music theatre, analysis and general musicology, studio composition and composition for film and media, allowing you to develop an integrated portfolio of work corresponding to your strengths and interests.
Our electronic music and recording studios and student digital audio workstations are equipped with superb facilities, and we maintain a substantial library of scores, CDs, and DVDs with private listening facilities. These are in addition to the collections in the main University Library.
We offer a wide range of funding opportunities to help you finance your postgraduate studies. Please see Funding for postgraduate study for more information.
Each year we offer two part-time (18.25 hours per week) Assistant Technician job opportunities to students taking a part-time Masters degree in the School, to provide an effective and efficient technical service for staff and students. The roles involve working in one or more media laboratories and music studios, on one or more projects, as well as providing additional support to teaching labs, music studios and the Media Resources Centre if required. The jobs will be advertised on the Jobs and Careers and Employability Centre webpages in the Autumn.
External links
The Music Department’s links with Glyndebourne over a number of years have resulted in visits by students to performances, workshops and masterclasses, pre-concert talks by Music Department researchers at Glyndebourne, and collaborative projects involving both students and staff.
In addition, the School offers regular research seminars and courses of visiting speakers who are often distinguished international scholars and/or practitioners. Speakers in in recent years have included composer Jonathan Harvey, opera director Graham Vick, Hollywood film composer and jazz saxophonist John Altman, film composers Stephen Warbeck and Brian Lock, electronic composer and theorist Simon Emmerson, contemporary music singer Frances Lynch, and Glyndebourne Opera’s former Head of Education, Katie Tearle. Postgraduates also benefit from workshops by visiting professional performers, as well as the opportunity each year to present a showcase of their work at a public evening event in Brighton.