Introduction to Musicology
Code: 100660 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500240 Musicology | FB | 1 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Diego Alonso Tomás
- Email:
- diego.alonso@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject. Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2023.
Prerequisites
There are no specific prerequisites, although having a high level of musical theory is recommended.
Objectives and Contextualisation
- To know the most relevant trends and manifestations of the historical evolution of musical discourse.
- Outline the main lines of contact between musical discourse and its sociocultural, intellectual, aesthetic, and scientific context.
- Identify the disciplinary interrelationships of Musicology with other areas of artistic and cultural research.
- Evaluate the newest methodological trends within the field of Musicology.
- Offer systematic, conceptual, and terminological tools suitable for the oral and written expression of the musicological contents of the course.
Competences
- Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
- Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
- Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.
Learning Outcomes
- Analysing the recipients of an artistic phenomenon in a specific cultural context.
- Apply knowledge acqured in emerging areas of musicology, both in the field of historical musicology and in that of urban , popular tradition and non-western music.
- Conceptually analysing a work of the subject matter.
- Drawing up an academic text using the discipline's specific vocabulary.
- Identify the main trends in current musical research.
- Link periods of the history of music with periods of the history of art
- Put into practice the methodological knowledge acquired in the first phase of bibliographical and documentary research.
- Recognise in musical praxis element of different cultures and different historical periods.
- Recognise the main models and their application in musical works.
- Relate concepts and information from different humanistic, scientific and social disciplines, especially the interactions established between music and philosophy, history, art, literature and anthropology
- Relate musical creations with their different contexts, discriminating between the different social funtions of the music, its role and that of the musician in society and in relation to other artistic manifestations.
- Summarising acquired knowledge about the origin and transformations experienced in its several fields of study.
Content
Topic 1. What is musicology? Definitions, fields and sub-disciplines
Topic 2. Music historiography: recourses and goals
Topic 3. Musicological Research: Sources and Methods
Topic 4. History of the discipline
Topic 5. Current trends in musicology
Topic 6. New techniques and methodologies: digital musicology
Topic 7. (Ethno)musicology in the 21st Century
Methodology
The central part of the course will consist of theoretical sessions, as well as sessions where theory and practice will be combined.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Practical seminar for digital audio editing | 3 | 0.12 | 3, 2, 5, 7, 9, 11 |
| Practical seminar for the digital edition of sheet music | 3 | 0.12 | 5, 7, 9 |
| Seminars on specific aspects of musicological research | 3 | 0.12 | 2, 5, 7 |
| Theoretical-practical sessions | 44 | 1.76 | 3, 1, 2, 5, 9, 8, 10, 11, 6 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Individual and/or group tutorials | 4 | 0.16 | 12 |
| Mandatory readings | 28.5 | 1.14 | 4, 7, 10, 11, 12, 6 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Organization of notes and class material | 20 | 0.8 | 10, 12 |
| Search of bibliographic information | 15 | 0.6 | 7, 12 |
| Study of the subject of the course | 25 | 1 | 3, 1, 2, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 6 |
Assessment
To pass the course, the student must obtain an average of 5/10.
During the course, the following evaluable activities will be carried out:
- A partial exam on the theoretical content covered in class and compulsory readings. This accounts for 40% of the overall mark.
- A text / oral commentary on the theoretical content covered in class. This accounts for 30% of the overall mark.
- Written exercise. On the theoretical contents worked on in class. It counts for 30% of the overall mark.
The corrections and results of the works and exams will be delivered to the student through the UAB mail service or the Moodle, and any revision will be by virtual means or during the established tutorial hours of the teacher.
In case of partial failure of the tasks, the student may only opt for the retake of 2 of the evaluation items, on the date set by the Faculty, providing that has obtained a minimum average of 3/10. The maximum grade in the retake exams and tasks is a 5/10.
The fact that the student delivers one of the tasks or present one of the written tests, will consist of an on-site event. Therefore, only the student who has not made any evaluation test during the course may be considered as "non evaluable."
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Unique evaluation: text commentary (30%), Written / Oral exercise (30%) and Written Test (40%)
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text commentary | 30% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 8, 10, 11, 12, 6 |
| Written / Oral Exercise | 30% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 8, 10, 11, 12, 6 |
| Written Test | 40% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 3, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 8, 10, 11, 12, 6 |
Bibliography
Beard, David and Gloag, Kenneth. Musicology: the Key Concepts (London/New York: Routledge, 2005.
Chiantore, Luca; Domínguez, Aurea; Martínez, Silvia. Escribir sobre música. Barcelona: Musikeon, 2016.
Cook, Nicholas et al (eds.). The Cambridge companion to music in digital culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Cook. Nicholas. Music. A Very Short Introduction. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020.
Harper-Scott, J. P. E. and Samson, Jim. An Introduction to Music Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Mendívil, Julio. En contra de la música. Herramientas para pensar, comprender y vivir las músicas. Buenos Aires: Gourmet Musical 2016.
Ramos, Pilar. Feminismo y música: Introducción crítica. Madrid: Narcea, 2003.
Shuker, Roy. Popular Music. The Key concepts. 2nd edition. London and New York: Routledge, 2005.
Tagg, Philip. Music’s Meanings. A modern musicology for non-musos. MMMsp Publications, 2015.
Taruskin, Richard. The Oxford History of Western Music, 5 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Rice, Timothy. Ethnomusicology. A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
Rodríguez Suso, Carmen. Prontuario de Musicología. Música, sonido y sociedad. Barcelona: Clivis, 2002.
Software
No necessary