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School of Music

Research in the School of Music

Image showing a rare list of tunes and changes notated for bells or chimes, copied about 1635 into the Commonplace Book of Phillip Powell of Brecon

Research Groups

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The world-class excellence of research in the School of Music was once again confirmed in the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008. Almost a third of our published work was rated as 'World-leading', and overall 70% of our research activity was assessed as 'World-leading' or 'Internationally Excellent' (i.e. given the top two grades of 3* and 4*). This result confirms our place among the very best Music researchers in the UK and internationally. It supports our view that high quality teaching and world-class research must go together, and is official recognition that our students are being taught by world-leading experts in their fields. Analysis of the UK's RAE results shows that the School has an above average number of postgraduate students, who are taught in a research environment which was graded amongst the highest in the UK for a unit of our size.

Music research in Bangor is characterised by three aspects: strong individual achievements; focus in specific areas of excellence (see below); and multiple instances of 'cross-fertilisation' through the fact that most staff members are active in more than one field. This unusual multiplicity of talent combinations makes for an especially lively exchange of ideas among staff and a large spread of research areas; the success of this model is witnessed by Music's 5 rating in RAE 2001.

It has been and remains the strategic aim of the School to support the strong research achievements of individual staff members, many of which are leaders in their respective fields - but with an increased focus on Research Groups and Areas of Excellence to support and facilitate this research which is integrated into three main research clusters: Musicology, Welsh Music and Composition.

The culture of interdisciplinarity and collaboration extends to our research postgraduates as well, who are closely involved in the activities of the respective areas, presenting or publishing papers and collaborating with research projects. Research and exchange of ideas are underpinned by the bi-weekly series of Research Seminars (Tuesdays at 4:15 pm) where it brings together the expertise of our own researchers (including research postgraduates) and that of outside speakers. Music is also a regular contributor to the research seminar series of IMEMS, the Centre for Medieval Studies and WISCA.