MA in Music: Music theory pathway

This unit introduces students to different categories of musicological sources and discusses issues arising from these, including recent authenticity debates surrounding the use of these materials in performance. It acquaints students with the nature of historical source materials for different repertoires and with the ways in which these may inform an understanding of compositional process. It also introduces typical problems involved in the preparation of critical editions to the highest standards of modern scholarship by means of particular case studies. It is intended that this unit will stimulate an awareness of the sensitivity required in handling primary and other musical source materials and that it will help students to acquire a critically informed approach to musical texts.

This unit will focus on research skills that are particularly relevant to musicians, focusing on the construction of a detailed bibliography as assessed work and how to give a successful oral presentation.

Selected topics in current musicology, including theories of historiography, concert practice, orality and the work concept, gender and critical theory.

Optional units

This unit will introduce students to the compositional techniques of the classical and early romantic periods, both through the analysis of representative movements and the composition of short pastiche exercises in these styles. It will deal, in the main, with song accompaniments in the style of Schubert, though some attention will also be given to classical string quartet writing in the style of Haydn and Mozart.

This unit will develop students’ understanding of the harmonic language of the 19th century, both through the analysis of representative models and the composition of songs, piano and chamber music pieces in similar styles. By way of introduction, the piano music of Schumann will be examined, but the main part of the course will be devoted to the work of Mendelssohn and Brahms. Exercises will vary between the completion of extracts and the composition of substantial songs or movements for piano or small chamber ensembles.

The unit is designed as a forum for the close study of the constructional techniques to be observed in the scores and recordings of music that can be of major interest, and value as exemplar, to the contemporary composer. This discipline will acknowledge the requirements of the Analytical profession but is more focused on the acquisition of tools and manners of perception and their potential transferability to practice-based research. A variety of musical sources and related readings will be studied in preparation for writing the assessed self-directed written project.

These units offer an opportunity for detailed study of a particular area of interest in the field of historical musicology. The particular project (chosen from a list of broad areas, initially those addressing aspects of British music) will result in the writing of two extended essays, presented according to modern, professional scholarly conventions. It will necessarily involve a substantial degree of independent study, although students will receive weekly supervisions in which bibliographies, outlines and methodological strategies will be formulated, or drafts discussed, as relevant. Additionally, there will be weekly Graduate Seminars at which students can refine their oral presentation skills. and regular tutorial project should demonstrate an ability to research a topic effectively and sufficiently, and to dissertation. Students take two Special Study units, either concurrently or in successive semesters. The initial choices will be from the following: The London Piano School; Elgar; Holst; Vaughan Williams; English organ music; British film music; The 20th-century English art song; English music in the renaissance; The English middle ages.

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