In the autumn of 2022, I settled in to my third year in Durham as a music undergraduate. Having become fond of Durham’s historic beauty, forged the beginning of my adult life, and the foundations of a freelance arts career in the North-east, I was keen to stick around for at least a little bit longer.
Getting stuck into my dissertation and exploring a range of interdisciplinary music studies led me to consider studying music for another year and to explore my research interests and passions further. I started to think about more research questions I wanted to answer and spoke to some of the specialists in my department who gave me an overview of what staying on for another year at Durham had to offer.
Getting more info
I was really interested in the excellent support and expertise for Ethnomusicology that Durham’s music department had to offer and spoke to academics who worked on the taught MA course, hearing more about the unique depth and perspective they all had to offer. I was excited by the openness and technical expertise the course’s audiovisual documentation and analysis module offered.
The offer of creating my own audiovisual research project and assist in professional filming of concert performances at beautiful world heritage sites seemed like a challenge I wanted to take on as part of my postgraduate degree. I explained some of my ideas for further research and was met with intrigue and excitement for how I could best explore them in Durham, and how I would be supported, moving forward, with thinking about where a music MA could take me post degree.
Flexibility and expertise
The openness of the degree programme appealed to me, as someone who wanted to keep their options wide-ranging for career options. I am interested in both pursuing academia in some capacity after my masters, as well as working in arts management and practice.
The mix of opportunities in Durham’s MA course, and flexibility in how and what you study, were a big draw, as well as the flexible and independent contact hours which allowed me to work part time during my degree.
As an MA student at Durham, my expectations of what I am supported in researching, and exploring how I carry out things like fieldwork and technical documentation, have been exceeded. The programme has provided me with more refined knowledge and transferable skills, alongside an unparalleled chance to make connections that will allow me to grow as a young professional, for example, being mentored as part of the Durham Leadership programme, taking a play to the Edinburgh Fringe, and a poetry slam team to Birmingham’s annual ‘UniSlam’ competition. I really enjoyed my dissertation project, and the locality to Durham Cathedral and Newcastle Life Centre allowed me to carry out my fieldwork research into the Gaia Exhibition affordably and easily.
Extracurricular
Having been involved with a wide range of student experience opportunities at Durham as an undergraduate, from poetry, music and theatre to peer-led student support and governance, I wanted to continue fostering the work I had put in at my undergraduate university as a postgraduate. Maintaining and reigniting familiar friendships and working relationships with those who I shared interests with was something I thought would let me throw myself into extracurricular escapades more comfortably and more meaningfully.
There’s a sense of community and non-stop opportunity at Durham – that’s something that made staying on for another year to foster career and research-led skills in and out of my department so much of a delight. Particularly as someone who joined university in 2020, having another year at Durham and reaping the benefits of the expansive opportunities to get involved with a thriving student community, felt like a no brainer.
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