What to expect
Music research as a career goal offers an alternative or complementary career path to performance and teaching. Music researchers are capable of examining aspects of musical and music pedagogical practice, its prerequisites and effects, from an academic perspective and using research-based methods.
The content and didactics of the Major in Music Research focus on academic reflection concerning specific musical and music pedagogical issues and are tailored to the skills and needs of music students.
Over a period of four semesters, students develop a deeper academic understanding of musical phenomena and their mediation and acquire core research skills.
The learning modules impart the theory and methodology of practice-oriented music research. By means of guided practice units, discussion forums and presentations, students are encouraged to tackle research questions and methods.
From the second to the fourth semester, students are also individually supervised in the development and realisation of their own research project and in the writing of a master's thesis. The research project serves to hone the methodical and critical skills imparted during the contact study and provides students with an opportunity to apply them to questions they develop.