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2019/20 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

PECI1710 Performance, Theatre and Music: interdisciplinary approaches

20 creditsClass Size: 25

Module manager: Dr Kara McKechnie
Email: k.mckechnie@leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable

Year running 2019/20

This module is approved as a discovery module

Module summary

This module presents the interdisciplinary study of performance, theatre and music with input from a range of academics drawn from both the School of Music and the School of Performance and Cultural Industries. The module will be organised into four key themes:: History, Culture and Contexts; Technologies; Applications, Audiences and Impact Aesthetics, Techniques, FormsThese four themes will be considered as overarching points of enquiry through which students will be asked to consider and explore the various approaches taken by practitioners, performers, artists and researchers. Specialist input from guest lecturers will ensure students are introduced to a wide range of perspectives with a particular focus on interdisciplinary methods, practices and performance genres. Students will be offered further opportunities to explore the subject and to make their own connections across and between disciplines through extensive additional resources on the VLE which will help them to extend, broaden and challenge their developing knowledge. Throughout the module students will be encouraged to work collaboratively with their peers as they develop critical appreciation of practice and research in the field. The focus is predominantly on interdisciplinarity as a core theoretical concept, an artistic strategy, a research methodology, a process of interrogating and collapsing borders, and as a radical tactic for developing new knowledge.The module has been designed to be accessible and of interest to students who have previously studied theatre, drama, performance and/or music but can also be accessed by those who have not. This module would be a good choice for anyone who has a strong interest in the arts in general and who would like to consider how the arts function within and between particular disciplines. The module considers the ways in which advancements have been made in performance, theatre and music and how that shapes not only our understanding of the art forms but also of the world from which they emerge.

Objectives

This module will introduce students to a series of key concepts and debates within and across performance, theatre and music. These will include explorations of the intersections between:

Music and theatre
Music, performance and sociology
Performance, politics and activism
Performance and social change
Digital performance/ Intermediality
Performance and design
Arts, health and well-being
Music and psychology
Performance and identity
Live art and visual practice

The module will provide students with an opportunity to engage in debate about the current position of performance, theatre and music in the world today and how it impacts on societies nationally and globally using interdisciplinarity as a strategy. The module will enhance their abilities with regard to critical analysis as well as developing their abilities to observe, analyse and critique practice.

Students will be encouraged to consider the various approaches taken by researchers within this field and to develop their own position relating to the value, function and impact of performance, theatre and music for the contemporary world.

The module will focus upon providing foundational knowledge to support further study of a range of topics in the fields of art, culture, theatre, performance and music and will support those students studying these topics as a major subject.

Learning outcomes
The module will:
enhance students’ awareness of interdisciplinary approaches, collaborations, methodologies and practices within theatre, performance and music (lightning presentation)
furnish students with knowledge and understanding of a diverse range of performance practices that sit between and across disciplines and which emerge in a range of different contexts (e.g. intercultural, historical, virtual, documentary et al) (unseen exam, MCQ exam)
equip students with an understanding of cutting edge research in performance studies which has interdisciplinarity at its core (all three assessments)
develop students’ ability to observe, critique and analyse performance practice using appropriate theoretical tools (unseen exam)
refine their ability to communicate ideas effectively verbally (lightning presentation) and in written form (unseen exam)

Skills outcomes
The module will:

enhance students’ ability to read, assess and represent sophisticated evidence and arguments within the critical areas of performance and music, as well as sources which enhance interdisciplinary understanding
develop their ability to relate academic knowledge/theorising to a range of performance practices;
enhance their ability to utilise, accurately and effectively, formal and specialised language appropriate to the study of performance, theatre and music;
enhance their awareness of the role, function and value of the arts

Generic/ transferable skills
develop students’ ability to plan, organise and manage self-directed projects, producing work in accordance with a given brief ;
enhance their ability to undertake and present written work in a scholarly way;
encourage them to engage in constructive interpersonal communication allow them to develop and demonstrate IT skills (use of powerpoint in particular);
develop their research skills (e.g. literature searching);
develop their referencing skills;
enhance their capacity to reflect upon their own learning experience and to assess the skills that have been or could be acquired for the future.


Syllabus

The module will be organised into four key themes with input from specialists working across and between disciplines:
History, Culture and Contexts;
Technologies;
Applications, Audiences and Impact
Aesthetics, Techniques, Forms

Within those strands the module will consider the following topics/issues:

Music and theatre
Music, performance and sociology
Performance, politics and activism
Performance and social change
Digital performance/ Intermediality
Performance and design
Arts, health and well-being
Music and psychology
Performance and identity
Live art and visual practice

Teaching methods

Delivery typeNumberLength hoursStudent hours
Debate101.0010.00
Lecture181.0018.00
Seminar21.002.00
Private study hours170.00
Total Contact hours30.00
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits)200.00

Private study

80 hours reading as preparation for weekly lectures.
10 hours preparation for lightning presentations.
10 hours preparation for seminars.
50 hours revision for unseen exam and MCQ exam
20 hours additional viewing of performance.

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

Although there will be specialist input from a number of module tutors, the module leader will ensure student progress is monitored through regular contact with the group via lectures, seminars and viewings. Sessions will be designed to be interactive and to allow for discussion so that student’s engagement with subject content can be monitored. There are four separate points of assessment on the module. The lightning presentations serve as short progress checks on student understanding and occur mid semester on both occasions. Progress will also be monitored at the end of Semester 1 through the MCQ assessment.

Methods of assessment


Coursework
Assessment typeNotes% of formal assessment
PresentationLightning presentations in groups (3 mins/3 slides)10.00
In-course MCQ.30.00
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework)40.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated


Exams
Exam typeExam duration% of formal assessment
Unseen exam 0 hr 00 mins60.00
Total percentage (Assessment Exams)60.00

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading list

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 16/10/2019

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