Module MUSI3381: OPERA AND MUSIC THEATRE

Department: Music

MUSI3381: OPERA AND MUSIC THEATRE

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To give students an opportunity to examine opera and music theatre in the context of influential theories of music and drama, and to gain first-hand experience of the creation of a music theatre production.
• To familiarise students with a selection of key works from the opera, music theatre and non-text based theatre, so that they are able to think critically about varying approaches to the relationship between music and drama.
• Given the wide-ranging and methodologically eclectic character of the course (including elements of score analysis and interpretation through performance), students will be trained to make connections between ideas in different media and time-frames.
• Their written work should demonstrate an ability to synthesise theoretical arguments with their own practical experience of music theatre, and articulate issues and arguments in a coherent and persuasive manner.

Content

• An overview of what will be studied on the course: Theory of opera, music theatre and non-text based theatre: e.g. Wagnerian music drama.
• Brechtian Epic Theatre.
• Music Theatre models.
• Non-text based drama theory (foundations of physical theatre).
• Analysis of C20th opera and music theatre scores: e.g. Kagel, Ligeti, Berio and Cage.
• Practical project work.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will become familiar with a range of theories and practices concerning music and theatre.
• They will understand the nature of the medium in terms of the creative outcomes that can result from interactions between the two disciplines in ways that bridge the spectrum between purely musical and purely theatrical modes of creative expression.

• They will engage with the functional characteristics of communication and interaction with both audiences and other performers in performance environments, and learn how to evaluate the results critically and reflectively, using the medium of the essay to record and analyse their experiences in a mature and suitable reflective manner.

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

• The lectures and seminars will provide theoretical and historical inputs to help students articulate the experience of a practical project.
• The latter will operate through practical workshops (including rehearsals and performances).
• Feedback from the first essay completed in the Epiphany Term will inform the final essay.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Feedback in workshops on produced work. Feedback on first summative assignment. Preparing forming assignment in Michaelmas Term.

■ 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