Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module aims to introduce the student to further contemporary and cross-cultural understandings of the nature of musical materials. Students will be considering specific case studies throughout the course and challenging preconceived notions about what musical materials are, how they can be analysed/understood, and how they are used in practice.

Outline Of Syllabus

Students will be introduced to a variety of different contemporary and popular practices, and will study these examples with reference to their musical material. These are directly related to the research interests of the staff delivering on the module and may reasonably include: study of the art of record production and its associated technologies, electroacoustic music, contemporary sampling practices, turntablism, popular music analysis, musical materials in film and video games. The approaches will be analytical, cultural and historical and will deal with musical forms that are seemingly resistant to conventional analysis.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

1.       To know the value of understanding the historical and cultural context of the musics being considered in the module.
2.       To know the value of understanding the historical and cultural impact of the musics being considered in the module.
3.       To gain an increased understanding of the complex relationships between developments in technology and contemporary musical practices
4.       To gain an increased understanding of several important movements in music which have challenged or redefined prior notions of what ‘musical materials’ can be.
5.       To gain an increased familiarity with a variety of current approaches to the study of musical materials in predominantly non-notated musics.

Intended Skill Outcomes

1.       To be able to identify the variety of musics that can be considered contemporary.
2.       To be able to recognise the different types of material that can be considered as ‘musical’ in the 20th and 21st Century.
3.       To be able to evaluate and apply different types of analysis as appropriate to the contemporary musical material under consideration.
4.       To be able to analyse contemporary musical materials with cultural and historical context.
5.       To be able to research, construct and present an argument to a set professional brief.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The scheduled learning activities are designed to introduce the students to different types of contemporary musical material so that a plural and open definition can be understood, and so that alternative modes of analysis are presented to the traditional score based approach to music. The students will also be expected to place their learning in context so that the module outcomes are fit for purpose not only for their final year specialist study but also for when they graduate. The development of their critical voice is encouraged and supported throughout the module and assessed against the summative tasks, which permit students to explore the topic either primarily through academic writing, or through creative practice and critical reflection.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The first task is weighted to reflect the student's engagement with the content of the module up to that point. The second task is larger, due to the need for the student to reflect upon their learning during the whole module.

General Notes

N/A