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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 inter-national centre for the study of contemporary music, contemporary musical thinking and music theatre, offering a unique range of inter-related 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.
Specialist facilities
- Music library
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The music library is a working collection of records, CDs, videos and scores (mainly devoted to 19th- and 20th-century music) as well as the Altman-Koss Jazz video archive located along with collections belonging to the Departments of Media and Film, and Art History.
- Music Mac lab
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We have a dedicated lab for Music students only, comprising 11 Mac Pro computers for audio and visual processing, each with MBox mini sound interfaces for use with Pro Tools, and controller keyboard. Each Mac Pro runs Logic Pro (audio sequencer software), Sibelius (notation programme), Final Cut Studio, Peak Pro, Max/ MSP (for audio tools and sound synthesis), plus IRCAM forum software (including AudioSculpt and Open Music) and Ableton Live. Each machine also provides access to internet audio and visual material, as well as deskspace and the facility to playback DVDs and CDs from the music library.
- Electronic music studio
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The Jonathan Harvey Electroacoustic Music Studio features a control room with connections (24 channels) to two spacious live rooms either side.
- Pro Tools HD based recording system with digital control surface
- software: Pro Tools and Logic Pro
- Mackie desk (24 channels)
- various outboard microphone pre-amps and compressors (Focusrite, Drawmer 1960) and effects units (Lexicon, Fireworx, etc)
- microphones include AKG condensers and Shure dynamic mics
- drum kit (Gretsch).
- Drama studio
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The Department of Music, in conjunction with drama in the School of English, operates a fully equipped drama studio for music and drama students.
- Musical instruments
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Our own teaching and recital spaces have Steinway grand pianos and A/V equipment. There are practice rooms, each with Yamaha pianos, available for use by music students at any time.
- Other specialist facilities
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We also possess a large percussion collection. For first-study pianists, the Steinway Concert Grand and the Kawai Grand in the Meeting House are available. In addition, the Meeting House has a Grant, Degens and Rippin pipe organ.
Programmes
- PhD in Music
- PhD in Musical Composition
- PhD in Music Theatre
- MPhil in Music
- MPhil in Musical Composition
- MPhil in Music Theatre
The main fields in which research supervision is available are musicology, composition and music theatre. For critical, theoretical or historical musicology, we offer supervision in 20th-century and contemporary music, music aesthetics, opera, music and visual media, and other interdisciplinary fields. For music theatre, we offer supervision in projects combining creative practice and theory. Composition is undertaken through a portfolio of compositions, and we offer supervision in electronic and electro-acoustic music, and music for visual media and theatre, as well as instrumental music.
Recent and current PhD projects
Musical alterity and embodied practice (theory/ practice)
Sonification of the body (theory/practice)
Sound scores for early avant-garde film (composition)
Temporality in post-tonal music (composition)
The representation of animals in music theatre (theory/practice)
The impact of Stravinsky’s ballets on conducting techniques in the 20th century (historical musicology)
Entry requirements
- MPhil in Music
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UK entrance requirements
Normally a Masters degree or equivalent professional experience in a subject related to your chosen area of research. Applicants wishing to take the Composition option must produce evidence of compositional ability.
Overseas entrance requirements
If you are an international student and wish to find out if you have the necessary qualifications for this degree, please refer to Overseas qualifications.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
- MPhil in Music Theatre
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UK entrance requirements
Normally a Masters degree or equivalent professional experience in a subject related to your chosen area of research. Applicants wishing to take the Composition option must produce evidence of compositional ability.
Overseas entrance requirements
If you are an international student and wish to find out if you have the necessary qualifications for this degree, please refer to Overseas qualifications.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
- MPhil in Musical Composition
-
UK entrance requirements
Normally a Masters degree or equivalent professional experience in a subject related to your chosen area of research. Applicants wishing to take the Composition option must produce evidence of compositional ability.
Overseas entrance requirements
If you are an international student and wish to find out if you have the necessary qualifications for this degree, please refer to Overseas qualifications.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
- PhD in Music
-
UK entrance requirements
Normally a Masters degree or equivalent professional experience in a subject related to your chosen area of research. Applicants wishing to take the Composition option must produce evidence of compositional ability.
Overseas entrance requirements
If you are an international student and wish to find out if you have the necessary qualifications for this degree, please refer to Overseas qualifications.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
- PhD in Music Theatre
-
UK entrance requirements
Normally a Masters degree or equivalent professional experience in a subject related to your chosen area of research. Applicants wishing to take the Composition option must produce evidence of compositional ability.
Overseas entrance requirements
If you are an international student and wish to find out if you have the necessary qualifications for this degree, please refer to Overseas qualifications.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
- PhD in Musical Composition
-
UK entrance requirements
Normally a Masters degree or equivalent professional experience in a subject related to your chosen area of research. Applicants wishing to take the Composition option must produce evidence of compositional ability.
Overseas entrance requirements
If you are an international student and wish to find out if you have the necessary qualifications for this degree, please refer to Overseas qualifications.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
Visas and immigration
Find out more about Visas and immigration.
