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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2020/2021

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : Music

Undergraduate Course: Ways of Listening (MUSI08063)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course asks what it means to think critically and write well about music, and supports you in developing skills in both of these areas. You do not need specialist musical training to take this course. The course is likely to challenge your assumptions about music listening, and will make you think (and write) conceptually - which should help to improve your critical thinking and writing skills generally.
You will gain an overview of scholarly perspectives through set reading, listening, and weekly lectures, and learn how different groups of people use different concepts to construct knowledge about music and to analyse it.
At weekly listening seminars, you will focus on pieces of music selected by invited expert listeners, who will share with you what they can hear.
FIRST CLASS 2018-9 takes place at 9am, Wednesday 19th September, in Lecture Theatre O17, Hunter Building, Lauriston.

Course description This course addresses the jointly creative and critical act of analysing music as we encounter it in its material and imaginative forms. We will discuss the concepts used to analyse, to construct, and to deconstruct musical listening from many sources, and examine how these concepts differ according to who is doing the listening, and where (and why) they are doing it. Which descriptive terms and words are used? Where do these concepts come from, and what are they actually describing? How much does this description tell us about how the music works? What else needs to be taken into account *besides what we hear* to get at *what we are actually listening to*?
FIRST CLASS 2018-9 takes place at 9am, Wednesday 19th September, in Lecture Theatre O17, Hunter Building, Lauriston.
Weekly lecture topics cover:
- What is musical appreciation?
- What is a musical 'text'?
- Musical perspectives: Performance; Music Theory; Technology; Ethnomusicology; History; Screens and Stories
- Making sense of musical listening
Weekly listening seminars address a range of music, for example:
- A track of electronic music
- A traditional Gaelic song
- A jazz improvisation
- A contemporary composition of chamber music
- A Beatles song
- A Romantic symphonic work
- A North Indian raga
- A live amateur operatic, choral or orchestra performance
- A twentieth-century work of art music
A prioritised resource list including both reading and listening materials is available. You are required to prepare for lectures and listening seminars by completing at least the Essential reading and listening material. Preparation for tutorials involves specific study tasks. You will need to do this preparation to receive effective feedback on your progress, and to progress well.
There are two assessed components. The first is a group presentation in week 8. The second is a 2000-word essay, submitted after teaching finishes.
Written formative feedback is offered on a writing task submitted in Week 5 (feedback within 15 working days). Verbal formative feedback is provided during small-group tutorials.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Draw on a wide range of terms and concepts to articulate your own analytical responses when listening to music.
  2. Recognise that different forms of critical listening are undertaken in different ways by different groups of people (e.g. historical musicologists; amateur and professional journalists; music psychologists; ethnomusicologists; everyday listeners; performing musicians, etc .)
  3. Compare the critical insights and limitations of various practitioner and scholarly approaches.
Learning Resources
http://resourcelists.ed.ac.uk/lists/8FE2E4C6-7E03-29EE-8251-F2A1A5A1D1E7.html
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Critical/analytical listening skills. Communication skills (describing unseen objects using abstract concepts).
Special Arrangements After you have discussed taking one of our courses with your Personal Tutor/ School Student Support Office, please contact us to enquire if a place is available at: eca-sso@ed.ac.uk
KeywordsMusic,Listening,Analysis,Critical,Alternative
Contacts
Course organiserDr Nikki Moran
Tel: (0131 6)50 2423
Email: n.moran@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Carrie Parker
Tel: (0131 6)50 2422
Email: Carrie.Parker@ed.ac.uk
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