Arts, Culture and Media - Music

Are you fascinated by films, music or theater? Do you love to discuss what art is, or how to interpret a particular movie, popular song or performance? Are you interested in studying the effects of arts and media on society?

The programme will train you to study artworks, from novels and music videos to films and computer games, in a scholarly way – examining how they are produced, distributed, used, perceived, appreciated and socially embedded. It thereby paves the way for a variety of professional avenues into the field of arts and media.

The Arts Culture and Media programme is unique because it offers:

• An interdisciplinary study with various modules examining the mutual interdependence of the arts
• The possibility to study one art form (film, music, theatre) in-depth
• Socially relevant perspectives examining the social, ethical, and ideological dimensions of contemporary arts worlds in order to build bridges between academic institutions and living artists, communities, and arts organisations for their mutual and healthy

Studying music in Groningen in the Arts, Culture and Media Department offers students a broad spectrum of perspectives from which to situate music’s role in culture and society. Within core modules, students learn to identify the aesthetic, historical and formal qualities connected to various classical and popular music genres. Students also examine particular case studies to highlight music’s performative, mediated, and discursive formations. The programme provides an overview of relevant theoretical models, drawing in particular from the disciplines of cultural studies, ethnomusicology, musicology, media studies, and theories of race, gender, sexuality, and ethnicity. Individually and in groups, students engage in research projects that expose them to local, national, and international music cultures and phenomena. Here, they investigate the changing processes guiding music’s mediation and institutionalization in the twenty first century.

Within the Bachelor’s Programme, students enrol in core modules in both popular and classical music. During a three-year programme, students follow the required modules in their own arts specialization (music) as well as integrated arts courses highlighting the role of arts in society. Ultimately music majors complete a curriculum comprised of six music modules, five integrated arts courses and two courses that foreground one academic framework (criticism, policy, or education).