UKZN’s Discipline of Music is known both nationally and internationally for its creative work and our published research in African music and dance, ethnomusicology, jazz and music education and music technology. We are experienced, caring teachers, and we have developed a wide variety of academic offerings and community-oriented programmes and projects (including UKUSA, the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music and the African Music Project).

Serving approximately 260 undergraduate and 50 graduate students at present, we are small enough to be a friendly place where students and staff can all get to know and learn from each other and yet large enough for us to provide a variety of courses and other opportunities for learning.

Our teaching encourages students to think critically about the role music plays in society and about its function in fostering personal and social identity and empowerment, and it helps students to develop the skills they require in order to earn their living by creating music, teaching, doing socially valuable research, working in sound studios, and contributing to community projects.

The Drama and Performance Studies programme is a recognized centre of excellence in performing arts, with a strong focus on the southern African context.  The programme is structured around three main Performance Studies streams and the dynamic synergies between them.  These streams are: Theatre Studies, Dance Studies, and Applied Theatre Studies. The pedagogy of the programme is rooted in the constant interplay between theory and practice, and in interrogating the local and global contexts within the ever-expanding Drama and Performance Studies field.

The programme aims to promote:

• The creation, performance and appreciation of drama, dance, theatre, applied theatre, and theatre-related media in the South African and, in particular, the KwaZulu-Natal context;
• Personal growth with special emphasis on cognitive, social and communication skills by developing internal and external personal resources and modes of critical thinking;
• A deeper understanding and acceptance of difference and similarity through providing a platform for many cultural perspectives and forms: past and present, local and global;
• An understanding of the educational potential of theatre, dance and applied theatre as bridge to the local communities.

Music, Drama and Performance