- Student Admissions and Access
Student Services Centre
New Museums Site
Cambridge
CB2 3PT - Events: caoevents@admin.cam.ac.uk
- General admissions: admissions@cam.ac.uk
- College contacts
- Student chat
Music at Cambridge covers many exciting topics. Learn new approaches to thinking about music across styles and
genres.
Develop your skills in critical thinking, analysis, performance, and composition.
Our graduates go on to careers in a range of sectors, including music, arts management and business.
Overview
Number 2 in the UK for Music (The Complete University Guide 2026)
Music at Cambridge
Our BA in Music is equivalent to BMus degrees at other universities. The course focuses on a range of topics, including:
- history
- analysis
- composition, including screen and media composition
- performance
- ethnomusicology
- music and science
- popular music studies
- notation studies
By studying this course you'll join some of the most famous names in music who studied or taught here. They include:
- composers, like Judith Weir, Errollyn Wallen, Thomas Adès and Academy Award-winner Steven Price
- performers, like Joanna MacGregor and Mark Padmore
- conductors, like Sir Mark Elder and Nicholas Collon
- writers, broadcasters and producers, like Sara Mohr-Pietsch and John Shea (BBC Radio 3) and Joseph Zubier (Managing Editor of Classic FM)
- crossover artists, like Delia Derbyshire
Teaching and facilities
Teaching
The Faculty of Music is at the centre of a vast network of musical study, research and practice.
Our areas of special expertise include:
- medieval and renaissance music
- early modern music
- nineteenth- and twentieth-century music
- analysis
- opera
- popular music
- ethnomusicology
- performance studies
- composition
- scientific approaches to music
Facilities
Our modern Faculty of Music is where most of your lectures, seminars and research activities will take place.
The Faculty is home to:
- a 500-seat professional Concert Hall
- the Pendlebury Library, with an extensive collection of music, books, periodicals and recordings
- music production facilities, including:
- fully equipped recording studio, comprised of 2 isolated spaces (studios 1 and 2) that can be patched into each other (to form a control room/studio configuration) as well as into the Concert Hall and Recital Room
- iMacs running music creation tools like Sibelius, Reaper, Pro Tools Native, Logic and Ableton Live
- various sample libraries, IRCAM software and ambisonic plugins for mixing 360 and VR audio
- Midi keyboards and portable recording kits
- music computing laboratories and research room
Find out more about our facilities on the Music Faculty website.
Along with all other students at Cambridge, you'll also have access to:
- the impressive Cambridge University Library, one of the world’s oldest university libraries
- libraries, practice rooms and computer suites located within our Colleges
Resources
The University and Colleges own over 100 pianos and the East of England’s largest set of orchestral percussion instruments. The Faculty also has a large collection of period instruments that you can use.
Our collection includes a Javanese Gamelan: this is an orchestra of bronze instruments, with keyed metallophones, gongs, drums, a wooden flute and a two-stringed fiddle.
Beyond this, we offer access to PA systems, amps, drum kits and other equipment for popular music.
Course costs
When you go to university, you’ll need to consider two main costs – your tuition fees and your living costs (sometimes referred to as maintenance costs).
Your living costs will include costs related to your studies that are not covered by your tuition fees. There are some general study costs that will apply for all students.
Find out more about general study costs.
There are no compulsory additional course costs for Music. If you have any queries about resources/materials, please contact the Department.
Careers and graduate options
When you graduate you'll have a variety of transferable skills that employers are looking for. These skills include analysis, critical thinking and reading, presenting, researching and written communication.
You'll have the opportunity to choose from a range of different career options. In recent years, our music graduates have gone on to successful careers in:
- publishing and the media
- academia
- arts administration
- banking
- law
- public service
- charity sector
Many of our students also go on to careers in the music profession, including careers as:
- professional performing musicians
- composers
- conductors
- teachers
- sound engineers
Recent graduates include:
- composer/singer Héloise Werner
- cellist Laura van der Heijden
- conductors Tess Jackson and Stephanie Childress
- pianist Tom Poster
- pianist and educator Keval Shah
- Royal Harpist Anne Denholm
- composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad
- jazz musician Misha Mullov-Abbado
- record producer and audio engineer Myles Eastwood
- trumpeter Matilda Lloyd
Course outline
Teaching
Teaching is provided through lectures, seminars, workshops, masterclasses and small-group supervisions.
