About the School of Music
Welcome
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The School of Music offers an exciting range of courses at the graduate and postgraduate levels in performance, composition, digital music, ethno-musicology, music history and research, musicianship and music education. In addition to the usual whole-year and one-semester courses, the summer programme also offers a course in music appreciation which is accessible to all. Most of our other courses require a knowledge of music notation, but some do not, and one course, MUSI 107, will teach you the notation skills you might need for further studies in music.
The School of Music occupies its own building in the southeastern part of the campus. The building may be approached from Clyde or Ilam Roads, entering University Drive and taking the third driveway leading away from the river. Apart from this central building the School also operates from other sites on campus. Most performance teaching takes place in specially adapted houses in Creyke Road and Kirkwood Avenue, and a sophisticated music computer suite (15 units) operates from the Maths and Computer Science (Erskine) building.
The School is also the home of the Te Puna Puoru National Centre for Research in Music Education and Sound Arts (MERC) and the UNESCO Arts Hub Aotearoa (AHA), under the direction of Roger Buckton and David Sell. Increasingly the Centre envisages postgraduate music education students being involved in aspects of its work.
Outside the University our students enjoy and participate in the vibrant artistic and cultural life 
of Christchurch. Whether in the areas of opera, theatre, the fine arts, orchestral, choral or instrumental music, many groups - both amateur and professional - thrive in the city’s environment.
With the growth in the music and arts industry, there is an increasing range of careers available to music graduates. These include professional performance; composing and arranging perhaps in relation to video, film and advertising; private, itinerant and school music teaching; radio and journalism. Canterbury alumni always feature prominently in all these areas.
A student handbook is available covering all courses offered at the University. In addition, brochures on taking music at University are available. The Liaison Office of the University is located in the Student Services Centre, Engineering Road.