2008/09 Undergraduate Module Catalogue
MUSI3521 Aesthetics and Criticism: Theorising Modernism
20 creditsClass Size: 20
Module manager: Dr Michael Spencer
Email: m.spencer@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2008/09
Pre-requisites
MUSI2520 | Aesthetics and Criticism (from Plato to Nietzsche) |
This module is not approved as an Elective
Objectives
On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:- demonstrate an understanding of the Modernist aesthetic, its socio-cultural context(s) and relationship to Romanticism and to Enlightenment thought;
- demonstrate an understanding of, and be able to use correctly, a number of key concepts in Modernist discourse (such as history, progress, avant-garde, experimentalist);
- summarise and critique important issues in the required reading, understood within the broader context of musical Modernism and critiques of Modernism;
- recognise how a range of Modernist composers have used theory and criticism to support their compositional decisions;
- demonstrate an awareness of musicological arguments which understand the relationship between music theory, analysis, and composition to be ideological;
- demonstrate an awareness of recent critiques of Modernist discourse which argue that it is elitist/gendered/colonialist.
Syllabus
The aims and objectives of the module are to explore the implications of aesthetic, critical and analytical strategies of musical Modernism against the background of its original socio-cultural context. A range of twentieth-century texts by composers, critics and musicologists will be studied, representing influential contributions to the development of critical and theoretical ideas about musical Modernism in the West. New and overtly challenging approaches will be introduced, extending participants' understanding of relevant issues via the shared reading of a series of influential and/or significant texts, both critical and theoretical, which are discussed in class.
Teaching methods
Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
Seminar | 11 | 2.00 | 22.00 |
Private study hours | 178.00 | ||
Total Contact hours | 22.00 | ||
Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200.00 |
Opportunities for Formative Feedback
This module includes 'dry-run' presentations after which the students receive feedback from both the tutor and their peers. Individual tutorials on student essays are also made available.Methods of assessment
Coursework
Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
Presentation | Small group presentation of 20-25 mins plus facilitation of discussion | 25.00 |
Essay | 3,500 words. This component must receive a minimum mark of 40 in order to pass the module. | 75.00 |
Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100.00 |
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 websiteLast updated: 11/09/2009
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