Study Musicology
Musicologists deal with music as a sounding cultural phenomenon. We use various scholarly methods to investigate how music (and with it the musicians and listeners) has developed in different historical contexts, what role it has played and continues to play in societal, social, political, media, economic and other contexts, and why it sounds the way it does (in terms of music theory and in many other respects).
The range of music that we analyse is very diverse - in terms of time, place and style. The focus is on music from antiquity as well as the Renaissance, Baroque, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, right up to very contemporary music. Neither opera buffa nor Tyrolean music history, the music of Western Amazonia, Gustav Mahler's 3rd Symphony or German rap are immune to our researcher's eye (or ear). Even non-human music is part of our research. We pore over traditional notations as well as metrological sound visualisations, interview and observe musicians "in the field", analyse online discourses and biographies and dig for historical documents and correspondence in the archive.
The thematic focal points we have at the Institute in Innsbruck can be found at Research. You can find out who the researchers (and also teachers) at our institute are and what they focus on in particular at Team.
But what are the career options after completing a degree in Music Studies?
Due to the wide range of content-related and methodological knowledge that musicologists acquire during their studies, our graduates work, for example, ...
- in music collections and music-related documentation facilities of all kinds (libraries, archives, museums, music information centres)
- in media institutions and areas (radio, television, print media, internet),
- in cultural management (event and communication management),
- in dramaturgy,
- in the cultural industry (publishing houses, recording industry),
- or in cultural administration and cultural policy,
- and, of course, as researchers and teachers at universities and other research institutions.
However, musicology graduates are also often employed in fields not directly related to music, where their ability to critically reflect on complex issues, their teamwork and oral and written communication skills as well as their interdisciplinary problem-solving and time management skills are in high demand.
Here you will find all the information you need about enrolment, the structure and content of the Bachelor's degree programme in Music Studies.
After completing your Bachelor's degree, it is possible to do an in-depth Master's programme with us. You can find out more here.
All information about your path to becoming a doctor.
Being able to read music is very helpful; we work with both traditional western notation and alternatives to it. The necessary knowledge can be acquired in the course of your studies.
Being able to play an instrument is often very practical, but certainly not necessary. Many musicologists play as a hobby, semi-professionally or professionally, but many others do not play an instrument and are still highly valued in academia and professional life.