Module: Music History and Culture B

Module Specifications.

Current Academic Year 2024 - 2025

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Date posted: September 2024

Module Title	Music History and Culture B
Module Code	MC335 (ITS) / MPA1094 (Banner)
Faculty	Humanities & Social Sciences	School	Theology, Philosophy & Music
Module Co-ordinator	Roisin Blunnie
Module Teachers	Barbara Dignam
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5
Pre-requisite	Not Available
Co-requisite	Not Available
Compatibles	Not Available
Incompatibles	Not Available

Coursework Only
Coursework is reassessed during the Autumn resit period.

Description

This module aims to develop students’ knowledge, critical thinking abilities, and research skills in the area of Western Art Music from the 19th century to the present. Students will engage with a diverse range of repertoire and compositional styles in music originating in Europe and the United States. Musicological issues such as the historical neglect of composers who have traditionally been under-represented in scholarship and performance, particularly women, will be explored. A vocabulary for the analysis and discipline-appropriate description of music will be developed, and students will engage experientially with repertoire through critical listening and performance of select stylistic features. The module will equip students with academic writing and research skills for historical and cultural studies in music, through judicious interaction with primary and secondary sources, databases, recordings, and resources in the digital humanities.

Learning Outcomes

1. Distinguish between and analytically discuss music of different styles in the history of Western Art Music, including early and late 19th-century, 20th-century, and contemporary; understanding the impact of cultural context on the nature and purpose of music throughout this time.
2. Utilise research and writing skills appropriate to the fields of musicology and cultural history.
3. Engage in detail with the music of female and under-represented composers as a core part of understanding musical historiography, critically reflecting on reasons for their neglect in the past.
4. Incorporate a deep understanding of music of the 19th century to the present in music teaching activities for Junior and Senior Cycle, and of creative ways of engaging with such music in a classroom setting.
5. Critically evaluate compositional approaches from the relevant time period in a diverse selection of repertoire, approached using a range of primary and secondary literature including music scores, recordings, resources in the digital humanities, and research databases.

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full-time hours per semester
Lecture	22	Module lectures
Independent Study	103	Independent research; music listening
Total Workload: 125

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Music History and Culture from the 19th century to the present
Repertoire, form, musical style and compositional approaches. Connection between music and cultural context in Europe and the United States, and how this evolved throughout the time period covered by the module. Issues in musicology, including the neglect of female and other under-represented composers. Research skills for music: writing style, databases, resources in the digital humanities. Developing a vocabulary of discipline-specific terminology for the advanced understanding and description of musical style and features and themes through analytical engagement with music through scores, recordings, and experiential performance. Indicative list of composers explored: Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, Richard Wagner, John Field, Clara Schumann, Claude Debussy, Charles Ives, Amy Beach, Jean Sibelius, Ethel Smyth, Ina Boyle, Benjamin Britten, John Cage, Béla Bartók, Florence Price, Rhona Clarke, Jennifer Walsh.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment	100%	Examination Weight	0%

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Course Work Breakdown
Essay	Written paper	50%	Week 7
Digital Project	Digital humanities project	50%	Sem 1 End

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories: Resit category 1: A resit is available for both* components of the module. Resit category 2: No resit is available for a 100% continuous assessment module. Resit category 3: No resit is available for the continuous assessment component where there is a continuous assessment and examination element.
* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a Continuous Assessment/Examination split; where the module is 100% continuous assessment, there will also be a resit of the assessment
This module is category 1

Indicative Reading List

Anna Beer: 2016, Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music, ONEWorld Publications, 9781780748566
Lorraine Byrne Bodley, Julian Horton: 2016, Rethinking Schubert, Oxford University Press, 9780190200107
J. Peter Burkholder,Donald Jay Grout, Claude V. Palisca: 2019, A History of Western Music, W. W. Norton, 9780393668179
Nicholas Cook, Anthony Pople: 2014, The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Music, Cambridge University Press, 978110763199
Barbara Dignam, Barra Boydell: 2021, Creative Impulses, Cultural Accents: Brian Boydell's Music, Advocacy, Painting and Legacy, UCD Press, 9781910820940
Joe Davies: 2021, Clara Schumann Studies, Cambridge University Press, 9781108779531
Paul Griffiths: 2010, Modern Music and After, OUP USA, 9780199740505
David Hesmondhalgh: 2013, Why Music Matters, John Wiley & Sons, 9781405192415
Lawrence Kramer: 1993, Music as Cultural Practice, 1800-1900, Univ of California Press, 9780520084438
David Metzer: 2007, Quotation and Cultural Meaning in Twentieth-Century Music, Cambridge University Press, 0521036585
Laurel Parsons, Brenda Ravenscroft: 2019, Analytical Essays on Music by Women Composers, Oxford University Press, USA, 9780190077136
Laura Seddon: 2016, British Women Composers and Instrumental Chamber Music in the Early Twentieth Century, Routledge, 9781138249639
Richard Taruskin: 2013, The Oxford History of Western Music, Oxford University Press, 9780199842131
Harry White, Barra Boydell: 2013, The Encyclopaedia of Music in Ireland, 2 vols, UCD Press, 9781906359782
Arnold Whittall: 1999, Musical Composition in the Twentieth Century, Oxford University Press, 9780198166832

Other Resources

None