Take a look at our selection of courses and see how we can take your interest further. Open University courses in music include printed materials, scores, offprints of texts and sound and in some cases video recordings.

The arts past and present (AA100)
This course introduces you to a range of subject areas, including history, art history, philosophy, classics, history of science, religious studies, music and literature.

Understanding music (A214)
This course teaches the basic techniques and styles of western music of the ‘tonal era’ (c.1600–1900). After an introduction to the musical elements, keyboard work, aural training and practice in writing, you study score-reading and simple formal principles. Work on harmonisation includes the harmonisation of Chorales in the style of Bach. There is a Residential Summer School included in the Course Fee.

Introducing religions (A217)
This course offers an introduction to the study of religions, and to six living religious traditions that have had – and continue to have – a major influence on world affairs: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism.

Words and music (AA317)
This course considers the relationship between words and music, speaking and singing, poetry and song, drawing on a wide range of music and literature. It discusses song in intimate situations; in the public spectacle of opera; in ritual (both religious and secular); issues of musical narrative; and music as an element in literature. The course will be accessible to students from both musical and literature backgrounds.

Performances and repertories (A871)
This postgraduate course is part of both the MA in Music and the MA in Humanities programme and takes forward the approaches to studying music introduced in Postgraduate foundation course in music (A870). It offers you the opportunity to explore ways in which repertories develop in their performance contexts, and the ways in which performances are shaped by the demands of the market, composers, exponents and audiences.