University of Sydney Handbooks - 2021 Archive

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Analysis, History and Culture Studies

Unit outlines will be available through Find a unit outline two weeks before the first day of teaching for 1000-level and 5000-level units, or one week before the first day of teaching for all other units.
 

Errata
Item Errata Date
1.

Sessions have changed for the following unit. It has been cancelled for Semester 1, it is still availalbe in Semester 2.

MUSC2648 Words and Music : Song Across Cultures Sessions: Semester 2

9/2/2021

Analysis, History and Culture Studies

AHCS requirements apply to students undertaking the following degrees. Specific requirements are listed in the relevant enrolment pattern.
(a) BMusic
(b) BMusic (Composition)
(c) BMusic (Music Education)
(d) BMusic (Performance)
(e) BMusic/BAdvanced Studies (Composition)
(f) BMusic/BAdvanced Studies (Performance)
(g) Diploma of Music

Foundation units

JAZZ1021 Jazz History 1

Credit points: 3 Teacher/Coordinator: Andrew Dickeson Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2hr lecture per week Assumed knowledge: Students enrolling in this unit are expected to have strong overall music skills including notation, reading, aural skills, music research and analysis and jazz performance (excluding non-jazz students) Assessment: In-class Presentation (30%); Transcription/Performance (30%); Listening Exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: Department permission required for enrolment
Note: Non-Jazz degree students will be considered for a place in the class based on enrolment numbers prior to the commencement of the semester.
Jazz History 1 provides the student with a practical understanding of the roots of jazz and the music developed, played and composed from the late 1800s - early 1930s and the historical context in which it was created. The classes will be structured around the use of sound recordings, archival footage, group discussion/analysis and by practical application. Students will be expected to be able to recognise, write about and discuss the major musical contributors of this period and their music, the cultural and socio-economic influences upon and of this music. Aural examinations will be of the 'Blindfold Test' variety. Students will transcribe notable performances from recordings and will direct ensemble performances of these. A listening list, reading list, video links and audio examples will be provided.
JAZZ1022 Jazz History 2

Credit points: 3 Teacher/Coordinator: Andrew Dickeson Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2hr lecture per week Prerequisites: JAZZ1021 Assessment: In-class Presentation (30%); Transcription/Performance (30%); Listening Exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: Non-Jazz degree students will be considered for a place in the class based on enrolment numbers prior to the commencement of the semester.
Jazz History 2 provides the student with a practical understanding of the Jazz styles developed, played and composed from the early 1930s to the late 1940s and the historical context in which it was created. The classes will be structured around the use of sound recordings, archival footage with group discussion/analysis and by practical application. Students will be expected to be able to recognise, write about and discuss the major musical contributors of this period and their music, the cultural and socio-economic influences upon and of this music. Aural examinations will be of the 'Blindfold Test' variety. Students will transcribe notable performances from recordings and will direct ensemble performances of these. A listening list, reading list, video links and audio examples will be provided.
JAZZ2018 Jazz History 3

Credit points: 3 Teacher/Coordinator: Andrew Dickeson Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2hr lecture per week Prerequisites: JAZZ1022 Assessment: In-class Presentation (30%); Transcription/Performance (30%); Listening Exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: Non-Jazz degree students will be considered for a place in the class based on enrolment numbers prior to the commencement of the semester.
Jazz History 3 provides the student with a practical understanding of the Jazz styles developed, played and composed from the mid-1940s through to 1960 and the historical context in which it was created.
The classes will be structured around the use of sound recordings, archival footage with group discussion/analysis and by practical application. Students will be expected to be able to recognise, write about and discuss the major musical contributors of this period and their music, the cultural and socio-economic influences upon and of this music. Aural examinations will be of the 'Blindfold Test' variety. Students will transcribe notable performances from recordings and will direct ensemble performances of these. A listening list, reading list, video links and audio examples will be provided.
MCGY1030 This is Music

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Christopher Coady Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 1hr lecture/week, 1 x 1hr tutorial/week Assessment: tutorial participation (20%), 1 x 1000wd article analysis (25%), 8 x lecture responses (blog posts) and group presentation (25%), 1 x 2000wd final essay (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: This is a Foundation unit in Analysis, History and Culture studies.
This course introduces students to the different ways of thinking about music that bind together our Conservatorium culture. It is a course concerned with 'big' questions: What exactly is a musical work? What do we hear when music is played? How do we go about making new music and how do we make old music new again? In grappling with these questions, students learn how to formulate persuasive arguments about the nature of music in general and the significance of musical works and artists in particular. The course is broken into four three-week episodes: Talking about Music, Making Music, Listening to Music and Learning about Music. Lectures from performers, composers, music educators and musicologists comprise each of these episodes and cover the wide variety of music genres and approaches to music making taught at the Conservatorium. As students hone their philosophical positions in relation to the course's 'big' questions, they are therefore simultaneously introduced to the constellation of ideas that constitute our musical world.
MCGY1031 Australian Musical Worlds

