Aims

To introduce student to the English ballad tradition
To help students theorise the repertory
To introduce contexts for studying this repertory
To explore the historical and social contexts in which these musics were first made

Outline Of Syllabus

This module will explore the rich and varied world of traditional ballads across Britain and America, studying key popular songs, performers and researchers in the field. Ballads have much to reveal about the society that they emerged from and by considering their historical contexts we can attempt to understand their shifting meanings and continuing relevance.

We will consider the motivations of notable collectors and the methods used in the transcription, collection and classification of ballads. Plots, characters, styles and structures will be considered via a series of case studies. Through the exploration of themes from love to murder, humour to tragedy, we will consider ballads’ multiple functions, providing escapism, catharsis and popular press.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures will be a mixture of interactive and more formal teaching, and will enable students to query key conceptual challenges of the repertory

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The portfolio enables students to engage in exploratory critical engagements with the repertory by collating some of their own primary sources materials, and to try these out in smaller discrete assignments, with a larger written assignment at the end of semester 2 (final assignment circa 2500 words, smaller assignments 1500 words total)