Department of Music

Crossing boundaries

Our research crosses boundaries, whether disciplinary, thematic, or national. We regard music research as inherently multidisciplinary: requiring different perspectives, from historical and analytical, to psychological and ethnographic, to composing and performing. We cross boundaries between disciplines and themes of research by means of funded interdisciplinary projects, hosting international visitors, and collaborations with Research Centres and Institutes. We help students to look beyond boundaries by challenging the assumed truths about musical histories, practices, and social and perceptual processes. 

Taking pride in diversity 

We actively enhance the diversity of music scholarship by promoting topics of neglected music, non-Western music and audiences, and demonstrating how authority and power – including gender and nationality – has influenced our views on music across time and place. We explore these themes in the musical practices of 19th century Europe and its colonies but also beyond the West (in India, Korea, and Japan). Our composers and performers explore the themes of authority and boundaries (nations, continents, genres, spaces, and mediums) in their work. 

Exceptional resources 

We have invested in specialist facilities for audio-visual recording and analysis, which are used in research and teaching on performance, music psychology and ethnomusicology. University investment in music performance venues has enabled us to host concerts in a newly refurbished historic venue in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The University has become an All-Steinway School to provide the best quality of instruments for staff and students. Our research and teaching are steeped in digital humanities and we have created significant digital collections of music performances that promote open science policies. 

Understanding the value of music 

Music can have tremendous value and makes a positive impact on people’s daily lives. Understanding music offers unique insight into what shapes us as individuals, and our histories and societies. In our research, we examine the ways in which music can connect with memories and with other people, shape identities, strengthen social values and histories and express emotions. These themes speak about the value of humanities more broadly and allow us to contribute to the contemporary debate about the importance of arts and culture.