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Rachel Campbell Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 2hr lecture/week, 1 x 1hr tutorial/week Assessment: 1 x 2hr lecture/week, 1 x 1hr tutorial/week Assessment: 1 x 2000wd essay (40%), 1 x tutorial report (20%), 1 x listening test (20%), tutorial preparation and participation (20%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Embracing popular music, Indigenous music, classical music, and the music of multicultural communities in Australia, this unit offers an introduction not only to diverse musical traditions, but also to themes prevalent in the work of contemporary music scholars. These include gender and identity, ownership and appropriation, reception and transmission, colonialism and Empire, globalisation, modernity, representation, and music and place.
MCGY2611 Music from the Middle Ages to Baroque

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Alan Maddox Session: Semester 2 Classes: One 2hr lecture/1hr tutorial/week Assumed knowledge: Ability to read musical notation Assessment: Tutorial preparation and participation (20%), essay (40%), exam (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit explores major topics in the history of Western art music from the 9th century to c. 1750 in a broad historical context. Beginning with Gregorian chant and the invention of music education notation, we investigate a wide range of genres and styles of the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque eras, as well as innovations including the development of music printing, developments in musical instruments, and the emergence of opera, sonata and concerto. Musical works for analysis and discussion include examples by Hildegard of Bingen, Machaut, Dufay, Josquin, Palestrina, Gesualdo, Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Corelli, Lully, Purcell, Vivaldi, Handel and J.S. Bach.
Textbooks
J. P. Burkholder, D. J. Grout and C. V. Palisca. A History of Western Music, 10th ed. (2019)
MCGY2612 Music in the Classical and Romantic Eras

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr David Larkin Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 2hr lecture/week, 1 x 1hr tutorial/week Assumed knowledge: The ability to read musical notation and basic knowledge of music theory. Assessment: Essay (30%); Tutorial assignments and participation (30%); In-class tests (10%); 1 x 2hr exam (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: This is a Foundation unit in Analysis, History and Culture studies.
This unit will survey the main lines of musical development between 1750 and 1890, with primary focus on the composition of music, and how this relates to the social and aesthetic currents of the time. The overview given in the lecture series will be reinforced by detailed focus on individual works in the tutorials from both historical and analytical perspectives. Topics will include the emergence and codification of classical form and syntax; style and genre in the works of the first Viennese School; Beethoven's 'heroic' and 'late' styles; national opera traditions; symphonic poem and music drama; nationalism and exoticism; and the conflict between progress and tradition.
Textbooks
J.P. Burkholder; D.J. Grout; C.V. Palisca: A History of Western Music. 9th ed. (2014).
MCGY2613 Music in Modern Times

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Rachel Campbell Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2hr lecture and 1hr tut/week Assumed knowledge: Ability to read musical notation Assessment: 1500 word essay (35%), mid-semester test (20%), tutorial preparation (10%), 2 hr exam (35%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: This is a Foundation unit in Analysis, history and culture studies.
Traces the essential developments in Western art music from the very end of the 19th century to the start of the 21st, and relates them to broad socio-historical and artistic changes. The overview given in the lectures is reinforced by the analysis of key works in tutorials. Areas covered include Late Romanticism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Free Atonality, Rhythmic Innovation, Neo-classicism, Serial Music, Political Music, American Experimentalism, Electro-Acoustic Music, Chance composition, Textural Composition, Minimalism, influences from Popular Music, Collage and Polystylism, East-West Encounters, Neo-Romanticism, Post Modernism and Spectralism. Works analysed include compositions by Andriessen, Bartok, Cage, Debussy, Ligeti, Messiaen, Part, Schoenberg, Strauss, Stravinsky, Stockhausen and Webern.
Textbooks
Auner, J. Music in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries, New York: Norton 2013
MUSC1506 Music in Western Culture

