The study of music at university level includes three principal areas of learning: performance, composition and musicology. All students of music participate in one of the university ensembles (among these are the university choir, the UCD Choral Scholars, the chamber choir and the baroque orchestra), and Stage 1 students are additionally required to take a performance examination at the end of their second semester. Musicology can be defined as a scholarly study of music, and, as a discipline, it embraces the history of music, the study of music in culture and the analysis and criticism of music.

At UCD, foundation programmes in musicology in Stages 1 and 2 are concentrated upon European art music, traditional music in Ireland and elements of world music. In Stage 3, students take more specialised modules in early music history (Renaissance and baroque music), 19th and early 20th century music history (romantic and early modern music) and in music since 1950. Modules in Indian, Japanese and African-American music widen the students' perception of musical cultures and the techniques and cultural significance of music in non-European contexts.

At the end of Stage 1, students can opt to transfer to the Bachelor of Music (BMus) programme. BMus students do not study a second major subject but take twice as many modules in Music instead. Applications to transfer are made directly to the School of Music at the end of Stage 1.