For more information about the admissions process at Sussex
For pre-application enquiries:
Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
For post-application enquiries:
Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk
Related subjects
Fees and funding
Fees
- MPhil in Music
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Home UK/EU students: £3,9001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,9002
Overseas students: £13,00031 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
- PhD in Music
-
Home UK/EU students: £3,9001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,9002
Overseas students: £13,00031 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
- MPhil in Music Theatre
-
Home UK/EU students: £3,9001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,9002
Overseas students: £13,00031 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
- PhD in Music Theatre
-
Home UK/EU students: £3,9001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,9002
Overseas students: £13,00031 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
- MPhil in Musical Composition
-
Home UK/EU students: £3,9001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,9002
Overseas students: £13,00031 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
- PhD in Musical Composition
-
Home UK/EU students: £3,9001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £3,9002
Overseas students: £13,00031 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3 The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
To find out about your fee status, living expenses and other costs, visit further financial information.
Funding
The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.
To find out more about funding and part-time work, visit further financial information.
Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust for Postgraduate Study (2014)
Region: UK
Level: PG (taught), PG (research)
Application deadline: 1 October 2013
The Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust are offering bursaries to Postgraduate students following any postgraduate degree courses in any subject.
Faculty interests
Much of our research is interdisciplinary, involving collaboration between our three main areas of research, described below and on the right, as well as with other subject areas at Sussex (in particular media theory and practice, film theory and practice, drama and informatics).
Our research groups are well funded from a variety of sources and have specialist facilities and resources:
Composition
This group engages in research through practical composition in acoustic, electro-acoustic, electronic/computer and film music media. Works are regularly performed and produced at a variety of prestigious international venues from major opera houses and concert platforms to state-of-the-art electronic venues such as IRCAM, contemporary music festivals and international film festivals.
Critical musicology
Critical theory and interdisciplinary research methods underpin the critical thinking about music undertaken at Sussex, which focuses in particular on the sociology and aesthetics of 20th-century and contemporary music, although research sometimes engages also with the historical interpretation of music in other centuries.
Opera and music theatre
The Centre for Research in Opera and Music Theatre (CROMT) focuses on issues of music theatre (eg theories and practices of opera, experimental music theatre and related multimedia forms). The Centre’s activities involve historical research into opera and music theatre, and both critical thinking about, and practice-based research in, these forms, often in collaboration with partner institutions in the Sussex region (eg Glyndebourne Opera) and elsewhere in the UK and Europe. CROMT also organises seminars, symposia and conferences on opera and music theatre.
Individuals’ research interests are briefly described below. For more information, visit the Department of Music.
Professor Martin Butler 20th-century compositional techniques, improvisation and performance skills, music theatre.
Dr Nick Collins Computer music including interactive music systems and realtime machine listening, and audiovisual performance.
Dr Richard Elliott Popular musics of the world, music and technology, music and memory, cultural and critical theory, music and media, technoculture, space and place, urban musicology.
Dr Evelyn Ficarra Electro-acoustic composition, music theatre and collaborative work.
Tim Hopkins Digital media in relation to opera, opera as historic multimedia tradition, contemporary and historic opera and music theatre repertoire, dramaturgy.
Dr Ed Hughes Composition, experimental and avant-garde film music, opera and film.
Dr Nicholas McKay Music theory, analysis, linguistics and semiotics of music, 20th-century music, Stravinsky, aesthetics.
Professor Sally Jane Norman Director of the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts. Theatre architectures, multimedia installations.
Professor Nicholas Till Director of CROMT. Research in contemporary and historical opera and music theatre, modernism/postmodernism.
Careers and perspectives
Our graduates have gone on to pursue careers in teaching, publishing, professional composition, performance, music management and digital media.
For more information, visit Careers and alumni.
School and contacts
School of Media, Film and Music
The School of Media, Film and Music combines rigorous critical and historical studies of media, film, music and culture with opportunities for creative practice in a range of musical forms and the media of photography, film, radio, and interactive digital imaging.
Sarah Maddox, Research and Enterprise Co-ordinator,
School of Media, Film and Music,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RG, UK
T +44 (0)1273 873525
E s.maddox@sussex.ac.uk
School of Media, Film and Music
Postgraduate Open Day 2013
4 December 2013, 1pm-4pm
Bramber House, University of Sussex
- talk to academic faculty and current postgraduate students
- subject talks and presentations on postgraduate study, research and funding
- choose from our exciting range of taught Masters and research degrees
- find out how postgraduate study can improve your career prospects
- get details of our excellent funding schemes for taught postgraduate study.
To register your interest in attending, visit Postgraduate Open Day.
Can’t make it to our Postgraduate Open Day? You might be interested in attending one of our Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions.
Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions
If you can’t make it to our Postgraduate Open Day, you’re welcome to attend one of our Discover Postgraduate Study information sessions. These are held in the spring and summer terms and enable you to find out more about postgraduate study and the opportunities Sussex has to offer.
Visit Discover Postgraduate study to book your place.
Other ways to visit Sussex
We run weekly guided campus tours every Wednesday afternoon, year round. Book a place online at Visit us and Open Days.
You are also welcome to visit the University independently without any pre-arrangement.