Introduction
Mode of Attendance: Full-time or Part-time
Staff and students of the Department of Music pursue research on a wide range of subjects, mainly but not exclusively focused on the music of Asia and Africa. Staff have special interests in the music of China and Central Asia (Harris), Korea (Howard), Japan, Indonesia and Thailand (Gray), India and Nepal (Widdess), the Islamic Middle East (Wright), the Jewish world (Wood), West Africa and Cuba (Durán) and South and East Africa (Impey). But research is not limited to these areas: projects have been undertaken on American jazz, and on the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and Eastern European music, for example. Staff often have research interests in issues that cross regional boundaries; see the Department Staff page for a summary of their interests, and select the name of a lecturer for further details of their individual research specialisms and activities.
Whatever its regional origin, music is studied as a cultural phenomenon, and also from analytical and historical perspectives. Instrumental and vocal, sacred and secular, art and popular, traditional and modern musical forms are all of the equal interest. Research methods employed include fieldwork, interview, archive research, recording and filming, performance, transcription and analysis, and composition.
Research training and coursework
All research students are required to follow a course of research training held in the department in their first year. In addition, they may be required to take one or more postgraduate courses, such as the MMus core course Ethnomusicology in Practice, and/or a language course, depending on their prior qualifications and the requirements of their research project. They are also expected to attend department research seminars, and they may be recommended to attend research training workshops elsewhere in SOAS, or in institutions such as the Institute for Musical Research (http://music.sas.ac.uk/training).
Supervision
Each research student is allocated a Supervisory Committee, comprising the First Supervisor, who will be primarily responsible for guiding the student’s research; the Second Supervisor, who is available for periodic consultation; and the Third Supervisor, normally the Research Tutor. The Committee as a group periodically assesses the student’s progress (see Structure). Research students are welcome to consult any members of the Department of Music about their research. Where the project is inter-disciplinary, the Second Supervisor can be a member of another department.
Residence requirements
MPhil/PhD students are required to be resident in London, with the following exceptions:
In Year 2, you may spend up to 12 months overseas on fieldwork.
In Year 4, you may apply for permission to work away from SOAS (this does not affect your fees).
Part-present or Distance Learning research degrees are not currently available.
