Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

Each of the above modules introduces students to key skills required for this module: the requisite practice and preparing for examinations and essay writing.

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module aims to:
• familiarise students with musical practices engaged by a range of actors in the Soviet Union
• familiarise students with the key debates that raged, internally and externally, around music and music making in the Soviet Union;
• introduce the range of musics deemed appropriate or inappropriate by the Soviet authorities;
• introduce and analyse the boarder historical and cultural contexts in which the Soviet authorities and other cultural actors operated
• introduce students to the Cyrillic alphabet
• introduce students to basic features of the Russian language

Outline Of Syllabus

This module introduces students, at an advanced level, to the range of musical practices engaged in by the peoples of the Soviet Union (1917-1989). The module aims to give students a clear sense of how Soviet authorities and state-sanctioned ideologies and policies intervened in and shaped Soviet musical cultures, how the peoples of the Soviet Union responded musically to those interventions. The module will cover ‘classical’ (Shostakovich, Prokoviev, Myaskovky and so on), popular (bard musics, rock and singer-songwriters) and folk musics (from all over the Soviet ‘nations), offering both a broad survey of Soviet musics and some detailed engagement with key pieces and practices. The module will also introduce students to theories of totalitarianism, political theories of the left and the critical scholarly literature of Soviet culture more broadly. In addition, the module aims to introduce students to the basic elements of the Russian language (alphabet, basic vocabulary and syntax).

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

By the end of this module, students will have knowledge of:
• A broad range of musical practices and cultures in the Soviet Union
• A range of critical approaches to the study of totalitarianism
• Key musical works
• A wide range of primary source material
• The Cyrillic alphabet
• The basics of the Russian language

Intended Skill Outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be able to:
• Distinguish key traits and styles within Soviet musical repertories
• Read and understand basic music-related texts in Russian
• Demonstrate knowledge of key theoretical approaches to the study of Soviet culture(s) and be able to apply that knowledge to musical contexts
• Use and apply key theoretical paradigms in recent political-theoretical literatures
• Speak and write knowledgably and critically about Marxism-Leninism

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Lectures cover key topics in the module and the Russian language seminars will introduce students to how to read basic primary source materials in Russian. Both modes of delivery (lectures and seminars) are geared to the assessments: lecture materials deal with topics rehearsed in the essay and seminars are tested by the in-class language tests (semesters 1 and 2) and, indirectly, in students’ encounter with and analysis of primary sources as tested in the essay.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The Essay tests students’ ability to apply concepts covered in the lectures and set reading to specific case studies. The class language tests examine students’ familiarity with basic components of the Russian language.

General Notes

N/A