| Unit name | Advanced Methods of Music Studies |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MUSI30151 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Hornby |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
Students on this module will usually have taken MUSI20142, or be able to demonstrate an equivalent level of musical literacy, as evidenced by either instrumental qualifications or study in a comparable programme in another institution. |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
n/a |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
n/a |
| School/department | Department of Music |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
This unit offers you an opportunity for detailed engagement with a particular area of interest in music studies. We will tackle head on the various diverse methods of music studies that you have acquired up to this point in your degree. We will workshop these together and discuss their methodological opportunities. You will work on a series of formative tasks, often in groups, followed by more tailored individual supervisions. This will enable you to develop a flexible methodological approach towards an in-depth investigation of a musical repertoire of your choice.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This mandatory unit for single honours Music students builds upon and brings together methods and techniques acquired at Levels C and I, especially in Music and Society I and Music and Society II and Approaches to Music History. In terms of cohort-wide units, it equips you to conduct the breadth of music studies at the most advanced level of undergraduate study with authority and confidence.
An overview of content
This unit represents the culmination of methods and tools, and methodological insights, acquired at levels C and I. It brings together skills, knowledge, and understanding gained throughout the programme up to this point. Combining seminars, workshops, individual supervision and independent work, it allows you to combine multiple skills you have acquired in your degree programme to analyse, understand, and interpret musical repertoire together in order to develop an innovative portfolio that responds to a specific piece of music of your choice.
Learning Outcomes
When you have completed this unit, you will be able to
The first sessions of the unit will consist of highly interactive workshops and student-centred seminars totalling a minimum of 22 hours. Through specific formative tasks, some of which will be group-based, you will apply a variety of very different methods of music studies and reflect on the methodological debates of the discipline.
Following these class sessions, you will have individual supervisions with a Music academic staff member to help you crystallise your ideas and shape them into a suitable, considered, and innovative portfolio.
Throughout the unit, there will be a number of in-class formative tasks, in workshop format. You will receive feedback for these tasks, and they will be designed to enable you to submit a successful summative portfolio, enabling you to develop a strategy to best respond to your chosen repertoire and the methodological and theoretical issues it raises.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative)
Portfolio submission, 4,000 words or equivalent (100%) [ILOs 1-3]
The portfolio can include and consist of several methods appropriate to music studies that you have learned during your programme up to this point. It can include and combine formats such as, but not necessarily restricted to, academic writing, score analysis, recorded podcast, recorded presentation, musical arrangement, and compositional response. The unit director will agree a suitable format for your chosen project.
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. MUSI30151).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
