Overview 

The BMus Music at King's College London offers a wide-ranging exploration of music as both an academic subject and a practical discipline, combining performance, composition, and scholarly study. Students draw on diverse musical traditions and analytical approaches, gaining both technical skill and critical understanding. The course matters because it prepares musicians and scholars alike to engage thoughtfully with music's historical, cultural, and creative dimensions.

What You'll Learn

• Historical and cultural approaches to music across a broad range of traditions, from Western classical repertoire to jazz, opera, and global musics such as Bollywood and Latin American forms

• Composition techniques and creative practice

• Performance skills, including opportunities for individual instrumental or vocal tuition

• Music theory and aural training

• Musicology and ethnomusicology, including ethnographic approaches to studying music

• Contemporary critical theory as applied to musical analysis

• Academic writing and research methods specific to music studies

• Recurring issues and topics that shape musical thought across different periods and cultures

Learning Outcomes 

By the end of the course, students will be able to analyse and interpret music using a range of historical, theoretical, and critical frameworks. They will have developed strong practical abilities in performance and composition, alongside the aural and technical skills needed to engage confidently with musical scores and sound. Students will be equipped to conduct independent research, write critically about music, and situate musical works within their broader historical and cultural contexts. Through close engagement with staff and varied teaching formats, students will graduate with the creative, analytical, and communication skills relevant to careers in music and related creative fields.