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Rachel Campbell Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2hr lecture and 1 hr tut/wk Assumed knowledge: The ability to follow a musical score while listening to the music and knowledge of elementary music theory. Assessment: Tutorial work (25%), essay (40%), exam (35%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit surveys some of the major developments in the history of western classical music from the Medieval period to the present, and relates them to broader historical and artistic trends. In addition to analysing individual musical works, students will engage with musical historiography and develop a critical understanding of some influential techniques of music analysis. In addition to analysing individual musical works, students will engage with historiography and the relationships between music, society, and the history of ideas.
MUSC2638 Jazz Riots and Revolutions

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Christopher Coady Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 1hr lecture per week; 1 x 1hr tutorial per week Assessment: Tutorial Participation/Demonstrated Knowledge of Required Reading (20%); Annotated Bibliography (30%); Research Essay Introduction (20%); Research Essay Body (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This course examines the powerful link between jazz and moments of social revolution in the United States. It illuminates the central role jazz musicians like Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus and Max Roach played in changing hearts, minds and social structures during four distinct historic periods: the Harlem Renaissance, the post-War 1940s, the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and the Black Nationalist movement of the 1960s. Its central focus is on how music can both ride and resist the political energies that charge particular historic moments.

Electives

CMPN1612 New Music, New Thinking

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Damien Ricketson Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 1hr lecture/week, 1 x 1hr tutorial/week Assessment: Three assessment items: (1) essay (50%); weekly engagement in discussion and creative exercises (30%) and; (3) portfolio of three small creative works (20%). Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
New Music, New Thinking is designed to challenge the way in which students understand the music of our time. Through analyses of recent music and artistic themes, discussion and creative tasks, students will be exposed to a variety of compositional techniques, concepts and aesthetics. The content and assessment of this subject will enable students to further develop critical thinking concerning their future contribution to the world of new music be it in composition, performance, musicology or education.
CMPN4666 Advanced Analysis

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Gerard Brophy Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 2 hr seminar/lecture per week Assessment: Class presentation (1000 words) (15%), Composition analysis (20%), Weekly readings reports (15%), Research Project (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit is designed to equip students with a working knowledge of current music theory and analysis practice, impart analytical skills that can be applied across a broad spectrum of activities and different musical genres and types, and develop an understanding of related concepts such as what analysis actually is, different types of analysis (functional, descriptive, surface, aural/perceptual vs. score based) and an understanding of working at different levels of abstraction.
EMUS2500 Historically Informed Style Workshop

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Daniel Yeadon Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 2hr workshop/seminar per week, 3 x 1.5hr individual reading per semester Assessment: 1 x 1000wd romantic style report (20%), 1 x 1000wd classical style report (20%), 1 x final lecture presentation (60%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit of study presents students with an opportunity to learn the theory and to experience the nuts and bolts of historically informed performance (HIP). Today's performers need to be able to navigate their way through a wide variety of styles, genres and modes of performance. HIP is a growth area globally, which influences the style of performance of period and modern instrument ensembles and vocalists. Here in Australia, for example, the ACO requires its members to have a keen awareness of HIP conventions in repertoire ranging from 1600-1900. Students will explore readings from primary and secondary written sources, recordings (including historical recordings) and will learn how to apply their findings to repertoire spanning the high-Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. Mini-lectures are combined with demonstrations of HIP style, peer-led discussions and practical workshops.
JAZZ3618 Jazz Musicology and Analysis

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Christopher Coady Session: Semester 1 Classes: One 2 hr seminar per week Prerequisites: JAZZ2017 or JAZZ2624 Assessment: Participation (20%); Essay (50%), Seminar Presentation (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: This is a Foundation unit in Analysis, History and Culture studies.
This unit aims to provide students with an historic overview of the development of the field of jazz studies and the emergence of key musicological paradigms that continue to frame contemporary jazz scholarship. In turn, it will introduce students to the most prevalent analytical approaches used to study jazz works and help them make sense of these approaches in relation to the aims of different jazz researchers. By the end of the unit, students will be able to frame new research questions about particular jazz phenomenon in relation to strains of existing musicological discourse and answer these questions using appropriate analytical tools.
MCGY1019 Musicology Workshop 1

Credit points: 3 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Alan Maddox Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 2hr seminar/fortnight, including attendance at Musicology Colloquium Series. Assessment: Semester research project (40%), reflective journal (40%), participation and short tasks (20%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Musicology Workshop provides a forum for discussion of musicological work, and the opportunity to gain a broad perspective on the discipline. Many Musicology Workshop activities are built around the Conservatorium's fortnightly Musicology Colloquium Series lectures, presented by SCM staff and visiting national and international scholars speaking on a wide range of topics. Other class activities explore areas such as research and writing skills, music criticism, controversies in recent music literature, visits to local libraries or archives, and conference attendance and reporting. Students are expected occasionally to attend other musicological activities such as the Conservatorium's Alfred Hook lecture series. During classes students also have the opportunity to present and gain feedback on their own research topics.
Textbooks
Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Edited by Wayne C. Booth et. al. 9th edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
MCGY1020 Musicology Workshop 2

