Music - Irish Music Studies

The MA in Irish Music Studies is intended for scholars and scholarpractitioners who wish to study Irish Music (traditional, folk, classical, popular and related genres) from critical, cultural, historical, ethno/ musicological, and practice-based perspectives. The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance has been a leading centre for the study of Irish traditional music for some time. More recently, we have added expertise in other 'Irish' genres, encompassing practices and discourses within and beyond the island of Ireland, connecting to regional, national and global musical flows. This programme explores the structures, sounds, and ideas of what is constituted as 'Irish music', historically and currently, and why and how that might matter.

Key Facts
The team delivering this programme consists of high-calibre full-time faculty, instrumental and vocal tutors, PhD researchers, visiting lecturers and performers.

Autumn Semester

Mandatory:
Framing Irish Music: Sources & Discourses 1
Music Ethnography
Introduction to Fieldwork Techniques
Irish Traditional Music Performance Research Seminar
Introduction to Ritual Studies

Options: students choose two options from the list below
Colloquium 1
Independent Study 1
Media Technologies for Performing Arts & Arts Research
Writing & the Documentation of Arts Practice 1
Broadening through Awareness, Activism and the Arts
(postgraduate)
Academic Literacies for International Postgraduate Students 1

Spring Semester

Mandatory:
Framing Irish Music: Sources & Discourses 2
The Anthropology of Music
Critical Engagements with Irish Traditional Music

Options: students choose two options from the list below
Colloquium 2
Independent Study 2
Broadening: Introduction to Place-Making (postgraduate)
Critical Contexts for Arts Management & Cultural Policy
Interdisciplinary Practice

Summer
Final Presentation

A primary degree in a suitable discipline with a first or second class honours, or an approved professional qualification (Primary degree: Level 8 - National Qualifications Authority of Ireland). An interview will be required in all cases, as well as an audition where necessary. Candidates may be required to submit additional audio visual and/or written material.

What to include with your application

Qualification transcripts and certificates

A copy of your birth certificate or passport

If your qualifications have been obtained in a country where
English is an official language this will suffice

If this is not available, the following additional documents must be provided:

• English translation of your qualification(s)/transcripts
AND
• English language competency certificate
For more information Click Here

Note: Due to Covid-19 restrictions, any interviews or auditions (as required by the Course Director) during the application process will now take place virtually.

1 year Full Time