Course overview
On this course you will normally divide your time equally between German and music. While developing your language skills to degree level, you will also study areas of German literature, history, politics, society, media and linguistics. This course gives you the opportunity to take up German from scratch and an intensive beginners' course in German will enable you to capitalise on your proven language-learning ability and develop German to degree level. On the music side, the course develops key critical and analytical skills in the study of music as a vibrant form of social and cultural practice. It will also offer you the opportunity to focus on specific topics including performance and composition.
Year one
In German, you will begin a structured course in the language to take you from beginners to advanced level and are also introduced to aspects of German culture and history. In music, three core modules cover aspects of style, genre and critical thinking and an optional module deals with performance.
Year two
Your German language studies will be consolidated to prepare you for the year abroad. In German, you will take modules in literature and history and may opt to take modules in politics, linguistics, media and film. In music, you choose modules from options such as Composition, Performance, Critical Thinking, Narrative and Emotion, Opera and Politics, Creative Orchestration, Notation and Transcription, Twentieth-Century Studies, Performance and Performers, Beethoven and Schubert, Classical Music and Society after 1945, Film Music, Jazz, Medieval Studies, Romanticism and Popular Music.
Year three
Spent in Germany or Austria as a language assistant in a school, on an approved course of study or on a work placement.
Year four
You will develop your command of German to a high level and use it in increasingly sophisticated contexts. You will also study optional modules drawn from the areas of literature, history, politics, society, media and linguistics. Music options include Analysis, Sound Technology and Recording, Popular Music in the Cinema, the String Quartet, Gender and Culture, Messiaen, and Scandinavian Music. In both subjects, you may choose to write a dissertation.
More information
See also the
Department of Music.
Entry requirements
A levels: ABB, including A in music at A level and evidence of language-learning ability
English language requirements
IELTS 7.0 (no less than 6.0 in any element)
TOEFL iBT 100 (no less that 21 in listening and writing, 22 in reading and 23 in speaking)
Alternative qualifications
For details please see the alternative qualifications page
Modules
The modules we offer are inspired by the research interests of our staff and as a result, may change from year to year. The following list is therefore subject to change but should give you a flavour of the modules we offer.
Typical year-one modules
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Elements of Music
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Beginners' German Language
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Interpreting Tonal Music
Typical year-two modules
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Critical Thinking II
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German Language (Post-beginners)
Typical year-three modules
Year spent abroad. Please see the Department of German Studies Year Abroad page.
Typical year-four modules
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German Essay and Oral
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Translation from German
Typical optional modules
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Introduction to German Film Studies
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Sex, Gender and Society in Modern Germany
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Ensemble Performance
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Innovation in 20th-Century Music
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Germany in the International Context since 1945
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Life and Demise of the GDR
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Reason and its Rivals from Kant to Freud
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Music, Power and Desire at the Renaissance Courts
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The Age of Beethoven and Schubert
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Music in Germany between the Wars
Skills and careers
You will have acquired a high level of expertise in written and spoken German and will have a broad knowledge of German culture, literature, history and society, and of the areas of music that you have chosen to focus on. Your international experience will demonstrate to employers that you are adaptable, resourceful and able to cope in challenging situations.
Average starting salary
The average starting salary for 2009/2010 full-time graduates of the Department of German Studies was £18,600 and for graduates of the Department of Music it was £13,150.*
*Average starting salary from known destinations of first-degree leavers who studied full-time, 2009/10.