MO4S16 - Performance: Practice and Presentation 16 Mar 2016 - 31 Aug 2027 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: MO4S16
Module Title: Performance: Practice and Presentation
Faculty: Faculty of Business and Creative Industries
Faculty Group: Music and Drama
Faculty Sub Group: Music
Module Leader: Alun Tomos
Module Team: Matthew Evans, Lucy Squire
First Intended Intake: SEP 2015 Final Year of Intake:
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 20 Credit Level: 7
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 100695 - music composition
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 16 Mar 2016
Valid To 31 Aug 2027

Module Aims

This module aims:

1. To enable students to acquire a sophisticated comprehension of appropriate and relevant performance techniques and strategies, applicable to their own singer-songwriter practice.

2. To support students to cultivate a higher-level understanding of core and advanced performance skills required to be an effective singer-songwriter, such as set-list planning, public delivery, and performer-audience relationships.

3. To establish an opportunity for students to plan, develop and present a performance project (solo or collaborative), through which they will obtain the skills to analyse and evaluate a range of approaches to performance, and critically reflect on the development and final outcome of their project.

Content Summary

The module provides the student with the opportunity for a sustained period of simulated and/or professional practice. The live performance at the end of the module will be developed through tutorial guidance and the student will use established and/or experimental processes to achieve their aims.

Indicative content:

• How to get a gig – strategies and networking
• Organising a touring schedule
• Persona and appearance
• Presentation (visuals)
• Programme planning (‘the set-list’)
• Managing the stage space
• Mic techniques
• ‘Working’ the room and the venue
• Managing the audience – reception theory and audience response theory
• Managing the sound check
• ‘Scaling’ the performance - venue size
• Responding to the performance context – audiences and occasions
• Stage and performance techniques – finding a ‘distinctive voice’
• Warming-up techniques – preparing the voice and body
• Vocal techniques – developing breath control, understanding vocal projection and voice protection
• Physicality

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Lecture 4
Seminar 4
Tutorial 3
Project supervision 6
Practical classes and workshops 20
Supervised time in studio/workshop 10
Directed Study 150
Formative Assessment - Scheduled 3
Total Hours Selected 200

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Analyse a range of performance strategies available to the professional singer-songwriter, informed by current research about ‘best’ practice, applying some appropriate strategies to the performance project (knowledge base).
LO2 Devise, revise, organise and deliver an effective solo or collaborative performance project (live, or recorded, or online), synthesizing information about the performance conditions and context, and using the ‘Artist’s Statement’ to interpret and defend decisions made (analysis and synthesis).
LO3 Construct and evaluate an appropriate, well-managed set-list, making sound judgments about the material selected for the target audience - which may be specialist or non-specialist (application of skills).

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Practical _Practical Assessment 2 Summative: Performance (live, or recorded, or on-line, 20 minute max), accompanied by an ‘Artist’s Statement’ (1000 words). The performance and the Artist’s Statement both contribute to the single grade awarded 20 1000 70 No 40
Practical _Practical Assessment 1 Formative: Practical presentation of the work-in- progress, accompanied by a written Action Plan (2000 words) for the envisaged, finished performance. It is the Action Plan that is marked, not the practical work-in-progress. 10 2000 30 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2 LO3
_Practical Assessment 2
_Practical Assessment 1

Reading List

Brackett, D. (2009) The Pop, Rock and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates. 2nd Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Byrne, D. (2012) How Music Works. London: Canongate.

Clayton, M., Herbert T., Middleton, R., eds. (2011) The Cultural Study of Music. 2nd Edition. London: Routledge.

De Mallet Burgess, T., Skillbeck, N., eds. (2015) The Singing and Acting Handbook: Games and Exercises for the Performer. 2nd Edition. London: Routledge.

Frith, S. Straw, W. and Street, J., eds. (2001) The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Herbert, T. (2012) Music in Words. Second, Revised Edition. Oxford: OUP.

Inglis, I., ed. (2006) Performance and Popular Music. Aldershot: Ashgate.

Jackson, R. (2005) Performance Practice: A Dictionary Guide for Musicians. London: Routledge.

Klickstein, G. (2009) The Musician’s Way: A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lamacq, S. (2007) Little Black book of Setlists. London: Anova.

Shuker, R. (2012) Popular Music Culture: The Key Concepts. 3rd Edition. London: Routledge.