Admissions

UCAS Course Code: W300

Brief Course Outline

Duration of course: 3 years
Degree awarded: BA

Course statistics for 2012 entry

Intake: 76
Applications shortlisted for interview: 95.4%
Successful applications: 40.4%

Open days

26 and 27 June, and 20 September 2013

Places must be booked for the open days by completing the online form available on the website.

Contact details

The Academic Administrator
Faculty of Music, St Aldate’s, Oxford OX1 1DB
+44 (0) 1865 286264
Please email us at academic.admin@music.ox.ac.uk
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Music - Course outline

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A typical weekly timetable

Work is divided between lectures and classes in the Faculty of Music and college tutorials. There are between four and six lectures a week, depending on the chosen options, as well as classes and tutorials. In the final term there are generally fewer lectures and more time for independent study.

International opportunities

The Faculty of Music currently has a Socrates association with the University of Strasbourg and the University of Dresden.

1st year

Courses

Six subjects are taken (one chosen from a list of options)

Compulsory:

Special topics
Musical analysis
Techniques of composition and keyboard skills

Options:

Issues in the study of music
Composition
Performance
Extended essay

Assessment

First University examinations: Three written papers and one ‘take-away’ paper, a practical examination and a recital/portfolio of compositions/essay

2nd and 3rd years

Courses

Eight subjects are taken (six chosen from a list of options)

Compulsory:

Topics in Music History before 1750
Topics in Music History after 1700

Optional topics studied (these vary from year to year and have recently included the following): Singing, music writing, and memory, c.600–1100; Opera in Purcell’s England 1659–1705; The Keyboard Concerto, 1740–1830; Richard Wagner; From Tasso to Tapiola: The symphonic poem, c.1850–1950; Beyond modernism: Music since 1945; Musical analysis and criticism; Musical thought and scholarship; Techniques of composition; Solo performance; Orchestration; Dissertation; Composition portfolio; Edition with commentary; Analysis portfolio; Chamber music performance; Choral conducting; Choral performance. Special Topic papers (these may vary from year to year and have recently included the following): Choral studies; The music of Guillaume de Machaut; Ethnomusicology and the urban encounter; Film music; Handel’s operas and oratorios in context; Music in the Iberian world, 1480–1650; Psychological perspectives on performance; 1966 and all that: The Beatles and popular music culture; Before silence and after: Experimental music

Assessment

Final University examinations
Three or more written papers and a combination of ‘take-away’ papers, portfolio submissions, recitals and practical tests, depending on the options chosen