Module MUSI2691: Historical Studies 2: The Twentieth Century

Department: Music

MUSI2691: Historical Studies 2: The Twentieth Century

Prerequisites

• (MUSI1231 Historical Trends and Issues of the 17th and 18th Centuries) OR (MUSI1xx1 Historical Studies 1: The Long Nineteenth Century)

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• This course develops the approach of Historical Studies I with a more explicit focus on developing (a) key issues in twentieth-century music, (b) an understanding of the methods of historical musicology, (c) research skills and (d) awareness of key issues in aesthetics in relation to twentieth-century art music. Students will acquire a deeper knowledge of key works in the Western art music repertory of the twentieth century while also developing a critical awareness of debates that have been and continue to be important within the field. The course critically examines existing research in historical musicology, and in so doing allows students to build on core research skills developed at Level 1 in preparation for a major project at Level 3. Much of the work will be seminar based, to develop more detailed and research-based approach appropriate to Level 2.

Content

• The course comprises the following elements: 1. Close study of seminal works and their contexts of composition and reception, 2. Awareness of new approaches in historical musicology and critical aesthetics 3. Seminar-based discussion of key issues in twentieth-century music Selected works studied (which may vary from year to year) are from the twentieth century, with discussion and further reading on issues arising.
• This module seeks:
• to encourage a research approach to key issues in Western music of the twentieth century
• in the context of an historical, social and political framework of the period, to enable students to develop and pursue specific and informed interests in the ensuing debates
• to focus on the study of decisive aspects in the composition, performance, reception and aesthetics of the music of the period, and to examine the range of debate in the scholarly literature on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
• to engage with the world of ideas that have shaped the most influential developments and movements in music over these two centuries
• to provide students with the necessary tools to engage with the musical, analytical, historical and aesthetic dimensions.
• to centre the discussion around a limited number of seminal works.
• The focus of the module will be modernism (and subsequent developments in ‘postmodernism’) in the music of the twentieth century, focusing on selected issues (including new strategies for pitch manipulation, the prioritisation of timbre, texture, and rhythm, the relation to new technologies, and the emergence of electronic and electroacoustic music).

Learning Outcomes

• Students will acquire a knowledge of
• seminal repertoire of the twentieth century
• main issues and trends in the music of the period
• ability to engage in informed debates
• ability to pursue individual and informed research interests
• The course will also build on the basic research skills introduced at Level 1 in ways appropriate to research in historical musicology.

• Students will learn to apply appropriate methodologies from a broad range of critical standpoints: historical, political, cultural and philosophical.
• Research skills are applicable across a wide range of topics and sub-disciplines of music.
• The module also aims to develop the following skills: the ability to become familiar with historical accounts of the period covered.

• the ability to identify and conceptualize the issues raised.
• the ability to situate ideas in a context and to engage in critically informed argument.
• the ability to use appropriate analytical and evaluative skills.

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

• The module consists of 11 lectures, 3 tutorials and 10 seminars.
• The teaching takes place through weekly lectures, extended seminars, and termly tutorials and will be accompanied by directed reading and formative assignments (or other appropriate exercises).
• Some reading exercises or analytical exercises will form assignments for tutorials and 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.
• Formative exercises 'bed down' knowledge-based and critical concepts taught in lectures, and may form the basis of discussion and hands-on training in tutorials.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students will be asked to prepare short papers based on works and texts studied and discussed in the tutorial groups, and will receive written feedback comments.

■ 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