History and Music

History and music are disciplines that might seem distant from one another, but they share a common concern with how human experience is shaped and expressed over time, and how the meanings of cultural artefacts, whether events, texts, or musical works, depend on the contexts in which they are produced and received. History develops your ability to interpret the past through evidence and argument. Music develops your understanding of a particular kind of human making, one that is both technically demanding and capable of conveying what other forms of expression cannot easily reach.

At Bangor University, this three-year full-time programme brings the two disciplines into dialogue, allowing you to develop historical research and analytical skills alongside musical study that may include performance, composition, or musicology depending on your interests. A foundation year is available for students who need additional preparation before the main degree, a sandwich year places you in a professional setting for an extended period, a year abroad broadens your intellectual and musical horizons, and work placement experience is integrated throughout the programme.

Graduates from history and music programmes pursue careers across a wide range of fields. The historical training prepares you for roles in research, heritage, publishing, the civil service, and journalism, while the music dimension opens paths in performance, music education, arts administration, and the music industry. The combination is particularly suited to careers in music journalism, museum and archive curation of musical collections, and arts management roles that require both cultural knowledge and strong analytical skills.

Postgraduate study in musicology, history, heritage, and arts management is available for those who wish to develop their expertise.