Music and Philosophy

Music at Aberdeen offers the opportunity to learn, compose and perform with world-renowned composers, conductors, musicologists and researchers working in all genres, styles and periods. You will grow as a musician and performer while seeking to understand the world around us and how we might answer the Big Questions that humans have wrestled with throughout the ages. You will gain the strong intellectual skills sought by employers in many fields and transferable to a wide range of careers.

Philosophy attempts to answer questions such as: What is knowledge? What is the nature of truth? Why should we act morally? Philosophy is just as much the study of reasoning and argument as it is the application of thought to specific problems.

What makes Philosophy at Aberdeen especially attractive is the breadth of courses, the user-friendly materials you will use and the experts who will teach you. In your first year alone, you can study topics such as How Should One Live? Controversial Questions, and Experience, Knowledge and Reality.

In Music Studies, you can develop your interests and abilities in music through courses in performance, composition, theory, musicianship and history of music, taking advantage of the outstanding quality of our teachers, instruments and facilities and many opportunities to perform.

In addition to a career in music, the academic skills you will develop will open opportunities in education, history and heritage, or applied in another sector such as media or business and internationally.

Course Modules

View all modules on the programme page to find out more about what you will be studying and when. University of Aberdeen modules are designed to give you breadth and depth to your degree. The range of modules you study will allow you to become proficient in all subjects which are directly relevant to your degree giving you greater career options.

*Please note that performance courses are available only after a successful audition. MA students audition at the beginning of an academic session, likely during welcome week. The Music Department’s office will be in touch nearer that time to offer an audition slot. Please note, there may be little notice between receiving the invite and your actual audition due to the University’s Admissions process. For further information, please contact llmvc.enquiries@abdn.ac.uk.

The use of various forms of assessment and learning environments facilitates the development of generic transferable skills enhancing student employability.

Students are assessed by any combination of three assessment methods: coursework such as essays and reports completed throughout the course; practical assessments of the skills and competencies they learn on the course; and written examinations at the end of each course. The exact mix of these methods differs between subject areas, years of study and individual courses.

Honours projects are typically assessed on the basis of a written dissertation.