MUS1012 : Understanding Music History
- Offered for Year: 2024/25
- Module Leader(s): Dr Eric Doughney
- Lecturer: Professor Magnus Williamson, Professor Kirsten Gibson, Dr Larry Zazzo, Dr Joe Lockwood, Professor Ian Biddle, Dr Bennett Hogg
- Owning School: Arts & Cultures
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 1 Credit Value: | 10 |
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 10 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
- To provide an introduction to the academic study of music at UG level;
- To extend students’ knowledge of European music histories;
- To increase awareness of the issues and methodologies involved in the study of music history;
- To provide a platform for the study of historical-cultural options later in the UG degree programmes.
Outline Of Syllabus
This module will introduce you to the challenges of studying music(s) from the past. You will be introduced to a range of scholarly approaches to European music(s) of the past. This introduction to historical method (sometimes called historiography) will be grounded by looking at a number of specific case studies. In the past, these have included chant and liturgy in pre-modern Europe, music in late Renaissance Italy, music in early modern England, the rise of opera from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, Romanticism and nineteenth-century European art music, vernacular music and colonialism, Austro-German Opera at the Long Fin de Siecle, and twentieth-century modernism and postmodernism.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 15 | 2:00 | 30:00 | PiP. If necessary these can be converted back to non-synchronous online lecture materials |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 16 | 1:00 | 16:00 | PiP. Weekly small group workshops. These can be converted to synchronous weekly online small groups. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 2 | 2:00 | 4:00 | PiP. Scheduled tutorial surgeries (can be converted to online if necessary). |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 150:00 | 150:00 | N/A |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
Lectures are given by a team of staff members; each lecture topic introduces a new area of study (repertory/context/methodology). Weekly small-group workshops give students the opportunity to enrich the contents of lectures and to ask the lecturer questions around the topic. The workshops include primary source work, seminar discussions and Q&As.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 1 | A | 40 | 1500 word |
| Essay | 2 | A | 60 | 2500 words |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
Essay 1 tests your ability to produce a piece of written work dealing directly with primary sources and incorporating some additional self-directed research.
Essay 2 tests your ability to undertake a larger piece of research based on one of the topics presented in the lectures, and to prepare a piece of written work over the course of several weeks. It gives you the opportunity to do further reading and to explore one of the topics in greater depth. Essay 2 builds on the primary source work you have done in Essay 1, and requires you to engage closely with primary source materials for your chosen topic.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- MUS1012's Timetable