Postgraduate Course: Making sense of popular music (MUSI11050)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Available to all students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Music |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This course is designed to introduce the field of popular music studies and new directions in popular music research through discussion-driven seminars focusing on selected readings. It also situates the study of popular music in relationship to the filed of musicololgy and examines how this has changed in recent decades. |
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus? | No |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
1. Demonstrate a critical understanding of key theories, principles, and concepts in the field of popular music studies.
2. Critically review the relationship between various approaches (e.g. sociology, musicology, cultural studies) to popular music research.
3. Plan and execute a significant analysis of a specialist topic within the study of popular music.
4. Communicate key concepts and debates within popular music studies with peers and senior colleagues.
5. Exercise substantial autonomy and initiative in the development of their analysis of popular music.
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Assessment Information
Formative assessment is provided with the 1,500 word essay worth 25% of total course mark.
Summative assessment is provided with the long essay of 3,500 words, worth 75% of total course mark.
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Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Topics covered in the course will change from year to year in according with developments in the field and student interests, but may include:
- What is popular music studies
- Genre and genre theory
- Creativity, authorship and originality
- Texts and contexts: consumption
- High and low art
- Socio-cultural analysis of record production
- Live music and performance
- The industrialisation of music
- Critiques of popular music
- Authenticity
- Audiences
- Gender
- Race
- Popular music in the digital economy
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| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Indicative bibliography:
Books
Beard, D. and Gloag, K. 2005. Musicology: the key concepts. London: Routledge.
Bennett, Andy, and Barry Shank and Jason Toynbee (eds). 2006. The Popular Music Studies Reader, edited by, London: Routledge.
Clayton, Martin et al (ed). 2003. The Cultural Study of Music. London: Routledge.
Frith, Simon. 1996. Performing Rites. On the Value of Popular Music. Oxford: OUP.
Frith, Simon. 2007, Taking Popular Music Seriously, Aldershot: Ashgate.
Horner, Bruce and Thomas Swiss, 1999, Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture. Oxford: Blackwell.
Longhurst, Brian. 2007. Popular Music and Society. Cambridge: Polity.
Negus, Keith. 1996. Popular Music in Theory. Cambridge: Polity.
Toynbee, Jason. 2000. Making Popular Music: Musicians, Creativity and Institutions. London: Arnold.
Wall, Tim. 2003. Studying Popular Music Culture. London: Hodder Arnold.
Journals
Journal of Popular Music Studies
Popular Music
Popular Music and Society
Music Week [this is a business digest of developments in the music industry]
Scottish Music Review
Journal of the Art of Record Production
Music and Arts in Action
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | popular music, Sociology of music, Musicology, Popular culture |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Matt Brennan
Tel: (0131 6)50 2903
Email: m.t.brennan@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lyndsay Hopes
Tel: (0131 6)51 5735
Email: Lyndsay.Hopes@ed.ac.uk |
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