Undergraduate

The first year consists of three major components which continue into the second year:

• Historical and Critical Studies - two and a half papers covering issues involved in understanding music and its relationship to society and culture. This includes the main historical developments of Western music from the medieval period to the present, and a selection of historical or contemporary case studies.
• Techniques of Tonal Music - two papers giving you a thorough technical grounding in music of the Western tonal tradition; through arrangement, acquisition of basic harmonic skills at the keyboard, aural work, and writing music in a range of historical styles. This is a foundation for more advanced work in all musical fields.
• Music Analysis - one paper which gives you an understanding of what makes music work through hands-on familiarity with a range of styles. This creates a bridge between your work in Historical and Critical Studies and Techniques of Tonal Music.

For your final half paper, you have the choice of giving a 15 minute recital, submitting an original composition, or writing an extended essay.

You take a further paper in each of the core Part IA areas, which together take up half of your time.

For the remaining half, you choose three papers from a range of different topics. Subjects available change from year to year but normally include:

• advanced historical topics
• advanced analysis
• jazz and popular music
• ethnomusicology
• scientific approaches to music
• performance studies
• composition
• a dissertation of 5,000 - 7,000 words

In the final year, you have even more choice. There are no compulsory papers – you can choose from a wide selection of options which reflect your own interests and which may also develop the skills and knowledge needed for your chosen career path. Examples of options available in recent years include:

• Beethoven: the Late String Quartets
• The Cantatas of J S Bach
• The Music of Miles Davis
• Fugue
• Monteverdi in Mantua and Venice
• Nationalism and Music in the Middle East
• Performance Practice 1600-1830
• Music and Globalization
• Shostakovich and his World
• Perception and Performance
• The Music of Chopin

You can also work with individual staff members on your own projects, whether as an advanced performer, composer, historian, analyst, ethnomusicologist, or music scientist. In this way, while our course gives you the solid understanding of the subject which a music degree should guarantee, it also offers you the flexibility you need to prepare for life after Cambridge.

Essential A Level/IB Higher Level Music (ABRSM Grade 8 Theory can be offered as a substitute)
Useful Grade 5 piano

Applicants for Music should be studying A Level Music (or equivalent). Further to this no particular subjects are more desirable than others. Modern Languages and History are useful but so are virtually all other subjects, including Mathematics and sciences, in different ways. Please note, Music Technology is not an adequate substitute for Music A Level.

Applicants should be acquainted with at least some of the standard repertory and have experience of writing about music. You are likely to have a good musical ear, some facility at the keyboard, and some proficiency in harmony and counterpoint.

Check College websites for College specific requirements. See also Entrance requirements and our Subject Matters leaflet for additional advice about general requirements for entry, qualifications and offers.

The table below sets out the ways in which each College assesses applicants for this subject. For more information about these methods of assessment and why we use them, see the main Admissions tests and written work page.

If you are interested in applying for this course, please see our Applying section for more details.