Module MUSI1141: ISSUES AND METHODS IN MUSICOLOGY

Department: Music

MUSI1141: ISSUES AND METHODS IN MUSICOLOGY

Pre-requisites

Corequisites

Excluded Combinations

Aims

• The course aims to instil:
• A rigorous approach to the variety of musical practices and concepts encountered around the world;
• An appreciation both of rigorous methods for cross-cultural or cross-genre comparison and the need to appreciate the uniqueness of specific musical traditions and their contexts;
• Awareness of a variety of methods describing and notating music for purposes of both performance and analysis;
• Awareness of a range of musicological approaches to these issues.

Content

• The course will be divided into two parts. In the first part a number of jkey issues fundamental to comparative study will be introduced, for instance:
• Concepts of melody, polyphony and rhythm;
• Studying music as performance;
• Studying musical performance in context;
• Theories of music in different cultures;
• Methods of representation (oral and written).
• The second part of the course will be focussed on the transcription and analysis of a variety of musical examples, including:
• Transcription into Western standard notation;
• Computer-assisted representations (e.g. pitch tracking, sonograms);
• Description of performance and performance context.
• Wherever possible, lectures wil be illustrated with audio and video examples.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will be expected to have acquired the ability to relate a range of methodologies to important issues in musical structure, performance and context.

• relate and apply a range of methodologies to their appropriate musical repertory/ies;
• perform practical methodology tasks, e.g. transcription from original source.

• 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.
• Methods of Assessment address creative (essay), practical (transcription) and critical (review) modes of engagement.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment

Students will be asked to prepare short oral and/or written presentations on particular topics, and short transcriptsion.