Module MUSI3561: ISSUES IN AESTHETICS

Department: Music

MUSI3561: ISSUES IN AESTHETICS

Prerequisites

• Historical Trends and Issues in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (MUSI2591), OR MUSIxxxx Historical Studies 2: The Twentieth Century

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To expose students to a range of views on questions of aesthetic value and the nature of the aesthetic experience, with particular reference to music.
• To develop critical thinking
• To encourage an independent and research approach to ideas arising from the module.

Content

• The module involves the consideration of:
• particular theories of art and key historical concepts (e.g. mimetic, expressive, formalist theories; the concept of mediation)
• socio-historical models (eg Marxian, Weberian) applied to the understanding of music in context
• particular attempts to theorise the conflict between the autonomy of music and the social relations within which it functions (Adorno, Benjamin)
• Topics may include (but are not limited to):
• the nature of the 'aesthetic experience'
• problems in the evaluation and criticism of art
• the integrity of the work of art as object and the concept of autonomy
• the concepts of natures and the sublime
• the function of art in a mass culture
• technology and the arts
• notions of authenticity in music
• canonicity and gender
• problems of form and genre,
• modernism, postmodernism and historical relativism.

Learning Outcomes

• a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of a range of key issues in aesthetics.

• ability to think critically and question received notions of value through placing ideas about music and aesthetic experience in a larger conceptual context.
• ability to work independently and to take ideas and concepts further through research.

• ability to articulate ideas and present arguments clearly to others.
• ability to engage in reasoned and informed debate.
• ability to pursue areas of research interest that have developed during the course.

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

• The module consists of a mix of lectures, seminars and group tutorials, combining taught inputs with directed reading and formative papers. This approach recognises that students will need to become familiar with new critical languages and conceptual frameworks in order to discuss a range of aesthetic and philosophical issues, hence the combination of taught inputs and directed reading. Seminar papers and discussion, together with encouragement to develop particular areas of research interest, are an integral part of the module.
• Lectures: provide information and stimulate discussions on cultural, creative, aesthetic and intellectual issues in the art and practice of music.
• Tutorials: allow individual and/or small group instruction according to context and facilitate detailed feedback on specific aspects of the curriculum. Also involve delivery of short papers.
• Essays: draw together selected aspects of subject-specific knowledge and skills, and provide opportunities for critical expression and rational argument.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Two brief seminar papers of approximately ten minutes each with feedback in 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