Music

Music as a degree subject encompasses the full range of what music is and can be, from composition, performance, and music technology through to musicology, ethnomusicology, and the critical and historical study of musical traditions across cultures and periods. It is one of the most intellectually and practically diverse disciplines in higher education, combining the rigour of academic analysis with the demands of creative and performative practice. A music degree asks you to think deeply about what music is, how it is made, how it functions in different cultural contexts, and what it means to engage with it seriously as both a practitioner and a scholar.

At Sheffield, this four-year degree provides a thorough musical education across a broad range of areas, developing your musical understanding alongside practical and creative skills. The programme includes a year abroad, giving you the opportunity to study at a partner institution and to experience musical traditions and academic approaches in a different cultural and educational context. Sheffield's location in a city with a vibrant live music scene provides a rich context for musical study beyond the formal curriculum, and the university's research culture means you will be working in an environment where musical scholarship is taken seriously.

You will develop critical, analytical, and creative skills that prepare you both for the music profession and for the wide range of other careers that a rigorous musical education opens up.

Music graduates move into an exceptional variety of careers. Professional performance and composition, music education, music technology and production, arts administration, broadcasting, music journalism, and cultural policy are all natural destinations. Many graduates combine multiple roles, performing or composing alongside teaching or working in the music industry in other capacities.

Beyond the music sector specifically, the analytical, creative, and communication skills developed in a music degree are valued across many professional contexts, and music graduates are found in education, the media, law, and the civil service as well as in the arts. Postgraduate study in performance, composition, musicology, or music technology is a natural progression for those who wish to develop specialist expertise.