In your first year, you can usually expect to have 4 lectures, 3 supervisions, and aural and practical musicianship classes each week.
In later years, you’ll have fewer lectures and more seminar, small-group and one-to-one teaching.
You can also work with individual staff members on your own projects, whether as an advanced performer, composer, historian, analyst, ethnomusicologist or music scientist.
Assessment
Assessment takes place at the end of each year through:
- written examinations
- submission of portfolios
- compositions
- essays
- dissertations
- recitals
You won't usually be able to resit any of your exams.
Year 1 (Part IA)
The first year consists of compulsory papers in 3 major areas, and 2 half-papers chosen from a range of options. These papers provide a secure and interconnected foundation for your further study. You take:
- historical and critical studies – 2 papers covering issues involved in understanding music and its relationship to society and culture. These include studying historical topics in Western music and thinking broadly about the place of music in contemporary societies (world music, popular music, new music)
- tonal skills and general musicianship – one and a half papers giving you a thorough technical grounding in music of the Western tonal tradition, through writing music in a range of historical styles, aural work, and the acquisition of basic practical skills
- music analysis – a paper that gives you an understanding of what makes music work. You will study different approaches to analysing a broad range of music
- 2 half papers chosen from the following: extended essay, performance, composition, history workshop
Year 2 (Part IB)
You take a further paper in each of the core areas in Year 1 (historical studies, analysis and applied tonal skills, including options for orchestration and film scoring). Subject to Faculty approval, you can replace one of these papers with an option.
You then choose 3 more papers from a range of different topics. Subjects change from year to year but normally include:
- in-depth historical topics
- popular music and media
- ethnomusicology
- notation
- keyboard skills
- music and science
- performance studies, including recital
- composition
- a dissertation of 5,000 to 7,000 words
Year 3 (Part II)
In the final year, you have even more choice.
There are no compulsory papers – you choose 6 papers from a wide selection of options which reflect your own interests and which may also develop the skills and knowledge you need for your chosen career path.
Options available vary each year but recent examples include:
- advanced performance
- advanced performance skills (keyboard or choral)
- a dissertation of 7,000 to 10,000 words
- composition
- advanced tonal skills (including film score)
- portfolio of analytical essays
- notation and source studies
- Fugue
- Exploring Music Psychology
- Beginnings of Western Polyphony
- Operas of Da Ponte and Mozart
- Global Popular Musics
- Issues in African American Music
- Planetary Listening
- Prokofiev and his Three Worlds
- Modernist Music Aesthetics
For further information about studying Music at the University of Cambridge see the Faculty of Music website.
Changing course
It’s really important to think carefully about which course you want to study before you apply.
In rare cases, it may be possible to change course once you’ve joined the University. You will usually have to get agreement from your College and the relevant departments. It’s not guaranteed that your course change will be approved.
You might also have to:
- take part in an interview
- complete an admissions test
- produce some written work
- achieve a particular grade in your current studies
- do some catch-up work
- start your new course from the beginning
For more information visit the Faculty website.
You can also apply to change to:
You can't apply to this course until you're at Cambridge. You would usually apply when you are in your second or third year of your original Cambridge course.
You should contact your College’s Admissions Office if you’re thinking of changing your course. They will be able to give you advice and explain how changing courses works.
Entry requirements
The listed entry requirements relate to entry in 2026 or deferred entry in 2027. Entry requirements for 2027 entry or deferred entry in 2028 will be published in April 2026. Check our guidance on choosing high school subjects.
Minimum offer level
A level: A*AA
IB: 41-42 points, with 776 at Higher Level
Other qualifications: Check which other qualifications we accept.
To apply to any of our Colleges for Music, you will need:
• A level/IB Higher Level (or the equivalent) in Music
or
• ABRSM Grade 8 Theory at Merit or above
College entry requirements
The following Colleges usually set offers at the minimum offer level. They may sometimes ask for higher grades or an A* in a particular subject:
- Christ's
- Clare
- Corpus Christi
- Downing
- Emmanuel
- Fitzwilliam
- Girton
- Gonville & Caius
- Homerton
- Hughes Hall
- Jesus
- King’s
- Magdalene
- Newnham
- Pembroke
- Peterhouse
- Queens'
- Robinson
- Sidney Sussex
- St Catharine's
- St Edmund's
- St John's
- Trinity
- Trinity Hall
- Wolfson
The following Colleges set extra conditions for most or all offers. For example, they may make a higher offer or specify an A* in a particular subject. For more information check the College websites:
Colleges set additional offer requirements for a range of reasons. If you'd like to find out more about why we do this, check the information about offers above the minimum requirement on the entry requirements page.
