About the Department of Music

The Department of Music provides an inspiring environment for the study of music in the beautiful Victoria Rooms, with a wide range of courses and study options on offer.

Our friendly atmosphere reflects a close-knit community of staff and students working together. Students benefit from individual tutorials as well as small-group teaching, seminars and lectures, delivered by expert staff, all of whom are practising musicians or composers.

We are ranked among the top ten Music departments in the UK, including fifth in the Times Good University Guide 2024; seventh in the Guardian University Guide 2024, and eighth in the Complete University Guide 2024. The National Student Survey 2024 results show how highly our students rate our undergraduate courses. 100% of students agreed that "Staff are good at explaining things", and over 95% of students agreed that "Teaching staff have supported my learning well". 95% of students were positive about our IT resources and facilities, library resources, and specialist subject-specific resources. This places us consistently among the very best universities for Music degrees in the UK.

Our active research profile reflects the seismic changes that have transformed musicology in recent years. How, for instance, might music reflect the way a community or a nation sees itself, comes to terms with a difficult history such as invasion, enslavement or even its own oppression of others? How has music been used as propaganda, or as a form of education? What was the role of music a thousand years ago in tiny communities balancing external pressures with local ways of expressing their Christian faith? What does music mean in nations reeling from war and revolution? And who are the lost voices of music history? The music of Black and female composers – lost or sidelined for decades, even centuries – is changing the way we see that ‘history of Western music’ for good.

Music research at Bristol addresses these questions, and more. We believe passionately in an inclusive music history that celebrates all kinds of music practice, from the earliest western European attempts to capture oral traditions using notation, to the living practice of hip-hop, film and other popular musics.

Our four composers have a wide range of compositional interests, from vocal, choral, chamber and orchestral music, to film, media, electroacoustic and studio-based composition in many forms and styles.

We offer performance opportunities for all University of Bristol students, across multiple department- and student-led ensembles, from classical to Music Theatre, from Jazz to A Capella, from medieval to opera, with an extensive programme of student and professional performances. Our music students also benefit from regular performance workshops.

How we are organised

The Department of Music is one of five departments comprising the School of Arts, which itself forms part of the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences.