Our Folk and Traditional Music degree was the first of its kind in England. The programme focuses on the traditional music and song of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. National and international artists teach as regular and guest tutors on this degree.

Performance and group playing is at the heart of this course, but you will also study the social and cultural context of traditional and folk music, and how music helps to construct identity and culture.

As you progress through the degree you will have increasing freedom to choose modules to tailor your studies, including from our contemporary and popular and classical music degrees. Our partnership with Sage Gateshead is a strong feature of the course, with some of the teaching taking place there, as well as a wealth of performance opportunities.

After Stage 2 you can spend a year studying abroad at one of our partner institutions, making this a four-year degree. Please be aware that this is usually subject to you achieving an average of 60% or more across the first three semesters of the programme.

Our graduates often become professional musicians, performers, composers, teachers, academics, music therapists, studio managers or sound engineers. Other opportunities include:

• arts administration
• music production
• music journalism
• music librarianship
• music publishing