Credit points: 3 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Alan Maddox Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 2hr seminar per fortnight, including attendance at Musicology Colloquium Series Prerequisites: MCGY1019 Assessment: Semester research project (40%), reflective journal (40%), participation and short tasks (20%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Musicology Workshop provides a forum for discussion of musicological work, and the opportunity to gain a broad perspective on the discipline. Many Musicology Workshop activities are built around the Conservatorium's fortnightly Musicology Colloquium Series lectures, presented by SCM staff and visiting national and international scholars speaking on a wide range of topics. Other class activities explore areas such as research and writing skills, music criticism, controversies in recent music literature, visits to local libraries or archives, and conference attendance and reporting. Students are expected occasionally to attend other musicological activities such as the Conservatorium's Alfred Hook lecture series. During classes students also have the opportunity to present and gain feedback on their own research topics.
Textbooks
Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Edited by Wayne C. Booth et. al. 9th edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
MCGY2615 The Ultimate Art: 400 Years of Opera

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Alan Maddox, A/Prof Michael Halliwell Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 1hr lecture/week, 1 x 2hr seminar/week Prerequisites: (MCGY2611 or MCGY2612) and (MCGY2613 or MCGY2614) Assessment: Essay (40%), Module tasks (30%), Listening tests (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Since its beginnings around 1600, no genre of Western art music has been more innovative or influential than opera. It has inspired devotion and disdain, and led to innumerable theoretical debates. In this unit, 400 years of changing operatic practices will be explored through a series of seminal works. These will be treated as documents of specific historical circumstances (including contemporaneous singing and staging practices), and as aesthetic objects which have been reinvented continuously down to the present.
MCGY2621 Exploring Ethnomusicology

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Catherine Ingram Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 2hour seminar/week Prerequisites: MCGY1030 Assessment: Critical review of an ethnographic monograph in ethnomusicology (20%), class participation (30%), major essay or video essay (scaffolded approach) (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: This is a compulsory unit for the minor in ethnomusicology. If prerequisite not met, you may apply for special permission.
Ethnomusicology refers to the study of all musical genres worldwide within their respective social and cultural contexts, and is sometimes also known as the anthropology of music or cultural musicology. This unit introduces and explores some of the most important ideas that have informed the thinking of researchers working in this field - such as the connections between music and gender, social structures, forms of capital, politics, identity, health and the environment. The course also interrogates notions of the nature and experience of music, why musical genres differ and why music has such important but diverse significance worldwide. The course includes several lectures given by expert practitioners from particular musical traditions (such as Indigenous Australian music and Korean drumming), and it directly complements courses on ethnomusicological fieldwork methods. It does not require prior formal musical training.
MCGY3601 Analysis of Nineteenth-Century Music

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr David Larkin Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 2 hour seminar/week Prerequisites: MCGY2011 Assessment: 5 x Bi-Weekly Papers (50%); final essay (40%); In class Participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
As a formal discipline, the analysis of music came into existence during the nineteenth century. Ironically, the music of this era, although much pored over, has been relatively poorly served in terms of analytical methodologies. Characteristically, both the harmonic language and the structures employed by nineteenth-century composers have been analysed as departures from codified eighteenth-century norms. In this unit, we will grapple with the particularity of tonal, harmonic and formal practices of the era, using a range of established methodologies and new tools (including Schenkerian theory, Neo-Riemannian theory, and sonata deformation theory).
MCGY3602 Understanding East Asian Music

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Catherine Ingram Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2hr Seminar per week Assessment: Academic blog based on class activity (15%); In-class presentation (15%); Academic blog based on set reading (10%); Major essay (60%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Students will learn about, discuss and play different musical forms from East Asia - ranging from ancient guqin music to contemporary K-Pop. They will develop an understanding of key aesthetic concepts, musical instruments and musical features of the music cultures in this region. Students will be encouraged to develop awareness of the diversity of East Asian musics and cultures, and of music's interrelation with and great significance to East Asian societies both in the past and today.
MCGY3604 J.S. Bach and his World

