Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

-To build on existing practical experience of and/or interest in world music
-To provide a platform for the study of cultural options in world music later in the PG degree programmes
-To enable a familiarisation with the specific characteristics of a selection of musical styles and systems across the globe, with emphasis on Africa and the diaspora
-To acquire further knowledge and appreciation of the diverse forms of musical expressions found in varied parts of Africa and the diaspora
-To acquire a further understanding of the importance and relevance of considering music and music-making in relation to their cultural and social contexts
-To provoke thought and understanding of world music traditions, including their differences and similarities as well as how (and why) they arise and develop
-To instil appreciation regarding the ways music and musical participation provide mediums into understanding world cultures in general
-To provide complimentary skills and knowledge valuable to students in their future professional careers, e.g. as creative practitioners, or teachers

Outline Of Syllabus

The general purpose of this course is to provide students to the scholarly study and performance of traditional, popular, and classical musics from Africa and the diaspora through in-depth readings and close listening to assigned sound recordings, available on Canvas. Students will be introduced to a range of scholarly approaches to world music. This study will be grounded by looking at a number of specific case studies (identified by cultural community) through wide ranging analytical frames and/or themes. These may include: merengue in Dominican Republic, plena in Puerto Rico, reggae from Jamaica, AfroBeats from West Africa, soukous from Congo, and maskanda from South Africa,.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

-Knowledge and understanding of how African diasporic music is related to other cultural phenomena such as religion and ritual, constructions of identity, and political ideology
-Knowledge and understanding of a range of world musical expressions across Africa and the diaspora
-Knowledge and understanding of how musical performance is constructed and enacted in specific social contexts
-Be able to describe and discuss the advanced characteristics of a range of musical styles and systems from Africa and the diaspora
-Understanding issues raised in encountering the music of other cultures or music outside usual practice

Intended Skill Outcomes

-An improved ability to analyse and discuss varying world approaches to music and music-making
-Greater skill in assessing and applying ethnomusicological and cultural-theoretical perspectives to the study of music
-To be able to apply an ethnomusicological approach to the study of music in and as culture
-To be able to analyse the manner in which various aspects of a given music relates to its cultural context

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The combination of teaching activities allows students to receive a thorough grounding in core concepts regarding world music via lectures, which are then unpacked further in small group seminars and in tutorials. These serve as support for students to incorporate core ideas/theories from the lectures and seminars into a final Case Study submission and in a group performance.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Written essay (Case study option 1) assesses:
-methodology: connecting case studies to contexts
-comprehension of issues, theories and concepts introduced in lecture materials
-research skills developed during lectures and seminars preparation
-reflective and critical skills

Creative project (Case study option 2) assesses:
-comprehension of issues, theories and concepts introduced in lecture materials
-research skills developed during PSA tasks and seminar preparation
-reflective and creative skills
-ability to creatively respond to a case study

Performance assessment assesses:
-the practical foundation around understanding world music
-absorption in-practice of key concepts around world music
-connecting performance to research

General Notes

N/A