About Arts: Music Mres in University of Liverpool

The Arts (Music) MRes will encourage you to develop research skills whilst undertaking a major research project. This could include a dissertation or extensive composition or music-technology portfolio. The programme will enable you to acquire a critical and analytical understanding of a detailed dissertation or composition topic; engage in the wider cultural and critical aspects of the relevant area of expertise by undertaking a research skills training module and an additional module from the School of Music or the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences' pool.

This training introduces you to the inter-disciplinary nature of the field and aims to introduce  the wide range of methodologies such studies entail. Further, you are required to consider how you will approach and structure the dissertation as a project in primary research. Finally, the programme will enable you to work closely with a research specialist in the broad musicological field in one of the following areas: musicology, popular music, music industries, composition, analysis, audio-visual, music-technology.

The Arts (Music) MRes provides excellent preparation for you if you’re intending to undertake a PhD in the Arts and Humanities, it is also a good choice if you wish to pursue a research project for purposes of professional development or personal interest. You will become part of a community of active researchers and will be encouraged to pursue your own research interests in collaboration with an academic supervisor.

Career prospects

The MRes Arts may enhance the career prospects of those working or wishing to work in fields associated with the study of Arts subjects or other areas of academic work and study, including teachers, librarians, and professional writers.  While managerial positions often require the ability to conduct research or project-work and to demonstrate sustained and complex organisational skills in ways encompassed by this programme, its emphasis on oral and written communication skills as well as on IT-based presentation skills will be useful for many types of employment.  Some students may want to take this course for its own sake and for the sake of personal development and the revitalization of subject awareness.  Equally, the MRes is designed to prepare students too for further research at MPhil or PhD level, and to enable them to enter postgraduate study, thus offering a first step towards a career in academic teaching and research. 

The advanced study of one or more Arts subject on this programme equips students with powers of fine discrimination and judgement that will set them apart in workplaces of many kinds. The skills it fosters are those which enable graduates to deal logically with the complex demands of a whole range of careers. These skills include:

• the ability to process large amounts of information
• the ability to organise disparate material into a coherent argument
• the capacity to compare many different views and come to a decision about the merits of each
• the independence to define a complex project and bring it to completion with minimal input.
• imaginative and creative responsiveness to problems
• powers of expression (both written and oral) which allow for the lucid delineation of nuanced ideas.

Such skills are essential for those considering careers in, for example, journalism, publishing, management, and the law. Graduates have gone on to work in a wide variety of professions. Our alumni include lecturers, communication specialists, broadcasters, writers, teachers, librarians, public relations managers and publishers.

Academic qualification equivalents

• Successful completion of a Bachelor's degree from a recognised university with minimum first division (high second division from some universities).

English language requirements (one of the below):

• IELTS:  6.5 overall with a minimum of 6.0 in each component.
• TOEFL iBT: 88 overall with 20-Listening, Writing, Reading, 22-Speaking.
• PTE:  62 with minimum scores of 51 in each component.

University of Liverpool Highlights

University of Liverpool Average Tuition Fees And Other Expenses

The estimated fee and cost of living per year for international students is tabulated below: