Newcastle University

Newcastle University

'Do you really want to go to Oxford, or do you want to go to Newcastle and be happy?' says the idealistic teacher Mr Irwin in Alan Bennett's The History Boys.

A glance down the list of undergraduate modules in the university's school of music certainly suggests plenty of scope for happiness. Modules on chant and liturgy jostle for attention alongside courses on music, gender and sexuality and Afro-Cuban independence, and an eclectic list of degree titles including BMus (Hons) Folk and Traditional Music, BA (Hons) Music, BMus (Hons) Music and BMus (Hons) Popular and Contemporary Music. It's enough to infuriate even the most liberal of academic music purists.

Courses at Newcastle are offered through the International Centre for Music Studies (ICMUS), situated at the heart of the campus and fully kitted out with practice rooms, four large state-of-the-art electroacoustic and recording studios, post-production studios and myriad IT stations. If you're lucky you get your classes taught at Tyneside's sparkly £70m concert venue, The Sage, Gateshead.

Perhaps one of the most exciting things about Newcastle University is the diversity of the staff roll call. Kathryn Tyckell, international piper and Jools Holland favourite, is on the list, as is world-famous Shetland fiddle player Catriona Macdonald.

'They want people to develop their own critical awareness of the cultural and social impact that music has on the world around us.'

Staff specialities include the music of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, music about AIDS, and desire, drink and death in English folk song.

Peter Morris, 20, is a third year on the BA (Hons) Music course and commutes from Durham. He did a BTEC in popular music at New College, Durham and decided he wanted to take his study further and become a teacher. He says he chose the course at Newcastle because he wanted a course that wasn't monocentric. 'I wanted an opportunity to immerse myself in a variety of musics from all over the world, while gaining performance opportunities,' he says.

Morris thinks the best thing about the department is its eclecticism - 'and the fact that the lecturers are extremely passionate about what they are doing'. He likes the fact that, 'They don't want people to necessarily agree with everything they have to say; they want people to develop their own critical awareness of the cultural and social impact that music has on the world around us.'

The university was established in the 1800s as a school of medicine, later becoming part of Durham University and achieving independence as the University of Newcastle in 1945. The modern university stands on a 45-acre site near to the city centre.

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