Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module is available to students who have a specific topic they wish to investigate that lies outside of the remit of their dissertation/major creative project, or any of the elective modules offered in any specific year.

This module is only available with DPD permission, and this decision will be informed by the students's overall research objectives, prior learning, and in liaison with the potential supervisor of the independent study.

Outline Of Syllabus

Students propose, structure and carry out a research project in musicology or creative practice. Work is carried out independently with the support of fortnightly small group and / or one-to-one tutorials with an assigned supervisor, or otherwise, as per arrangement with the supervisor. The supervisor is assigned according to relevant expert knowledge and experience at the start of the programme.

For projects in creative practice, there are no set restrictions as to the medium or the means employed. Students are encouraged to explore and embrace new, even prototypical/experimental means of dissemination – emphasis is placed on the cultural viability of a project and having a clear idea of what it is trying to achieve and/or who (in terms of audience) it is intended for.
For projects in musicology, there is no restriction on the topic or field of study, other than the limitations of staff expertise to supervise the topic.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

For Creative Practice, detailed and high-level knowledge of:
- techniques, media and repertoires relevant to the particular sphere of work
- aesthetic and cultural contexts relevant to the particular sphere of work
For Musicology, detailed and high-level knowledge of
- scholarly literatures on the topic, and the relationship of the student’s own work to that body of literature
- issues relating to scholarly writing more broadly
- pressing issue in recent developments of the discipline

Intended Skill Outcomes

For Creative Practice, high-level mastery of:
- techniques, practical skills, and modes of imaginative thinking appropriate to the specific project
- professional standards and methods of practice and presentation and also
- a good level of critical awareness of the approach adopted and of its relationship to practice, issues and debates within the contemporary music culture
For Musicology, high-level competence in
- researching and carrying out a research project
- the management and realisation of academic argument
- use of primary and secondary sources

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

This module requires the bulk of the work to be carried out through private study. Supervisions offer guidance, feedback and monitoring of progress. Seminars, where more than one student is participating, offer the opportunity for students to share ideas.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Mode of assessment will vary according to the nature of the project, but will be agreed through either the option of a guided elective module, or the submission of a research proposal for a creative project.

For musicology projects this will typically be a written research project. For projects in creative practice, this might be a portfolio of scores or an anthology of recordings or other media products, a live performance, or some combination of these.

General Notes

N/A