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Alan Maddox Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 2hr seminar per week Prerequisites: MCGY2611 Assessment: Critical Reading Assignments (20%); Class Presentation (20%); Essay (50%); Seminar Preparation and Class Presentation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: If students do not meet pre-requisites, they may seek permission from the Unit Co-Ordinator
More than 250 years after his death, J.S. Bach remains one of the most revered musicians in the Western tradition. What influences formed Bach's style? What makes his music embedded in its time and place, yet distinctive and instantly recognisable? This unit investigates the music of this iconic composer in its historical context, considering his training, cultural and religious environment, stylistic influences and ongoing legacy, and allows students to explore their own research interests relating to Bach's music.
MCGY3627 Paleography of Music

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: A/Professor Kathleen Nelson Session: Semester 2 Prerequisites: MCGY2611 Assumed knowledge: Knowledge of current musical notation is essential. Assessment: Assignments and in-class assessments (50%); 2-hour examination (50%). Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: If prerequisite not met, you may apply for special permission.
Paleography of Music introduces principles and issues of some different types of western musical notation in use during the medieval and Renaissance periods, and contributes to the development of an understanding of original sources of music of these eras. Through studying original notations and sources, students can develop an understanding of the characteristics and problems of medieval and renaissance musical repertories not otherwise available. Among the notations to be studied are likely to be several chant notations including that of the musical sources of Hildegard of Bingen; white mensural notation as used in sources of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century vocal polyphony with examples likely to include music by Dufay, Ockeghem and Byrd; French and Italian lute tablatures; and German keyboard tablatures. Understanding the notations studied forms the main emphasis of this course, and students learn to read and transcribe from the original notations into modern musical notation. In addition, there may be a class project focussed on chant manuscripts in Sydney.
MCGY3629 Romanticism and the Fantastic

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr David Larkin Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 2 hour seminar per week Assumed knowledge: It is expected that students will have some knowledge of harmonic and formal practices up to 1850. Assessment: Essay (40%); Critical/ analytical assignment (15%); Listening and score-based tests (20%); Presentation (15%); seminar participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will explore the fantastic as a central aspect of romanticism in its various manifestations, including the uncanny, the daemonic and the alienated. In music, this meshes fruitfully with the fantasy as a genre, which is similarly dependent on the imagination and the evasion of clear boundaries. A range of Lieder, operas, symphonic and solo works by composers such as Schumann, Berlioz, Liszt, Mendelssohn and Schubert will be studied against the backdrop of literary and artistic innovations by Goethe, Hoffmann, Byron, and Friedrich. Theories of the fantastic by Todorov, Freud and others will also be examined.
MCGY3630 New Germans: Wagner and Liszt 1848-76

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr David Larkin Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 1hr lecture/week, 1 x 2hr seminar/week Prerequisites: MCGY2612 Assumed knowledge: It is expected that students will have some knowledge of harmonic and formal practices up to 1850. Assessment: 1 x research essay (50%); 2 x in-class tests (20%); 1 x in-class presentation (20%); Seminar participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
The New German School was a controversial term coined in 1859 to legitimise the self-consciously progressive art of figures such as Wagner and Liszt. This course explores the music and aesthetic theories of these two composers against the backdrop of contemporary debates and reception politics. Their personal relationship will also be scrutinized in detail. Works to be studied include selections from Liszt's symphonic poems and piano works, Wagner's Tristan, Die Meistersinger and Ring tetralogy.
MCGY3636 Mozart¿s World: Music in the Age of Reason

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: Essay (2, 500-3, 000 words) (50%), Seminar presentation (30%), critical reading assignments (1, 000 words) (20%) Assumed knowledge: It is strongly recommended that students have completed MCGY2612, or have a sound knowledge of the Viennese Classical repertoire. Assessment: 1 x 1hr lecture and 1 x 2hr seminar per week Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: Dr Alan Maddox
Since the early 20th century, the period c.1750-1830 has been associated with the idea of Classicism in European music, but it was also a period of rapid development and transformation in both music and society. This unit offers an in-depth examination of the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and their contemporaries in this historical context, and provides an opportunity to explore topics that will deepen and extend students' understanding of this highly significant period. Students will explore important repertoire, become acquainted with scholarly and performance issues associated with the style by studying a selection of critical writings about the period, and choose one topic to research in depth.
MCGY3638 Harmony as Counterpoint

