Music (Ethnomusicology) MusM

Year of entry: 2025

Course length: 12 months Full-Time | 24 Months Part-Time

About the course

This course offers a stimulating master’s-level foundation in ethnomusicology. With a strong focus on theory, methodology and current debates in the discipline, together with appropriate research techniques and presentation styles, it offers excellent preparation for doctoral study, and also for applied work.

Together, the taught units encompass a wide range of topics and approaches, including:

Gender and Ethnicity
Music and Conflict
Music Revivals and Performance Culture
Postcolonial Theory and the Politics of Ethnography

These are example course units based on 2024/25 options and are subject to change each year.

Learn more >

Where will your degree take you?

Our graduates have pursued successful careers in musical and non-musical fields. Some continue to further study via a PhD before securing an academic position. Some go on to teach in schools or further education, both in the UK and overseas.

Other areas of work for which advanced musical training has been directly relevant include: arts management and the culture industries, producing, music publishing, music, journalism, librarianship, music therapy, and performance. Careers outside of music have included: accountancy, law, social work, and human resources.

Some graduates have gone on to work for companies that include The Old Vic, NHS, Orchestras Live, and BBC.

Find out more about our graduates >

Arthur Dickinson

MusM Music (Ethnomusicology) Student

“The highlight of my course has been working on the original research/dissertation component of the course, in which you focus on a topic of your choosing. For my dissertation, I’ve carried out ethnographic interviews with indie world music record labels, gaining perspectives on their work and its ethical implications. This has been very interesting and rewarding, tying into the themes and issues covered in the taught modules.”

Prof Caroline Bithell

Professor of Ethnomusicology

Prof Caroline Bithell teaches a range of course units in Ethnomusicology. With an academic background in music, social anthropology and languages, she holds degrees from the universities of Oxford and Wales. Caroline is best known in the ethnomusicology world and beyond for her publications on the traditional musics of Corsica and Georgia (Caucasus), music revivals, and the natural voice and community choirs.

Dr Chloë Alaghband-Zadeh

Lecturer in Ethnomusicology

Dr Chloë Alaghband-Zadeh is an ethnomusicologist, specialising in music in contemporary South Asia and the South Asian diaspora. Her research explores the intersections between musical sound, ways of listening and structures of power. Before coming to Manchester, she held a three-year Research Fellowship at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.