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MU2558: GLOBAL MUSIC HISTORY (2024-2025)

Last modified: 17 Dec 2024 11:16


Course Overview

Ranging widely across space and time, this course introduces some of the reasons and methods for studying the musical past in a global context. Students will encounter case studies from across world history, with lectures summarising key topics and tutorials allowing for deeper discussion. Students will also consider how historical knowledge about music is itself the product of a global past and will be encouraged to question how we tell the stories of those who made music before us.

Course Details

Study Type Undergraduate Level 2
Term Second Term Credit Points 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits)
Campus Aberdeen Sustained Study No
Co-ordinators
  • Dr Jonathan Hicks

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

No

Course Description

Ranging widely across space and time, this course introduces some of the reasons and methods for studying the musical past in a global context. As we will explore in the course, the idea of global music history is not new. However, it is only relatively recently that it has coalesced as an established field of enquiry. One of the main problems that global music seeks to address is an inherited tendency to place Europe at the heart of narratives about the musical past, implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) marginalising music and musicians from other parts of the world. In seeking to address this problem, global music history is often informed by other sorts of global history, notably those relating to technology, communication, media, mobility, religion, colonialism, capitalism, war, and natural sciences. Far from treating music in isolation, then, this course encourages students to think about the conditions of possibility for various kinds of musical activity.

To bring these complex questions into focus, students will encounter a series of case studies exploring music and musicians across world history. Weekly lectures will summarise key topics and students will have follow-up tutorials allowing for deeper discussion of case studies and wider consideration of the topics in hand.

Potential topics include: the roles of diasporic communities in shaping musical practices across time and space; the financing of early modern European composition using the proceeds of indentured overseas labour; efforts to standardise pitch so that an A has the same frequency regardless of where it is heard; maritime musical exchange in the long nineteenth century; the emergence of a global sound recording industry at the turn of the twentieth century; and the long history of ‘universal’ music as both a romantic ideology and a space-age ambition.

Students will also consider how historical knowledge about music is itself the product of a global past. Many sources claiming to tell the history of music in general foreground stylistic periods, notational practices, and distinct roles (e.g., composer, performer, listener) that only make sense in relation to certain kinds of music, typically European-heritage classical music. By the same token, many historical European sources claiming to describe music form beyond this continent were written by people invested in colonial enterprises. Understanding more about the provenance and prejudices of different sources can help students to evaluate the available evidence and question how best to tell the stories of those who made music before us.

The emphasis on evaluation of sources is reflected in the assessments for this course. As well as writing a 2,000-word essay on a topic provided by the course coordinator (60%), students will be rewarded for seminar participation (10%) and will submit a proposal for a hypothetical performance or exhibition exploring some aspect of the music and ideas encountered in the course (30%).


Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers


Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 60
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

List of essay topics provided by course coordinator. Alternatively, students propose their own essay topic to course coordinator (in writing) by end of week 38. Written feedback via Turnitin.

2,000 words

Word Count 2000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseStudents will be able to differentiate between different sources in the study of global music history, taking account of when, where, and by whom they were produced.
FactualUnderstandStudents will be able to summarise and discuss information about global music history from lectures, set reading, wider listening, and other sources (e.g., objects and images).
ProceduralCreateStudents will be able to design their own work in response to course topics, drawing (as appropriate) on effective written communication as well as musical performance and object curation.

Performance/Exhibition Proposal

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 40
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

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Feedback

Proposal for hypothetical performance or exhibition related to one or more topics of the course topics.

Students do NOT have to put on the performance or exhibition they propose. Instead, they will use this assessment to outline the project they would undertake if they had unlimited time, talent, and resources. Students submit a 500-word rationale for their proposal along with an itemised performance programme or exhibition catalogue. The programme or catalogue will typically include 5-10 items, though consideration will be given if students provide a compelling reason for including more or less material. Additional guidance will be provided via the course area on MyAberdeen. Written feedback via Turnitin.

Minimum 500 words

Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
ConceptualAnalyseStudents will be able to differentiate between different sources in the study of global music history, taking account of when, where, and by whom they were produced.
ProceduralCreateStudents will be able to design their own work in response to course topics, drawing (as appropriate) on effective written communication as well as musical performance and object curation.
ReflectionEvaluateStudents will be able to reflect on their own attitude to music history, considering any personal or familial connections to different pasts and opportunities for action in the present.

Formative Assessment

There are no assessments for this course.

Resit Assessments

Essay

Assessment Type Summative Weighting 100
Assessment Weeks Feedback Weeks

Look up Week Numbers

Feedback

List of essay topics provided by course coordinator. Written feedback via Turnitin.

3,000 words

Word Count 3000
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
Sorry, we don't have this information available just now. Please check the course guide on MyAberdeen or with the Course Coordinator

Course Learning Outcomes

Knowledge LevelThinking SkillOutcome
FactualUnderstandStudents will be able to summarise and discuss information about global music history from lectures, set reading, wider listening, and other sources (e.g., objects and images).
ProceduralCreateStudents will be able to design their own work in response to course topics, drawing (as appropriate) on effective written communication as well as musical performance and object curation.
ReflectionEvaluateStudents will be able to reflect on their own attitude to music history, considering any personal or familial connections to different pasts and opportunities for action in the present.
ConceptualAnalyseStudents will be able to differentiate between different sources in the study of global music history, taking account of when, where, and by whom they were produced.

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