MO1S49 - Music in Culture, Context and Criticism 01 Sep 2022 - 31 Aug 2028 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: MO1S49
Module Title: Music in Culture, Context and Criticism
Faculty: Faculty of Business and Creative Industries
Faculty Group: Music and Drama
Faculty Sub Group: Music
Module Leader: David Coker
Module Team:
First Intended Intake: SEP 2022 Final Year of Intake: 2027
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 20 Credit Level: 4
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 101450 - applied music and musicianship
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 01 Sep 2022
Valid To 31 Aug 2028

Module Aims

Understanding the broad spectrum of the history of music will encourage students to challenge their expectations about music. It will enable students to develop their written, verbal and critical thinking skills. The module will present students with the necessary tools to critically analyse the historical and cultural significance of music and its relevance to their own individual practice, with the following aims:

Give students an introduction to innovations and developments in creative music practice.

Develop student’s awareness of the work of significant music and cultural thinkers.

Enhance students’ critical thinking skills of theoretical and aesthetic systems and relate theory and practice to each other.

Improve research skills, such as gathering, synthesising and evaluating evidence, including the ability to quote from and acknowledge written sources.

Promote an understanding of the role and function of assessment and begin the development of a process of critical self-analysis.

Content Summary

This module will consist of the delivery of theory and discussion to encourage students to question and debate their assumptions about the role of the musician or sound artist. The module will encourage critical thinking from the outset and employ verbal and written techniques to critique their ideas. The theoretical research will cover topics such as:

1. The history of sound and music, and the relationship between them.

2. Myth, identity and gender politics: concept analysis, hermeneutics, and recent forms of critical theory.

3. Application of history of music by reflecting on material in both written and verbal forms.

4. The Art of Rhetoric in relation to pop culture.

The module will encourage research-as-practice and foster confidence in giving presentations, taking part in discussion and debating ideas.

A series of lectures and seminars will introduce the underlying concepts and historic developments in music. The historical and theoretical issues will be explored in weekly lectures where students are given the opportunity to read and discuss selected texts.

Students will be introduced to a range of musical perspectives through weekly seminar sessions and encouraged to engage and debate in order to form their own perspective and approach.

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Lecture 18
Seminar 16
Tutorial 2
Independent Study 82
Directed Study 82
Total Hours Selected 200

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Discuss historical and contemporary theories in relation to music, explaining the role of the art of rhetoric in popular culture.
LO2 Research and examine music-related cultural theories and practices.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Presentation (Asynchronous) 1 Presentation with notes and bibliography 15 N/A 50 No 40
Asynchronous Assessment Essay 1 Essay with evidence of research with referencing 0 2000 50 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Presentation (Asynchronous) 1
Essay 1

Reading List

1. Bannister, M. (2006) White Boys, White noise: Masculinities and 1980s Indie Guitar Rock. United Kingdom: Ashgate.

2. Brabazon, T. (2011) Popular music: Topics, trends & trajectories. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.

3. Butler, J. and Maxine Elliot Professor of Rhetoric Judith Butler (1999) Gender trouble feminism and the subversion of identity. 10th edn. New York: Routledge.

4. Charteris-Black, J. (2011) Politicians and rhetoric: The persuasive power of metaphor. 2nd edn. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

5. Coupe, L. (2007) Beat Sound Beat Vision: The Beat Spirit and Popular Song. United States: Manchester University Press.

6. Cox, C. & Warner, D. eds. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music Continuum

7. Frith, S. and Horne, H. (1987) Art into Pop. England: Methuen.

8. Hawkes, T. 2003. Structuralism and Semiotics. Routledge

9. Hegarty, P. 2007. Noise / Music: a History. Continuum

10. Howard, D. (2004) Sonic Alchemy Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings, United States: Hal Leonard.

11. Kelly, K, McDonnell E. (1999) Stars Don’t Stand Still In The Sky. NYU, USA

12. Labelle, B. (2010) Acoustic Territories: Sound Culture and Everyday Life. Continuum.

13. Lieb, K.J. (2013) Gender, branding, and the modern music industry: The social construction of female popular music stars. New York: Taylor & Francis.

14. Moore, A. (2012) Song Means: Analysing and Interpreting Recorded Popular Song. Farnham: Ashgate

15. Padel, Ruth (2000) I’m A Man: Sex, Gods and Rock n Roll, Faber and Faber, London

16. Strunk, W, White, E.B. (ed1999) Elements of Style: Longman, London

17. Taylor, Y., Barker, H. (2007) Faking It: The Quest for Authenticity in Popular Music London: W. W. Norton

18. Whitely, S. (2000) Women and Popular Music: Sexuality, Identity and Subjectivity. Abingdon: Routledge