The University of Sheffield
Department of Music

World Music Studies MA - Course Structure

Sarha-photo.jpg"As a world music musician this course was ideal for encompassing the kinds of music that I love and value, and its breadth and flexibility let me follow my own interests. The study skills elements are particularly useful for those of us new to academia. The academic support, with care, encouragement, meticulous quick comments and advice, gave me confidence and new skills. I´ve got the bug and am now at Sheffield on a funded world music PhD!"

Sarha Moore
Member of Bollywood Brass Band
MA 2008


World Music Studies has been designed to progress logically from an introduction to the study of world music and the research skills involved, through increasingly specialised, technical and critical studies, to the completion of an original research project that contributes new knowledge to the field. Each semester’s work is introduced or supported by an onsite intensive teaching week known as a residential, and students are subsequently guided both by the module structure and materials, and by supervision via the Internet.

Year 1, Semester 1

Research Skills (15 credits)

Music of the World (30 credits)

Year 1, Semester 2

Case Studies in Ethnomusicology (MUS6005, 15 credits)

[Postgraduate Certificate may be awarded on completion of all the above, total 60 credits]

Approaches to Fieldwork (30 credits)

Year 2, Semester 1

Special Topic in World Music (30 credits)

[Postgraduate Diploma may be awarded on completion of all the above, total 120 credits]

Work towards dissertation may be begun during this semester

Year 2, Semester 2

Dissertation (MUS 6007, 60 credits)

Course Total: 180 credits

Students not completing the MA may receive the Postgraduate Certificate on completion of 60 credits, or the Postgraduate Diploma on completion of 120 credits. Most students, however, are expected to complete the full MA course.

Marianna Katopi


"The MA in World Music Studies is a well organised programme that helped me develop both academically and as a musician. It gave me the confidence to collaborate as a coordinator of the music workshop "Italo-Hellenic Musical Interactions" in the Europe of Cultures Forum (Adriatic and Ionian Chapter, Preveza, Greece, 2007) and the cooperative spirit to perform as a guitarist with the jazz and Latin music group Vice Versa in the European Music Day, 2009—a great opportunity for artistic and cultural exchange."

Marianna Katopi
MA 2006