What is the RMA?

The Royal Musical Association is the foremost society in the UK dedicated to the study of all types of music, including but not limited to musicology, ethnomusicology, composition, digital music, popular music, performance, audio-visual creativity, contemporary practices, interactive music, and music technology.

You can find out more about our work on the activities page.

Mission Statement

The Royal Musical Association was founded in 1874 “for the investigation and discussion of subjects connected with the art and science of music,” and its activities have evolved to embrace every conceivable aspect of music scholarship, whether expressed in words, notation or sounds.

The Association aims to sustain and enhance the culture of music studies at its broadest, to celebrate and promote diversity in musical and scholarly activity, to create an inclusive and interdisciplinary environment, and to recognise outstanding scholarly and creative achievement by individuals worldwide. A key aim is to support the education, training and mentoring of emerging, early career, and independent researchers within music studies.

The Association’s chief activities in pursuit of these aims are the promotion of conferences, symposia, study days, workshops and other public meetings; the publication and dissemination of books, journals, and other outlets for research of international standing; the sponsorship of awards and prizes; the advocacy of studies with public and private policy-making bodies, and with repositories of musical resources; and liaison with other subject organisations across the world.

The RMA celebrates the full diversity of music studies, sub- and interdisciplinary approaches and individuals who self-identify as members of groups that are often under-represented in academia.

Equality and Diversity

The Royal Musical Association promotes diversity and equality in respect of race, gender, and any other characteristic by which people identify themselves or are identified by others. The encouragement of such diversity is an explicit goal in the development of membership, the selection of candidates for elected or remunerated office, the consideration of candidates for awards, the consideration of submissions for presentation at RMA conferences or for publication, and in every other aspect of the Association’s activities.

Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group is working on a number of events and other initiatives.