Musicology is the study of the subject of music. The earliest definitions defined three subdisciplines systematic musicology historical musicology and comparative musicology or ethnomusicology. In contemporary scholarship one is more likely to encounter a division of the discipline into music theory music history and ethnomusicology. Research in musicology has often been enriched by crossdisciplinary work for example in the field of psychoacoustics. The study of music of nonwestern cultures and the cultural study of music is called ethnomusicology.

Graduates of undergraduate music programs can go on to further study in music graduate programs. Graduate degrees include the Master of Music the Master of Arts the Doctor of Philosophy PhD e.g. in musicology or music theory and more recently the Doctor of Musical Arts or DMA. The Master of Music degree which takes one to two years to complete is typically awarded to students studying the performance of an instrument education voice or composition. The Master of Arts degree which takes one to two years to complete and often requires a thesis is typically awarded to students studying musicology music history or music theory. Undergraduate university degrees in music including the Bachelor of Music the Bachelor of Music Education and the Bachelor of Arts with a major in music typically take three to five years to complete. These degrees provide students with a grounding in music theory and music history and many students also study an instrument or learn singing technique as part of their program.

The PhD which is required for students who want to work as university professors in musicology music history or music theory takes three to five years of study after the Masters degree during which time the student will complete advanced courses and undertake research for a dissertation. The DMAis a relatively new degree that was created to provide a credential for professional performers or composers that want to work as university professors in musical performance or composition. The DMA takes three to five years after a Masters degree and includes advanced courses projects and performances. In Medieval times the study of music was one of the Quadrivium of the seven Liberal Arts and considered vital to higher learning. Within the quantitative Quadrivium music or more accurately harmonics was the study of rational proportions.

Zoomusicology is the study of the music of nonhuman animals or the musical aspects of sounds produced by nonhuman animals. As George Herzogasked do animals have music? FrançoisBernard Mâches Musique mythe nature ou les Dauphins dAriona study of ornithomusicology using a technique of Nicolas Ruwets Language musique poésieparadigmatic segmentation analysis shows that bird songs are organised according to a repetitiontransformation principle. JeanJacques Nattiezargues that in the last analysis it is a human being who decides what is and is not musical even when the sound is not of human origin. If we acknowledge that sound is not organised and conceptualised that is made to form music merely by its producer but by the mind that perceives it then music is uniquely human.