IB offers
Some Colleges usually make offers above the minimum offer level. Find out more on our qualifications page.
Admission assessment
There is an admission assessment at some Colleges for this course. You do not need to register in advance.
Check the College admission assessments page for more information.
Submitted work
You will need to submit representative written work and musical material. This will normally include one or two essays on the history or analysis of music; and one or two technical exercises (if studied) and/or your own compositions.
What Music students have studied
Most Music students (who had studied A levels and started at Cambridge in 2018, 2019 and 2023) achieved at least A*A*A (56% of entrants).
The majority of these students took Music (98%). Other common subjects were:
- English (Language, Language & Literature, or Literature)
- History
- languages
- Mathematics
The majority of students who studied IB achieved at least 43 points overall.
This information shows some of the common subjects our applicants have studied. Although these are common subject combinations, this doesn't mean they're favoured.
When you're choosing your post-16 subjects, it's most important to check whether any subjects are required for your course. You can also check our guidance on choosing your high school subjects for more information.
All undergraduate admissions decisions are the responsibility of the Cambridge Colleges. Please contact the relevant College admissions office if you have any queries.
Next steps
Discover your department or faculty
- - The Faculty of Music website has more information about this course, facilities, people and research.
Explore our Colleges
- - A College is where you’ll live, eat and socialise. You may also have some small group teaching there, known as supervisions.
- - If you think you know which course you’d like to study, it’s time to choose a College.
Visit us on an open day
- - Get a feel for the city and the university.
- - We offer a range of events where you can find out more about Cambridge, Colleges, and your course. Many of our events are online so you can join us virtually.
Find out how to apply
- - Our admissions process is slightly different to other universities. We’ve put together a handy guide to help you apply to Cambridge.
- - Supercurricular activities are a great way to engage with your chosen subject outside of school or college.
Discover Uni
Discover Uni data
Contextual information
Discover Uni allows you to compare information about individual courses at different higher education institutions. This can be a useful method of considering your options and what course may suit you best.
However, please note that superficially similar courses often have very different structures and objectives, and that the teaching, support and learning environment that best suits you can only be determined by identifying your own interests, needs, expectations and goals, and comparing them with detailed institution- and course-specific information.
We recommend that you look thoroughly at the course and University information contained on these webpages and consider coming to visit us on an Open Day, rather than relying solely on statistical comparison.
You may find the following notes helpful when considering information presented by Discover Uni.
- Discover Uni relies on superficially similar courses being coded in the same way. Whilst this works on one level, it may lead to some anomalies. For example, Music courses and Music Technology courses can have exactly the same code despite being very different programmes with quite distinct educational and career outcomes.
Any course which combines several disciplines (as many courses at Cambridge do) tends to be compared nationally with courses in just one of those disciplines, and in such cases the Discover Uni comparison may not be an accurate or fair reflection of the reality of either. For example, you may find that when considering a degree which embraces a range of disciplines such as biology, physics, chemistry and geology (for instance, Natural Sciences at Cambridge), the comparison provided is with courses at other institutions that primarily focus on just one (or a smaller combination) of those subjects.You may therefore find that not all elements of the Cambridge degree are represented in the Discover Uni data. - Some contextual data linked from other surveys, such as the National Student Survey (NSS) or the Destination of Leavers in Higher Education (DLHE), may not be available or may be aggregated across several courses or several years due to small sample sizes. When using the data to inform your course choice, it is important to ensure you understand how it has been processed prior to its presentation. Discover Uni offers some explanatory information about how the contextual data is collated, and how it may be used, which you can view here: https://discoveruni.gov.uk/about-our-data/.
- Discover Uni draws on national data to provide average salaries and employment/continuation data. Whilst starting salaries can be a useful measure, they do not give any sense of career trajectory or take account of the voluntary/low paid work that many graduates undertake initially in order to gain valuable experience necessary/advantageous for later career progression. Discover Uni is currently piloting use of the Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO) data to demonstrate possible career progression; it is important to note that this is experimental and its use may be modified as it embeds.
The above list is not exhaustive and there may be other important factors that are relevant to the choices that you are making, but we hope that this will be a useful starting point to help you delve deeper than the face value of the Discover Uni data.