MA in Musicology: Overview

•The MA in Musicology degree offers students with strengths in musicology and/or analysis the opportunity to develop their knowledge of historical musicology and their critical and research skills.
 
• The course provides a solid foundation for students wishing to register for an MLitt or PhD research degree in future years.

• The convenor of this degree is Dr Lorraine Byrne Bodley, a musicologist with an international reputation for her publications on Schubert, Goethe and German song.

• The Department’s staff includes specialists across a broad range of musicological disciplines including: ethnomusicology, reception history, performance practice, music in Ireland, interdisciplinary studies, music and text, analysis and contemporary music. See the Department’s webpage http://music.nuim.ie/staff for full details of staff interests.

Entry Requirements

• Honours degree normally with a minimum of Grade 2.1 in music.

• An interview demonstrating a serious approach to research and a genuine interest in historical musicology/analysis

• Submission of 2 examples of written work (c.1000 words; for e.g. 2 recent undergraduate essays) to the course convenor at the time of application

What You Can Expect

• A strong foundational course in research methodology
• An introduction to the work of leading musicologists
• Specialist tutorials in staff research areas.
• Classes in advanced harmony and analysis
• Expert advice on research issues from musicologists at the cutting edge of their fields
• Individual supervision by scholars working in your area of research
• Opportunities to hear guest lectures by visiting musicologists and composers
• An annual postgraduate conference at which Maynooth research students present their research
• Your research may be considered for publication in the Department’s postgraduate journal

• Access to language courses

The MA in Musicology in Outline

Modules

MU661 The Musical Text: Critical Enquiries (Semester 1; 10 ECTs)

This module develops a critical engagement with musical scores and an understanding of how music is notated through the study of a range of musical scores and styles of notation.

MU662 Specialist Tutorials (Semester 1; 10 ECTs)

Students have the opportunity to receive tuition in staff specialist research areas. Each year there are three tutorial groups of which students pick two. The choice of the specialist tutorials is made in consultation with the course convenor.

MU663 Musicology in Practice (Semester 2; 15 ECTs)

This module promotes a questioning approach to the discipline(s) of musicology through the reading of key texts. It aims to uncover long-held assumptions about what are appropriate subject matters, methods and perspectives for musicological enquiry and to reveal some of the ways in which the musicologist can be engaged in any debate about the nature and interpretation of music. Students also gain experience in presenting a short 15-minute paper on the subject of their thesis.

MU664 Engaging Music: Approaches to Analysis (Semester 2; 10 ECTs)

This module develops the student‘s understanding of and ability to analyse the musical languages of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and familiarises students with current musicological discourse in the area of analysis.

MU640 Thesis (Semesters 1 and 2; 30 ECTs)

An extended, individually supervised, thesis (15,000 words) on a topic directly related to one of the areas of specialism within the Department.

The choice of the modules/tutorials should be made in consultation with the course convenor and lecturers.

Contact

Course convenor: Dr Lorraine Byrne Bodley, lorraine.byrnebodley@nuim.ie, tel:

(+353 1) 708 6472