This is an archived handbook for a previous year. The current undergraduate and postgraduate handbooks can be viewed using the links above.

Undergraduate Handbook 2005-2006 (archived)

Module MUSI1171: MUSIC IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Department: Music

MUSI1171: MUSIC IN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Type	Level	Credits	Availability	Module Cap	Location
Open	1	20	Available in 2005/2006	None.	Durham

Pre-requisites

A-level Music.

Corequisites

None.

Excluded Combinations

None.

Aims

To study music in its cultural and social context.
To draw on approaches from the social sciences, anthropology, ethnomusicology and aesthetics to consider music as both social fact and as cultural artefact.
To stimulate critical interpretative skills.
To create a foundation for further, more advanced study in subdisciplines like ethnomusicology, sociology of music and aesthetics in Years 2 and 3.

Content

This module studies music primarily from the perspectives offered by ethnomusicology, sociology and aesthetics of music.
It takes the position that musical structures are also part of the social structures within which they were created, and need to be understood accordingly.
Approaches are introduced to investigate the impact of the social and cultural on musical practice and ways of thinking about music.
Examples are drawn from Western and non-Western musics, and from folk and popular musics, discussed within the context of traditions of art music, sacral music, and popular musics.
An important area of debate is also the relation to commerce and the global music industry.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge

To become familiar with a range of musics from different cultural and ethnic contexts.
To become familiar with key ethomusicological concepts.

Subject-specific Skills

Ability to employ interdisciplinary theoretical approaches to the understanding music in specific social contexts.

Key Skills

To develop informed critical perspectives.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

The module consists of 19 lectures, 3 seminars and 3 tutorials.
The teaching takes place through weekly lectures with accompanying directed reading.
The reading takes the form of seminar texts to be discussed in tutorials, culminating in papers given in larger seminars.
This format is designed to ensure the active participation of students in the learning process, offering opportunities for discussion and the development of critical thinking.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity	Number	Frequency	Duration	Total Hours
Lectures	19	1 Per Week	1 Hour	19
Tutorials	3	1 Per Term	1 Hour	3
Seminars	3	1 Per Term	1 Hour	3
Preparation and Reading				175
Total				200

Summative Assessment

Component	Component Weighting	Element	Length/Duration	Element Weighting	Resit Opportunity
Literature Review	50%	3000 word literature review		100%
Essay	50%	3000 word essay		100%

Formative Assessment

Students will be required to deliver a draft of their literature review as a seminar paper.

Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University.