History and Music

History and music is a joint degree that brings together two disciplines united by their concern with the past, though they approach it through entirely different means. History uses documents, material evidence, and analytical argument to reconstruct and interpret events, structures, and ideas across time. Music, as an academic discipline, uses score analysis, historical research, theory, and listening to understand how musical traditions have developed, how compositions are structured, and what music reveals about the societies and cultures that produced it.

Together they offer a deeply humanistic education.

At Royal Holloway, this joint degree allows you to combine a passion for history and music, developing a curiosity about the past and an understanding of specific periods and historical problems, while at the same time deepening your understanding of music as both a cultural artefact and an artistic practice. You will study historical periods and problems alongside music analysis, historiography, and the history of musical styles, developing your capacity for close reading, argument from evidence, and critical writing. The programme runs over three years full-time and includes a sandwich placement year, a year abroad, and a work placement.

Graduates of history and music degrees pursue careers in arts administration, music journalism and criticism, publishing, heritage, education, archival and library work, the civil service, and the cultural sector. The analytical and writing skills the programme develops are valued across a wide range of professional contexts. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in music, history, musicology, or arts management, where the interdisciplinary depth of their undergraduate training is a significant advantage.