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Lewis Cornwell Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 2hr seminar/week Prerequisites: MCGY2011 Assessment: 1 x 30min presentation (60%), 1 x composition and 15min performance (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Students will attempt to understand the compositions of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the manner by which their creators conceived them. Many compositional and basso continuo tutors from seventeenth and eighteenth centuries describe music as the movement of parts, rather than progressions of chords. This linear, 'contrapuntal' approach focuses on voice leading primarily and harmony as its consequence, contrary to Ramellian theory. Students will study different compositional styles through relevant, contemporary sources. After acquiring an understanding of these compositional processes, students will emulate the style of a composer using their techniques and understand how they 'sound' through performing these compositions. Such a study will provide students with an in depth understanding of different compositional processes, challenging the way they listen to and play works within and outside of the 'classical canon.'
MCGY3639 Modernism in Austria and Germany 1889-1914

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr David Larkin Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 2 hour seminar per week Prerequisites: MCGY2612 Assessment: Essay (40%); Critical/analytical assignments (15%); Listening and score-based tests (20%); In-class presentation (15%); Seminar participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Between 1889 and 1914, certain Austro-Germanic composers played a crucial role in the emerging modernist movement. Richard Strauss, Mahler and Schoenberg engaged with past musical traditions and contemporary trends in visual art, literature and philosophy to produce a distinctively new type of music. Works to be studied include Strauss's tone poems, Mahler's symphonies and Schoenberg's chamber music, as well as Lieder and stage works. Among the issues which will be explored are the way in which traditional formal structures were invoked and destabilised, the changes the musical language underwent and how music was conceptualized in this era of change and crisis.
MUSC1507 Sounds, Screens, Speakers: Music and Media

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: A/Prof Charles Fairchild Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2hr lecture and 1 tut/wk Assessment: Article summary, 1000 words (25%); Media analysis of 1000 words (20%); Tutorial tests (15%); Final Project, 2,000 words(30%), overall participation (10%). Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Music has been dramatically shaped and reshaped by every major change in communications technology in the 20th century from vinyl discs to spotify. In this unit of study we will analyse such issues as the ways in which the early recording industry transformed jazz, the blues and country music, how the presentation of music on radio and television changed the ways the music industry created new musical celebrities, and the challenges the music industry faces as digital technology transforms the creation, distribution and consumption of music.
MUSC2616 Noise/Sound/Music: Engaging Sonic Worlds

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr James Wierzbicki Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2 x hour lecture, 1 x hour tutorial per week Assessment: Participation in tutorial discussions (30%); Delivery of two written 'aural diaries' each 800 words minimum, that describe time spent in a specific sonic environment (20% each); A final paper - ca. 2,500 words, on an instructor-approved topic of the student's choice (30%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit focuses not just on music but also on 'noise' and sounds both natural and man-made. By means of in-class experiments, field trips and 'audio diaries', students will explore the nature of sound; by means of lectures, readings and discussion, they will examine the many ways in which human beings engage - negatively as well as positively - with the sonic world around them.
MUSC2644 Introduction to the Philosophy of Music

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1x2hr lecture/week, 1x1hr tutorial/week Assessment: Essay (60%); Examination (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit of study introduces students to philosophical questions about music and to thinking about music with philosophical methodology. The course visits some of the questions which have perplexed musicians and philosophers alike: How are beauty and music related? What does music tell us about time? What is a musical work? How do we listen? Is music related to language? This course enables all students of music and the liberal arts to understand music as a philosophically distinctive phenomenon.
MUSC2645 Psychology of Music

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Associate Professor Helen Mitchell Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 1hr lecture/week, 1 x 1hr tutorial/week Assessment: Readings, Summaries and Class Discussion Participation (30%); Key Question Identification and Project Design Poster Presentation (30%); Essay (40%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Psychology of Music examines music cognition and behaviour to explore the way music is created, produced and perceived. This unit will introduce recent interdisciplinary research as a way to explore music as a social activity. It will consider the methods used by sociologists and psychologists to investigate music and encourage students to think conceptually about their own musical activities.
MUSC2648 Words and Music : Song Across Cultures

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Myfany Turpin Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 1hr lecture/week, 1 x 1hr tutorial/week Prerequisites: 48 credit points of 1000-level units Assessment: 1 x presentation (15%), 1 x 2000wd assignment (35%), 1 x3000wd essay (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit will teach students how to analyse the structure of song in diverse cultures drawing on both language and musical perspectives. Songs play many different roles in cultures. For example, they can be a form of entertainment, a tool to influence the world and transmit knowledge; and an expression of religion, identity and a national culture. This unit will engage students with the question of why people sing. It will consider the impact of literacy and the notion of the 'professional' singer/composer, which are absent in many societies.
MUSC2654 Popular Music

