Postgraduate Supervision

Interested in Postgraduate Studies in Music History?

Are you interested in pursuing an advanced research project at Master or Doctoral level? As a registered supervisor of Master- and Doctoral-level research at the University of New England, Australia, I have supervised a range of topics in historical musicology. I offer specialised research supervision in topics in medieval and renaissance/early modern music, particularly the music of the thirteenth through to early sixteen centuries, especially but not limited to the polyphonic repertoire of Western Europe. Enquiries concerning research in the areas of music notation and manuscript studies, music theory, music editing, compositional process, French and Italian song repertoires, sacred polyphony, performance practice, the social bases of music or composer-focused studies within this timeframe are especially welcome. Please feel free to send your informal enquiries indicating your interests, even if only broadly. I can work with you to develop your research project proposal into a formal document suitable for gaining entrance to higher degree studies. Please see the University of New England web site for further information on postgraduate degrees offered.

The basic requirement for entry into postgraduate studies is a four-year Bachelor degree (usually with a small thesis or research project in the concluding year) or equivalent in the relevant or related area of study. It is best that prior to commencing postgraduate studies you already possess reading skills in at least one other language than English. French, German, Italian, Spanish and/or Latin are particularly useful in the discipline of historical musicology.

If you would like to initiate some informal discussions about postgraduate study, please use the web form below, and I will get back in contact with you as soon as possible.

Join me on an exciting research project

As a researcher I naturally welcome postgraduate students who are keen to contribute to a current research project I am leading. One particularly exciting project seeks to establish the foundations of a new field of digital musical palaeography. In particular, if you have a passion for music palaeography (especially musical notation c.1280–c.1500) but you are interested in exploring the limitations of the current methodologies and developing new ones, and/or if you have skills in computing science that might be turned to pattern recognition and data mining of old music sources, then you might consider joining our team of researchers here in Armidale. Applications for studying at a distance will also be considered. Scholarships are available through the University of New England to support postgraduate living expenses for up to three years. Additional funds and grants to support research are offered by the University of New England during your program of studies. Should you be interested in joining our project and possess appropriate undergraduate training and knowledge, I will support you in developing your funding application to align with our research for the best chances of success. Note that some scholarships are limited to Australian or New Zealand citizens or international students residing on campus.

Completed supervision

C. Ellsmore, ‘The Role of Violetta Valery in Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata (1853)’, M.Mus Hons, 2010. (supervisor)

D. Weston, ‘Beyond the Figures: A Search for Styles in Harpsichord Accompaniment 1600-1750’, M.Mus Hons, 2010. (co-supervisor)

I. Coward, ‘Identifying Historical and Stylistic Bias in the Musical Content of Suzuki Violin’, PhD, 2011. (co-supervisor)

T. Daly. ‘From Counterpoint to Composition in the Early L’homme Armé Mass’, PhD, The University of Melbourne, 2020 (subject expert supervisor).