Module: Topics in Musicology 5

Latest Module Specifications

Current Academic Year 2025 - 2026

Module Title	Topics in Musicology 5
Module Code	MPA1044 (ITS: MC303)
Faculty	Humanities & Social Sciences	School	Theology, Philosophy & Music
NFQ level	8	Credit Rating	5

Description

In this module, students engage with two musicological topics: Music of the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries, and Global Popular Musics. Students undertake general studies of selected topics in additional to detailed analytical studies of prescribed works or featured genres, as appropriate; they are introduced to relevant analytical, critical, cross-cultural and historical information, and to a range of skills and competencies enabling them to a) understand musicological concepts as they relate to the art music of the period under review and b) understand ethnomusicological, musicological and sociological approaches to the study and analysis of popular music cultures and genres across the globe.

Learning Outcomes

1. Understand musical characteristics, forms, styles and compositional techniques of art music from the 1830s to the early twentieth century
2. Engage with aesthetic philosophies and compositional principles of the milieux outlined in LO 1
3. Analyse and appraise representative works from the 1830s to the early twentieth century
4. Understand musical characteristics and socio-cultural contexts of a range of world popular musics
5. Engage with scholarly approaches and materials relevant to LO 4
6. Carry out audio and audio-visual analyses of music recordings representative of the global popular musics studies on the course

*Type*	*Hours*	*Description*
Workload	Full time hours per semester
Lecture	24	Lectures
Independent Study	101	Independent Learning
Total Workload: 125

Section Breakdown
CRN	11159	Part of Term	Semester 1
Coursework	60%	Examination Weight	40%
Grade Scale	40PASS	Pass Both Elements	N
Resit Category	RC1	Best Mark	N
Module Co-ordinator	Bláithin Duggan	Module Teacher	Patricia Flynn

Type	Description	% of total	Assessment Date
Assessment Breakdown
Assignment	Short Tasks, Listening test and Presentation	60%	n/a
Formal Examination	Written Exam	40%	End-of-Semester

Reassessment Requirement Type
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories; RC1: A resit is available for both^* components of the module. RC2: No resit is available for a 100% coursework module. RC3: No resit is available for the coursework component where there is a coursework and summative examination element. ^* ‘Both’ is used in the context of the module having a coursework/summative examination split; where the module is 100% coursework, there will also be a resit of the assessment

Pre-requisite	None
Co-requisite	None
Compatibles	None
Incompatibles	None

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 of the late 19th and early 20th centuries
The Concert Overtures of Felix Mendelssohn • Characterisitic features of chamber music and symphonic forms and style • The Chamber Music of Johannes Brahms • Narrative and symphonic structure in the late 19th century • The Symphonies of Jean Sibelius • Opera as narrative • Symphonic Poems

Global Popular Music
‘World Music’: socio-cultural practice and commodity • Popular music and social protest in Latin America • Hybridity and Caribbean popular musics • Bollywood and South Asian Popular musics • Popular musics of sub-Saharan Africa • Migrant and cosmpolitan musics in Central and Eastern Europe • East Asian pop: Hong Kong, Korea and Japan

Indicative Reading List

Books:

BOHLMAN, Philip V.: 2002, World Music: a very short introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
BROUGHTON, Simon et al. (eds): 2000, World music: the rough guide. Vol.2, Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, Rough Guides, London,
BROWN, David: 2006, Tchaikovsky: The Man and his Music, Faber and Faber Limited, London,
CHARLTON, David: 2003, The Cambridge companion to grand opera, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
COOKE, Mervyn: 2005, The Cambridge companion to twentieth-century opera, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
CHUN, Allen et al. (eds): 2004, Refashioning Pop Music in Asia: Cosmopolitan Flows, Political Tempos, and Aesthetic Industriesâ€¬, Routledge, New York,
COLE, William: 1969, The Form of Music, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London,
FERGUSON, Donald N.: 1977, Image and Structure in Chamber Music, Da Capo Press, New York,
GROUT, Donald Jay and PALISCA Claude V.: 1996, A History of Western Music, W. W. Norton, New York,
KOSKOFF, Ellen (ed.): 2008, The concise Garland encyclopedia of world music, Routledge, New York,
MACDONALD, Malcolm (), (1963): 1990, Brahms, New York: Schirmer Books Werner, Eric Mendelssohn Westport CT., Greenwood Press,
MERCER-TAYLOR, Peter ed.: 0, The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn,
MORCOM, Anna: 2007, Hindi Film Songs and the Cinema, Ashgate, Aldershot, Hants,
MUSGRAVE, Michael ed.: 1999, The Cambridge Companion to Brahms, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,
MUSGRAVE, Michael: 1985, The Music of Brahms, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London,
NETTL, Bruno: 2007, Excursions in World Music, 5th ed, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, N.J.,
NOOSHIN, Laudan: 2013, Music and the Play of Power in the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia, Ashgate, Farnham, Surrey,
OLSEN, Dave: 2008, The Garland Handbook of Latin American Music, Routledge, New York,
RADCLIFFE, Philip: 1990, Mendelssohn 3rd ed, J.M. Dent and Sons, Ltd, London,
ROSEN, Charles: 1988, Sonata Forms, W. W. Norton, New York,
SHEPHERD, John: 2003, Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world, Continuum, London,
SLOBIN, Mark: 1996, Retuning culture: musical changes in Central and Eastern Europe, Duke University Press, Durham, North Carolina,
SMALLMAN, Basil: 1992, The Piano Trio, Its History, Technique and Repertoire, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
STONE, Ruth M.: 2008, The Garland Handbook of African Music, 2nd ed., Routledge, New York,
TARUSKIN, Richard: 2010, Music in the Nineteenth Century, Oxford University Press, Oxford,
TAYLOR, Timothy: 1997, Global pop: world music, world markets, Routledge, New York,

Articles:
None

Other Resources

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