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2010/1 Module Catalogue
 Module Code: MUSM022 Module Title: RESEARCH SEMINAR: THEORY AND METHODS
Module Provider: Music and Sound Recording Short Name: MUM.SEMINAR
Level: M Module Co-ordinator: GOSS SM Dr (Music Record)
Number of credits: 30 Number of ECTS credits: 15
 
Module Availability
2 hours x 10 weeks each semester plus 
240 hours of private study supported by regular tutorials (300 hours in total for the module)
Weekly
Assessment Pattern


Each student will be assigned a tutor from specific disciplines. Assessment will be made by staff from the particular discipline in which the student is registered. Assessments will be moderated by the external examiner named for that specific Masters degree programme.

1. A written critique of 1,500 words on a selected seminal essay/article or research paper in Music (20%)
2. A 20-minute oral presentation in the form of a conference paper on a chosen topic (40%)
3. An essay of 2,500 words on a topic in recent research (40%).

Module Overview
Seminars providing a postgraduate introduction to research methods and skills and to contemporary critical theories relevant to research.
Prerequisites/Co-requisites
Module Aims
  • To introduce students to basic research skills in music, including:
    • development of skills in writing and oral presentation of research
    • framing research questions
    • development of library skills
    • development of basic/general and specialist computer skills
    • prepare students for presentation of work at scholarly and/or creative conferences
    • introduce students to issues of performative writing
  • To explore common interdisciplinary concerns across music, such as aesthetics, subjectivity/identity, race, analysis etc.
  • To introduce the important critical theories used in analysis of music and performance, such as structuralism/semiotics, poststructuralism, feminisms/gender studies, psychoanalytic theory, phenomenology, political theory, history/literature/theory before “theory,” etc.
  • To introduce a few of the common approaches to research methods, for example, historiography/new historiography, ethnography, comparative methods through cultural studies, practice-based research (issues such as the role of structure and improvisation in performance), etc.
  • To further the above objectives with specific reference to further issues and/or skills in each specific discipline/area of music, for example;
    • Historical, Critical and Popular Musicology
    • Theory and Analysis
    • Contemporary Music and Composition
    • Aesthetics and Cross-Disciplinary Studies
Learning Outcomes
1.             Ability to conduct primary research, including use of library, computing necessary to a performing arts discipline, literature searches/reviews, and framing of research questions
2.             Ability to present research orally
3.             Ability to write post-graduate level research essays
4.             Understanding of some of the major critical theories and methods useful in the analysis of performance
Module Content
Seminars providing a postgraduate introduction to research methods and skills and to
contemporary critical theories relevant to research.
Methods of Teaching/Learning
The seminars will include a mix of the following types of sessions :
  1. Sessions devoted to skill development in library/bibliography/searches, computing (general and specialist), and writing
  2. Discipline specific sessions.
  3. Seminars given by visiting speakers
  4. Discussions reflecting on the issues raised by the research seminars given by visiting speakers.
 
Selected Texts/Journals
Essential reading
 
Beard, David, Gloag, Kenneth, 2005 Musicology, The Key Concepts London: Routledge
Bergeron, Katherine, Bohlman, Philip (eds), Disciplining Music. Musicology and its
                 Canons (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992)
Clayton, Martin, et al (eds) 2003 The cultural study of music: a critical introduction. London:   
                 Routledge.
Cook, Nicholas, and Mark Everist (eds.) 1997 Rethinking music. Oxford: OUP.
Dunsby, Jonathan. 1995 Performing music: shared concerns. Oxford: OUP.
 
Recommended reading
 
Cook, Nicholas. 1990 Music, imagination, and culture, Oxford: OUP.
Scott, Derek B. (ed.) 2000 Music, Culture and Society: a reader. Oxford: OUP.
Strunk, William. 1979 The elements of style, 3rd ed. London : Collier Macmillan.
 
Background reading
 
Clayton, Martin, Herbert, Trevor & Middlelton, Richard (eds) (2003), The Cultural Study of Music. A
Critical Introduction (New York & London: Routledge)
Dahlhaus, C. 1982 Esthetics of Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Forte, Allen and Stephen E. Gilbert, Introduction to Schenkerian Analysis (New York: W.W. Norton,
1982).
Hooper, Giles (2006), The Discourse of Musicology (Aldershot: Ashgate)
Kramer, Lawrence (1995), Classical Music and Postmodern Knowledge (Berkeley: University of California Press)
Lawson, Colin, and Stowell, Robin, 1999: The Historical Performance of Music: An Introduction
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Moore, Allan F. (ed.), 2007: Critical readings in Popular Musicology (Ashgate)
Taruskin, Richard 1995 Text and Act: Essays in Musical Performance Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1995
Williamon, Aaron, 2004: Musical Excellence: Strategies and techniques to enhance performance (Oxford: Oxford University Press)
 
 A comprehensive reading list will be provided at the start of the module 
Last Updated
12/09/08