Durham University
Programme and Module Handbook

Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2008-2009 (archived)

Module MUSI1141: ISSUES AND METHODS IN MUSICOLOGY

Department: Music

MUSI1141: ISSUES AND METHODS IN MUSICOLOGY

Type Open Level 1 Credits 20 Availability Available in 2008/09 Module Cap None. Location Durham

Prerequisites

  • A-level Music.

Corequisites

  • None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

  • None.

Aims

  • The course aims to instil: familiarity with a variety of musicological approaches and methodologies.
  • critical awareness of their soci-historical grounding.
  • a sense of their appropriateness to relevant musical repertories.
  • key practical and methodological skills.
  • creative engagement with musical materials.

Content

  • The course will address key aspects of the following areas: reception history.
  • canonic construction of history: Mozart and Beethoven.
  • alternative canons.
  • ontology of the art work.
  • new musicology.
  • interdisciplinary musicology.
  • issues in the study of early music.
  • transcriptions from (early) musical sources.
  • performance practice and authenticity.
  • the concept of musical material.
  • world music.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:
  • Students will be expected to have acquired the ability to: relate a range of methodologies to their appropriate historical contexts.
Subject-specific Skills:
  • relate and apply a range of methodologies to their appropriate musical repertory/ies.
  • perform practical methodological tasks, e.g. , transcription from original sources.
Key Skills:
  • critically evaluate the appropriateness and the application of methodologies.

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

  • The combination of lectures and tutorials instil and reinforce the awareness of relevant issues and methodologies.
  • Practical exercises bed down 'hands-on' experience of musicological expertise.
  • Students will have the opportunity to examine a medieval manuscript from the Cathedral library.
  • Methods of Assessment address creative (essay), practical (transcription) and critical (review) modes of engagement.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity Number Frequency Duration Total/Hours
Lectures 22 1 Per Week 1 Hour 22
Tutorials 3 1 Per Term 1 Hour 3
Preparation and Reading 175
Total 200

Summative Assessment

Component: Essay Component Weighting: 50%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
3000 word essay 100%
Component: Portfolio Component Weighting: 50%
Element Length / duration Element Weighting Resit Opportunity
portfolio 100%

Formative Assessment:

One written formative assignment per term, including a transcription exercise from an original source; peer-marked during class, subsequently checked by course tutor. Appropriate tasks to be prepared for presentation in, and evaluated during, tutorials.


Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University