Many students find joint honours both stimulating and rewarding as they observe similarities and differences between the two subjects. Often there are complementary issues and perspectives as well as skills that link the subjects, be they critical analysis, historical contexts or recent research.

You will spend a similar amount of time on each subject, benefiting from developing your musical understanding and skills while studying the fascinating and challenging subject of Philosophy.

The School of Music and the School of English, Communication and Philosophy offer challenging courses of modules in each subject. The flexibility of the course allows you to specialise and develop your own interests, while acquiring a solid, broad-based education and developing transferable skills.

Home to the arts, Cardiff is a great location for the study of music in the UK. The city has a professional opera company, Welsh National Opera, and a professional symphony orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The School of Music enjoys a fruitful relationship with both organisations that allows, for instance, students to attend dress rehearsals and buy cut-price tickets for concerts.

Philosophy at Cardiff is distinct for its strong emphasis on ethics, politics, and philosophy of mind and its equal attention to ‘analytic’ and ‘Continental’ styles of Western philosophy.

You are expected to have gained or shown evidence of working towards Grade 8 in one or more instruments or voice at the time of your application. You may be considered if you are not taking A-level Music but have Grade 8 Practical and Grade 7/8 Theory and are studying appropriate Humanities subjects at A-level.

We do not routinely interview applicants for our undergraduate programmes. Applicants with a non-traditional qualification may be invited to attend an informal interview at the School of English, Communication and Philosophy which will have a bearing on the selection decision.

Distinctive features

• This course is especially suited to those interested in seeing music within a broad cultural context, embracing the literary, the social and the political
• There are no compulsory modules in either discipline
• Your optional third year dissertation may draw on both disciplines
• A strong emphasis on ethics, politics, and aesthetics
• Instrumental tuition is fully funded by the School of Music on your principal study instrument
• Business of Music modules offer a short work placement
• Composition workshops, performance masterclasses, the University concert series, the John Bird lectures presented by visiting academics and the careers talks provides many opportunities for contact with active music professionals