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: A/Prof Charles Fairchild Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2 hrs/week Assessment: Two critical analyses 1,000 words each (20% each); tutorial test 1000 words (20%); major essay 3,000 words (30%); class participation (10%). Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
How did early American blues and country music develop in tandem? How was punk different in the US, the UK and Australia? What are the origins of the DJ culture? This unit of study presents a thematic overview of a wide variety of styles, movements and spectacles. It examines major genres of popular music, their stylistic features and historical antecedents as well as modes of reception and the role of popular music in everyday life. No formal music training is necessary.
MUSC2663 Survey of Film Music

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr James Wierzbicki Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2 hour lecture and 1 hour tut/week Assessment: Review assignments 2,000 words (30%), final paper 2,500 words (50%), participation (20%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This unit is an introductory survey of the history and aesthetics of film music from the late 1890s to the present day. Topics for discussion will include the dramatic function of music as an element of cinematic narrative, the codification of musical iconography in cinematic genres, the symbolic use of pre-existing music, and the evolving musical styles of film composers.
MUSC2664 Popular Music and the Moving Image

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Charles Fairchild Session: Semester 1 Classes: 2 hour seminar/week Prerequisites: 18 junior credit points Assessment: Musical analysis 1000 words (20%); industrial critique 1000 words (20%);Listening and viewing test (20%); Final Project 3,000 words (30%); Participation (10%). Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
The range of media channels through which we experience popular music has proliferated in recent years. The emotive power of music is used to tell stories, sell products and connect people to one another. This unit of study will analyse the use of popular music in a broad range of multimedia forms from film and television to video games and the use of digital media to disseminate a multitude of musical multimedia productions.
MUSC2666 Global Sound: Drum and Bass, Rhythm and Soul

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: A/Professor Charles Fairchild Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1x1hr lecture/week, 1x2hr seminar/week Assessment: Critical Interpretation of 1500 words (25%), Musical analysis of 1500 words (25%), Final Project of 3000 words (40%), Participation (10%). Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
How did the music of enslaved and marginalised people eventually become a dominant force in contemporary popular culture? This unit will examine the local reinvention of a wide variety of African American music in communities around the world. From soul and funk in West Africa to ska and reggae in the Caribbean, we will examine how music moves around the world and within local communities to make new forms of meaning.
MUSC2672 Australian Popular Music

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Toby Martin Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 hr lecture + 1 hr tut/week Assessment: Tutorial participation and presentations 25%. Essay 25%. Final research project 50%. Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
The history of Australian popular music presents us with a long and complex heritage. It reflects, in its very constitution, the lives of those who create it and is underscored by the dynamic relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. This unit of study will explore the continuing experience and influence of a wide range of music made in Australia, from songlines to bush ballads and dance anthems, Countdown and Rage. We will examine hillbilly music of the 1930s, surf rock of the 60s, pub rock of the 70s, reggae, punk and indie rock of the 80s and 90s as well as the emergence of Australian dance music, hip hop and the multiplicity of styles and expressions that mark the contemporary music scene.
MUSC3609 Musicology

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr James Wierzbicki Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2 hr seminar/wk Assessment: Written assessments (50%), weekly summaries of readings (30%), participation (20%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: This unit is a requirement for Honours in the Arts Music unit.
What do we study when we study music? What kinds of stories do we tell about the history of music? What are the central issues, questions, and concerns that drive the study of music? This unit of study begins to answer these questions and provides an overview of musicology as an academic discipline. The readings cover the field of musicology from its beginnings in the 1880s up to the present day.
MUSC3610 Musical Traditions and Globalization

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 2 hour seminar per week Assessment: Academic Blog - Musical Tradition (20%); In-class Presentation (15%); Academic Blog - Musical Piece (15%); Major Essay (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Every musical form worldwide exists within a tradition, and globalization has been crucial in shaping those traditions in the contemporary era. This course explores different ways that musical traditions and globalization intersect. It introduces key theoretical approaches to both globalization (including postcolonial perspectives) and the concept of musical tradition, and explores case studies including social media and music in the Pacific Islands, East African hip-hop, understanding globalization's influence on indigenous Australian musical traditions and historically informed Western art music performance.
MUSC3629 Music and Everyday Life

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: A/Prof Charles Fairchild Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 2hr lecture/week Assessment: 1 x 3000wd fieldwork project paper (40%), 1 x 1000wd description of a musical event (20%), 2 x 1000wd critical response papers (30%), overall class participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: This unit is a requirement for Honours in the BA.
What can we learn from non-textual approaches to understanding music? The primary goal of this unit of study is to study music not as a composer, producer, performer, listener or audience member, but as an ethnographer. That is, analysing music through an observational, experiential and intellectual understanding of how people make and take meaning from music.
MUSC3631 Music in Public: Performance and Power

