Music

Music is one of the most complex and richly studied of the arts, encompassing composition, performance, music theory, history, and the cultural and social contexts in which music is made and experienced. At Royal Holloway, University of London, the BMus Music is a three-year full-time programme that includes a sandwich year, a year abroad, and work placement, giving you an unusually wide range of experience across academic, practical, and professional dimensions of music study. The programme, as the current description notes, allows you to explore, perform, and compose across a huge range of styles, from classical and jazz to world and popular music.

The degree develops your musical knowledge and practice in depth. You will study music history and the major movements, composers, and traditions that have shaped Western and world music, alongside theoretical and analytical tools for understanding how music works at a structural level. Composition and performance are both integral parts of the curriculum, giving you the opportunity to create and present music in the context of a research-driven academic community.

The breadth of styles available means you can follow your own musical interests and develop genuine expertise in areas that matter to you, whether that is early music, jazz, popular song, electronic music, or contemporary composition. The sandwich year and year abroad add professional and international dimensions that very few music degrees can offer.

Music graduates work across an exceptionally diverse range of careers. Professional performance, composition, music education, music management and promotion, arts administration, music journalism and broadcasting, sound design, music therapy, and academic research are all paths that music graduates pursue. The skills in listening, analysis, creative problem-solving, and collaboration that music develops are also valued in careers outside the music industry, including communications, publishing, and the creative industries more broadly.

Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in performance, composition, musicology, or music education. The combination of academic depth and practical experience that Royal Holloway's programme provides is a strong preparation for a professional life in music.