Music is always growing – new music is being made, performed, recorded and investigated all the time. Studying music at the OU not only allows you to explore this continually developing area, but contribute to it as well. Thus A224 culminates in an opportunity to write a song in one of three musical idioms – in the style of western art music, a jazz standard, or contemporary popular music. A342 explores music as both something that has meant certain things in particular places and times – and something that continues to grow and change in the present day (for instance, Unit 13 of the module explores some of the many recordings that have been made of Rachmaninoff’s famous Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2, for piano, including a version by the composer himself and a much more recent interpretation by Santiago Rodríguez). The MA in Music similarly offers opportunities to study music new and old, but also to contribute to continually developing scholarly dialogues about music.
PhD students studying music at the OU, meanwhile, focus on a range of recent musical developments and styles, including the increasing presence of women in British brass bands and the relationship between mysticism and drone metal. You can watch Owen Coggins, a PhD student in the OU’s Religious Studies and Music Departments, talk about his research on the latter subject here:
The Open University is especially well equipped to explore these new areas of research. When you study with us you’ll gain access to excellent online resources, including sound and film collections and the very latest insights from academics published in books, journals, magazines and newspapers. The OU Library page on selected resources for study in music will give you some idea of the extensive collections available to students.
