MA Interdisciplinary Music Research

Degree	Standard period of study	Tuition language	ECTS points	Language certificates
Master of Arts (M.A.)	4 semesters	English language	120	B 2 (ENG)

This image was created by the artificial intelligence "Midjourney" based on the phrase "music, sound and nature".

This image was generated by the artificial intelligence "DALL-E " in response to the phrase "code of a machine and a musician playing music together".

Are you fascinated by interdisciplinary music research and more-than-human music?
Do you want to conduct academic and artistic research and build bridges between theory and practice?
Are you a music researcher with an interest in current social, environmental and technological issues?
Do you want to join an international group of students and complete large parts of your studies online?

Then you've come to the right place!

In our Master's programme in Interdisciplinary Music Research (M.A.), you can choose between two specialisations:

Human-Animal Studies (human-animal musical relationships, animal music and sound production) or
Artificial Intelligence (human-machine co-creativity).

Do you have an artistic or artistic-educational undergraduate degree?
We can advise you on the requirements for a Master's degree.

Qualifying exam

In the first stage of the Qualifying exam, the examination board checks, on the basis of the documents submitted, whether the candidate has acquired the following competences:

Competences equivalent to at least 15 ECTS credits or, in the case of subjects that are not modularised in terms of ECTS, to an equivalent extent in the field of musicology (e.g. historical musicology, systematic musicology, ethnomusicology, popular music studies, music sociology, music psychology, music informatics).

Competences amounting to at least 10 ECTS credits or, in the case of subjects that are not modularised in terms of ECTS, competences to the corresponding extent from one or more subject areas in the cultural sciences or humanities (e.g. literature, art studies, theatre studies, philosophy, ethnology/folklore, sociology, anthropology and/or regional studies) or computer science or digital humanities or biology.

Competences amounting to a total of at least 15 additional ECTS credits or, in the case of subjects that are not modularised in terms of ECTS, an equivalent number of competence competences from the areas mentioned in points 1 and/or 2.

If the examination board is satisfied that the competences referred to in paragraph 1 have been acquired, the second stage of the qualifying examination will consist of an online interview in English (duration 15 minutes). In this structured interview (colloquium) on the competences acquired so far, the choice of specialisation, the Bachelor's thesis and the use of specialist literature, the following competences will be assessed:

the ability to reflect academically on the theories and methods learned in the Bachelor's degree programme as well as the integrated knowledge and understanding of academic basics and discursive positions in relation to the chosen specialisation of the Master's programme in Interdisciplinary Music Research.

the level of competence with regard to interdisciplinary research and its methodological and content requirements.

the ability to reflect on the overall social relevance of research in the chosen area of specialisation.