Music

Your Music degree programme at Bangor is flexible - you will shape your degree course to reflect your interests and strengths. You will begin your study of music in a genuinely all-embracing way, engaging with musical theory and practice from early medieval polyphony to electroacoustic composition, via every genre in between. You will use this broad framework as a launch pad for developing your own expertise in one of several fields of musicology, performance or composition, including 20th-century music, classical performance, music in health and well-being, and all styles of composition. You will be making and studying music with other, like-minded young musicians, composers and musicology, honing your craft and exploring the field. In your final year, you will have the opportunity to follow a specialism of your own, stretching your abilities and proving yourself.

A degree in Music offers you excellent employment prospects and the skills developed will allow you to excel in a wide range of music careers. As well as working as composers, performers, songwriters, lyricists and conductors, many of our graduates take up posts with orchestras, opera houses, or arts centres as music directors, creative coordinators, or administrators. Music graduates are always needed in the media and in recording companies as technicians, producers, programme-planners, and writers. Other possible career paths include specialist music journalism, music publishing, music librarianship, and arts marketing. Several of our graduates have gone on to become distinguished academics, composers, and performers, many others are teachers, at all educational levels (up to and including university). Our joint honour degrees allow you the opportunity to enhance your musical studies with a background in law, business, media, or one of many other subjects.

Our research active staff members follow a wide range of research interests in musicology, composition and performance.  In the last RAE (2014), almost a third of our research outputs were rated as 'World-leading', and overall 81% of our research activity was assessed as 'World-leading' or 'Internationally Excellent'.

Our staff conduct research and provide PhD supervision in Musicology, Composition, Performance and Health and Well-Being.  Within these broad designations, we have key strengths in Early Music; 20th and 21st century Music; Music Editing; Welsh Music; Acousmatic and Electroacoustic Composition; Film Music; Sonic Arts; Contemporary Performance; Interactive Performance with Electronics.

Most staff members are active in more than one field and often engage with research projects with colleagues working in other disciplines.