Creative Music Practice PhD 36 months PHD Programme By The University of Edinburgh |TopUniversities

Programme overview

Main Subject

Music

Degree

PhD

Study Level

PHD

Study Mode

On Campus

The PhD in Creative Music Practice is an opportunity for you to pursue practice-led research in the field of music at the highest level.

This will involve research that combines textual and musical outputs, for example:

  • composition
  • performance (either of original or pre-existing repertoire)
  • installation
  • sound design
  • interactive music software
The outputs take the form of:

  • a portfolio
  • a performance
  • a recording
  • theoretical work
  • documentation of the processes by which the music was made (video, photographs, recordings, sketches, studies, web pages, etc.)
The musical outputs are explicitly linked to the textual material. This link may take various forms: musical material might exemplify, contextualise or expand an idea elaborated in the text, and vice versa. The programme requires you to critically evaluate and articulate the relationship of textual to extra-textual media in the formation of musical knowledge.

The format of the PhD thesis consists of a text of not more than 50,000 words, as well as the documentation of the process, contained in a coherent and archivable format (bound thesis plus electronic documents (PDF, webpages, etc.) submitted in memory stick/CD/DVD). Where a thesis relates to live musical performances, documentation in the form of high-quality audio and video recordings is central to the submitted materials.

Typical applicants to this programme include:

  • composer-theorists who wish to carry out research into and practice of particular compositional models
  • performers who wish to deepen their practice through musicological research
  • computer-music composers who wish to develop documented hardware/software systems for their music
  • performers with a need to study the techniques and organology of period instruments
  • instrument builders/researchers seeking historical techniques found in evidence from the original instruments

Programme overview

Main Subject

Music

Degree

PhD

Study Level

PHD

Study Mode

On Campus

The PhD in Creative Music Practice is an opportunity for you to pursue practice-led research in the field of music at the highest level.

This will involve research that combines textual and musical outputs, for example:

  • composition
  • performance (either of original or pre-existing repertoire)
  • installation
  • sound design
  • interactive music software
The outputs take the form of:

  • a portfolio
  • a performance
  • a recording
  • theoretical work
  • documentation of the processes by which the music was made (video, photographs, recordings, sketches, studies, web pages, etc.)
The musical outputs are explicitly linked to the textual material. This link may take various forms: musical material might exemplify, contextualise or expand an idea elaborated in the text, and vice versa. The programme requires you to critically evaluate and articulate the relationship of textual to extra-textual media in the formation of musical knowledge.

The format of the PhD thesis consists of a text of not more than 50,000 words, as well as the documentation of the process, contained in a coherent and archivable format (bound thesis plus electronic documents (PDF, webpages, etc.) submitted in memory stick/CD/DVD). Where a thesis relates to live musical performances, documentation in the form of high-quality audio and video recordings is central to the submitted materials.

Typical applicants to this programme include:

  • composer-theorists who wish to carry out research into and practice of particular compositional models
  • performers who wish to deepen their practice through musicological research
  • computer-music composers who wish to develop documented hardware/software systems for their music
  • performers with a need to study the techniques and organology of period instruments
  • instrument builders/researchers seeking historical techniques found in evidence from the original instruments

Admission Requirements

Entry requirements for individual programmes vary, so please check the details for the specific programme you wish to apply for on the University of Edinburgh website. You will also need to meet the University’s language requirements.

3 Years
Jan
Sep

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