The Department of Music is renowned internationally for the quality of its academic staff and for its courses in music studies, performance, and composition. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), 85 per cent of the department’s research was rated as ‘world-leading’ and ‘internationally excellent’, a result that places us in the top 10 UK music departments. As one of the UK’s leading research-intensive universities, a degree from The University of Nottingham is recognised worldwide as a prestigious qualification, enhancing your career opportunities.
The department is home to a vibrant community of postgraduates, from the UK, EU, and further afield. Set within a beautiful 330-acre woodland campus, less than two hours from central London, it offers a friendly and supportive environment and the use of superb up-to-date facilities, including:
- a well stocked library with listening area, multimedia facilities, and access to electronic resources
- a studio with first-rate equipment
- an audio-visual archive
- a computer lab with access to music-notation software
- a dedicated postgraduate study room with PCs and wi-fi
- a large number of practice rooms with new pianos
There is also the renowned Djanogly Recital Hall where performances of all kinds take place, including a regular series of professional concerts, public recitals by students, and concerts including student compositions. Adjacent is a large purpose-built rehearsal hall, and the Lakeside Arts Centre.
The department offers a wide spectrum of musical activity in both academic and practical spheres, and has particular research strengths in 19th- and 20th-century music, geography, film music, opera, analysis, medieval and renaissance studies, source study and editions, philosophy and aesthetics, jazz, popular music, and composition. All departmental staff have international reputations in their fields of research.
The department regularly hosts major academic conferences, and organises regular series of music colloquia featuring distinguished guest speakers and research students. It is home to the Centre for Music On Stage and Screen (MOSS), which co-ordinates staff specialisations, special events, and has an extensive history of relevant staff publications. Recent research projects in the department include an edition of Early English Church Music, a project on music and the melodramatic aesthetic, the composition of a violin concerto, and a project on classical music and urban geography in contemporary Paris.