10 Reasons for Undertaking a Higher Degree in Music at Monash
1. Reputation of the School of Music – Conservatorium
Monash is home to one of the best research music schools in Australia and offers higher degrees in composition, ethnomusicology, musicology and performance. Many of our higher degree graduates hold senior positions in universities and musical institutions in Australia and overseas.
2. Funding Opportunities
A large percentage of our postgraduates receive scholarships from the university and from other sources. The Kartomi Scholarship has recently been inaugurated to attract the best postgraduates to our School and other funding programmes are currently being established.
3. You don’t need to live in Australia
Log in for supervision from anywhere in the world! You only need to visit Campus once a year. Offered in composition, ethnomusicology and musicology, external candidature is a perfect arrangement for international students wanting to study with expert Monash researchers but who are unable to move to Australia.
4. We don’t believe in ivory towers and disciplinary borders
We are famous for encouraging research that pushes boundaries and cross disciplinary borders. We aim to create imaginative and innovative researchers in the disciplines of music who can think outside the square.
5. Quality Supervision
Many of our staff have been honoured with awards for outstanding efforts in postgraduate teaching and supervision. They have been praised for the clear direction and the quality feedback they provide.
6. Publication Opportunities
Many of our students are mentored through the university’s highly successful Graduate Researchers in Print (GRiP) programme and have their worked published in academic journals before they even graduate.
7. Vibrant Postgraduate Community
Our research staff and students enjoy collaboration and collegiality, not separation and isolation. A staff and postgraduate reading group comprising composers, ethnomusicologists, musicologists and performers is just one example of a forum in which students actively participate in the intellectual and creative life of the School.
8. International Connections
Our postgraduates present papers at major national and international conferences including the annual meetings of the Society of Ethnomusicology, USA. Recent performance graduates have participated in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in the UK and the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik, Darmstadt.
9. Extensive Library and Archive Facilities
We have a dedicated music library of jazz and classical recordings and scores, and extensive archival collections of Sumatran, Asian and Jewish music. The university library has one of the largest collections of rare books and periodicals in the country and an efficient and free inter-library loan programme.
10. We like to stay in touch after Graduation
We welcome back past students to give guest lectures, recitals and seminars. Some of our graduates are appointed Adjunct Research Fellows to help disseminate their research and to keep them connected to Monash and the wider research community.