This unit of study is not available in 2021

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Associate Professor Charles Fairchild Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 2hr seminar/week Assessment: 2 x 500 wd performance reports (15%), 1 x 1500wd performance genre analysis (25%), 1 x 1000wd performance analysis (20%), 1 x 3000wd essay (30%), overall seminar participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
The act of performing music creates a multitude of social relationships between listeners, audiences, musicians, performers, and the industries and institutions that surround them. This subject will ask students to study acts of performance historically, theoretically, and observationally. They will examine a wide range of situations and circumstances and try to work out how the expression of music is also an expression, affirmation, and contestation of social power. This subject will appeal to those who wish to study subjects such as music, performance studies, sociology, anthropology, and gender and cultural studies. It cuts across all of these areas of inquiry in the attention that is paid to the complexity and subtlety of how music is perceived and experienced across multiple social scenes and communities. This subject is not about performance practice or assessment. Instead, it seeks to allow students to gain some insight into the experience of performance as multifaceted and perspectival.
MUSC3641 Music, Environment and Climate Change

Credit points: 6 Session: Semester 1 Classes: 1 x 1 hour lecture per week; 1 x 1 hour tutorial per week Assessment: Academic blog post (20%), class participation (30%), major essay (50%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Climate change is one of the most important global issues of our era, and one which is destined to have a major influence on the lives of subsequent generations. It is especially dependent upon our understandings of the environment, our place within it, and our views of our environmental responsibilities. In this unit, students will explore some of the incredible range of ways in which music, the environment and climate change and interwoven. They will be guided through lectures from musicians and researchers involved in the connection between music and the environment across the fields of ethnomusicology, composition, digital music technology, jazz and contemporary music, as well as by lectures and a workshop with Indigenous Australian cultural custodians. Through this unit, students will understand not only the ways that, for millennia, music has a central role in the way that humans record, transmit and promote understandings of many different aspects of the environment, but also how it functions today and how it may help in solving environmental problems of the future.
MUSC3699 Understanding Music: Modes of Hearing

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr James Wierzbicki Session: Semester 2 Classes: 2 hr lecture, 1 hr tut/wk Assessment: Brief essays eq. 1,500 words (30%), final paper 3,000 words (50%), tutorial participation (20%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Note: A good working knowledge of musical terminology and vocabulary is required.
This unit of study deals with the different ways in which we comprehend music and with the different ways in which that comprehension might be explained. It deals with modes of hearing and musical analysis for the purpose of leading students towards a deeper knowledge of how music in various genres (ranging from the classical mainstream to the twentieth-century avant-garde, from Tin Pan Alley songs to punk rock and hip-hop) is understood. This is a required unit of study for a music major in an Arts degree.
MUSC4214 Musicology Workshop Advanced

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Alan Maddox Session: Semester 1,Semester 2 Classes: 2 hours/week including attendance at SCM Musicology Colloquium Series (1 hour/fortnight) Assessment: 1 x reflective journal (20%); 1 x 15-20min presentation (20%); 1 x 3000wd essay (50%); overall participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Musicology Workshop Advanced provides a forum for discussion of musicological work and provides experience in the presentation of ideas and research. It also provides a broadening of students' experience in the field through attendance at the Conservatorium's fortnightly Musicology Colloquium Series lectures, presented by SCM staff and visiting national and international scholars speaking on a wide range of topics, as well as through class activities exploring areas such as research and writing skills, music criticism, visits to local libraries or archives, and conference attendance and reporting. Honours students also have the opportunity to build skills in leadership and influence by mentoring undergraduates taking Musicology Workshop 1 and 2.
Textbooks
Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Edited by Wayne C. Booth et. al. 9th edition. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
VSAO1300 Classical Singer's Repertoire Book

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Dr Rowena Cowley Session: Semester 2 Classes: 1 x 2hr lecture/week, 1 x 1hr tutorial/week Assessment: 1 x individual written assignment (30%), 1 x group presentation (30%), 1 x 45min listening exam (30%), and class participation (10%) Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This course provides an overview of major types of Western Classical solo vocal repertoire, from approximately 1600 to the present. It traces the evolution of important formal and stylistic commonalities and differences between individual composers and national characteristics. The course encourages students at a foundational level to recognise, analyse and culturally contextualise the forms they are performing and listening to.