Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
• To introduce students to the history of opera beyond Europe and beyond the opera house
• To consider the historical relationships between music and other art forms
• To encourage an understanding of critical approaches to mobility studies, global history, the historiography of opera, and music and material culture
• To facilitate student engagement with a range of art music and related historical popular musics
• To develop students’ analytical and critical thinking skills
This module will provide an introduction to operatic mobility, examining how opera has moved and been transformed in various contexts, and how those transformations give us insights into the history of music, people and places. We will explore how opera has been involved in processes of colonisation, creolisation and globalisation, as well as how adaptations of opera and aspects of opera’s material culture emerged from complex gender, economic and race relations.
The first part of the module will explore opera’s geographical movements beyond Europe from c.1750 to the present and their socio-cultural contexts. The second part of the module, meanwhile, will take a different approach to mobility, by examining how opera has been adapted, reimagined and absorbed in wider cultural life beyond the opera house. We will use primary sources including sheet music arrangements, operatic souvenirs, poetry and novels, T.V. adverts and films, to explore how opera has been transformed for different social and cultural ends.
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 11 | 2:00 | 22:00 | N/A |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Small group teaching | 7 | 1:00 | 7:00 | seminars |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 4 | 2:00 | 8:00 | N/A |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Drop-in/surgery | 3 | 0:30 | 1:30 | drop in tutorials |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 161:30 | 161:30 | Independent research, study and assessment preparation |
| Total | 200:00 |
The course will be taught through a combination of lectures, seminars and workshops. The lectures will introduce key concepts, debates, historical and cultural contexts, and musical works. The seminars, for which students will complete readings and worksheets, will offer the opportunity to discuss core issues in detail and for students to share ideas with each other. The workshops, meanwhile, will focus on introducing students to the relevant databases that will allow them to locate primary sources for their exhibitions, as well as on giving them the skills to use the software they will need to use to curate their digital exhibitions. Students will receive verbal formative feedback on their ideas for the exhibition rationale and their early work on the exhibition during the workshops.
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written exercise | 2 | M | 30 | 1500-word rationale for an exhibition related to one of the module’s key themes. To be submitted mid-semester. |
| Design/Creative proj | 2 | A | 70 | A digital exhibition comprising 8-10 exhibits and accompanying critical labels (totalling c.2000 words). |
Both assessments will test students’ understanding of the conceptual content of the course and will create opportunities for independent research. However, they will allow students to gain different technical and communication skills that will be useful to them as they progress in their careers, whether they decide to move into the workplace or continue with postgraduate studies. The written exercise will examine students’ ability to critique ideas from scholarly literature and develop a well-structured rationale for the digital exhibition they will curate. The digital exhibition will examine students’ ability to locate, select, and analyse appropriate audio-visual materials. They will need to present their scholarly research in a way that is compelling and informative for a more general audience.
Students will receive verbal formative feedback on their ideas for the exhibition rationale and their early work on the exhibition during the workshops.