phd without a master's?

so, i just graduated with my first degree (high 2:1; i was 4% away from a first, which is... possibly annoying me more than it has the right to), and, after getting rejected from a master's course i applied to, have realised that what i want to do is actually do a phd without doing a master's.

without going into too much detail i have a good idea for a subject (a continuation of what i did my dissertation for my first degree about - i was very close to a first for it and my advisor said there was a phd in there somewhere), which is basically masculinity and how it relates to eroticism/homoeroticism in opera.

problem is: i've looked at a lot of phds in music (this would specifically be musicology) and most but not all of them want a master's first. i know the purpose of needing a master's before getting a phd - it shows that you can write and make an argument, but i know if not exactly then roughly what i want to write about, so doing a master's seems like a lot of expenditure to essentially be able to do something i feel very passionate about as it is.

am i best applying to master's courses and not applying to phds? and if i do apply to master's courses am i best applying to taught master's courses or research master's? or should i apply for master's courses and the phds that don't require a master's first? (or should i throw my hat in the ring for the ones that do require a master's, since the worst they can do is say no?)

thanks in advance!

so, i just graduated with my first degree (high 2:1; i was 4% away from a first, which is... possibly annoying me more than it has the right to), and, after getting rejected from a master's course i applied to, have realised that what i want to do is actually do a phd without doing a master's.

without going into too much detail i have a good idea for a subject (a continuation of what i did my dissertation for my first degree about - i was very close to a first for it and my advisor said there was a phd in there somewhere), which is basically masculinity and how it relates to eroticism/homoeroticism in opera.

problem is: i've looked at a lot of phds in music (this would specifically be musicology) and most but not all of them want a master's first. i know the purpose of needing a master's before getting a phd - it shows that you can write and make an argument, but i know if not exactly then roughly what i want to write about, so doing a master's seems like a lot of expenditure to essentially be able to do something i feel very passionate about as it is.

am i best applying to master's courses and not applying to phds? and if i do apply to master's courses am i best applying to taught master's courses or research master's? or should i apply for master's courses and the phds that don't require a master's first? (or should i throw my hat in the ring for the ones that do require a master's, since the worst they can do is say no?)

thanks in advance!

Ooooh, a muso Hello!

I've never heard of a muso going straight from an undergrad to a PhD. As has been said, a Masters is the necessary preparation for a PhD course, even if you have a very clear idea of what you wish to study for your PhD. It's quite common for work from the Masters dissertation to feed into the PhD, so it would not be the wasted/unnecessary expenditure that you think! Treat it as doing the groundwork/preparation for the PhD, and an opportunity to start reading early!

Out of interest, how come you got rejected from the Masters course you applied to? That's very odd for that to happen, regardless of whether you were trying for funding or not... In all honesty, it's a bit worrying (unless you were trying Oxbridge?) and suggests that either your application wasn't strong enough or that your undergrad transcript was pretty dodgy with no extenuating circumstances. But it doesn't sound like the latter is the case?

the course i got rejected from wasn't a music course - it was queer history at goldsmiths (my degree is in history and music), which is the only course of that sort so was quite heavily subscribed to. i didn't ask for feedback, but even so i think part of the issue is that i come across more articulately on paper than in person (bc i'm autistic and have adhd - i'm perfectly good at writing but in person i borderline sound like i learned to speak that morning), but also i'm working on that so hopefully i'll do better at future interviews.

i've looked at a couple of research-based rather than taught master's courses and i'm definitely thinking of applying to some now, though: i mostly had concerns about spending a lot of money to do research i wouldn't be able to use in the future. thank you!