Research in the Faculty of Music

Rated 95% world-leading or internationally excellent in research. Top-ranked Music submission in the UK from a generalist university (REF 2021).

Research in music at Cambridge is internationally renowned, and ranges from creative practice (composition, performance studies) to music and science, analysis, ethnomusicology, and historical musicology. We host two world-leading centres of collaborative research: the Centre for Music and Science, and the Cambridge Centre for Musical Performance Studies. We are also home to two five-year European Research Council projects: 'Sound and Materialism in the 19th Century’, and ‘Past and Present Musical Encounters across the Strait of Gibraltar’, as well as to a Leverhulme-Trust-funded three-year research project: Score designs for music reading: Cognitive and artistic perspectives. Further collaborations include the HERA-funded ‘Sound Memories’ project, on the importance, for European medieval communities, of their musical past.  The wider benefits of our research include bringing ‘lost’ music to the professional stage and demonstrating scientifically how music-making aids the development of empathy in children. Our research is supported by a rich infrastructure including the Pendlebury Library and University Library as well as important College collections. See our Research Resources for further information about some of these collections.

A large contingent of Early Career Fellows and PhD students completes a vibrant core research community that meets in various informal groupings within the Faculty and as part of specialist inter-disciplinary seminars across the University. During term we also hold a weekly Graduate Colloquium, organized by PhD students, and a staff Work in Progress seminar. The Faculty hosts around a dozen visiting researchers per year and welcomes applications from visiting research students. The biennial Orr Lecture and the Wort Lecture residency offer further opportunities to bring distinguished visitors to Cambridge.

For a snapshot of our research, visit the Cambridge Music Blog.