In this minor you will learn to consider music as a world-wide phenomenon, with special attention to music as a thought process and ideas about music in different cultures. You will study music in its full breadth, from singing Neanderthals to Beyoncé. Also, you will learn to interpret music in the context of the cognitive revolution in the humanities, in which the characteristics of music are considered as an acoustic, psychological, and cognitive phenomenon.

This minor is offered by the Faculty of Humanities. The faculty’s minors consist of 30 ECTS credits and earn you a second qualification that will be listed on the transcript accompanying your degree certificate. 

Study schedule

Master's programme

The minor Music, Culture and Cognition offers broad insight into the recent comparative approaches to music all over the world. This minor may serve as a good preparation for academic Bachelor’s students who want to apply for admission to a Master's programme in non-historical variants of the Master's programme Music Studies. Always check the entry requirements on the Application and Admission page of the Master’s programme you are interested in.

Entry requirements

This minor is open for application to students who have obtained an academic first-year diploma or a positive Binding Study Advice from an academic Bachelor's programme. 

The minor is also open for application to students from a Dutch University of Applied Sciences (HBO) who have completed their propaedeutic year. If you are an HBO student and if you are looking to do a Master's programme at the UvA, please check out our pre-Master's programmes, as completing a minor is not enough to grant you access to Master’s programmes. 

Application

The registration period for a minor in the academic year 2025-2026 will start in Spring 2025.