Music/Theatre Studies

Music and theatre studies together address two of the most important and interconnected performing arts traditions. Music is concerned with sound, composition, performance, and the cultural and historical contexts in which musical practices arise and develop. Theatre studies examines how performance works as an art form, how plays are created and staged, and how theatre relates to the societies and cultures it is part of.

The two disciplines share a concern with live performance, with the relationship between performers and audiences, and with how art communicates meaning in real time.

At the University of Glasgow, this four-year full-time programme gives you a range of options in both subjects each year, allowing you to design a pathway that reflects your particular interests and strengths. You will engage with music's technical dimensions, including harmony, analysis, composition, and performance, alongside its cultural, historical, and philosophical questions. The theatre studies component develops your critical understanding of dramatic texts and performance practices, asking how plays work and what role theatre has played in different cultural contexts.

In your third year you will spend a year abroad, broadening your academic and personal horizons. With a typical entry tariff of 216 UCAS points, this is a demanding programme at a leading research university with strong arts faculties.

Graduates from music and theatre studies programmes are well placed across the performing arts, cultural sector, and beyond. Music performance, composition, arts administration, theatre-making, education, broadcasting, critical journalism, and arts policy are all natural destinations. The combination of musical and theatrical understanding is particularly valuable in opera, music theatre, and cross-arts organisations.

Postgraduate study in music, theatre, or related disciplines provides a natural continuation.