Undergraduate Course: Music Analysis (MUSI08076)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides an introduction to the analysis of music, concentrating on Western music from the medieval period to the early twentieth century. It involves the study of musical scores alongside aural evidence obtained from listening, and the application of techniques learned in compositional exercises. |
| Course description |
Music Analysis provides training in methods of analysing Western music, predominantly based on the study of notated scores, alongside skills devised through the composition of works in the same style as those being studied. The course is split into two concurrent parts: each week will feature:
1) a one-hour class dealing with a particular compositional technique or concept (e.g. functional harmony, types of cadence, fugue). Techniques covered would typically include Fugue, Motivic Analysis, Sonata Form, Syntax, Formal Functions, Linear Reductions, Tonal Schemata, Isorhythm, Imitative counterpoint, Textural schema.
2) a one-hour class studying a specific musical work, chosen to showcase the application of a particular analytical method. Works will be drawn from the medieval period to the early twentieth century.
The course is also supported by a weekly tutorial.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
It is RECOMMENDED that students have passed
Creative Musicianship (MUSI08077)
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Facility reading music and good grasp of basic theory (harmonic functions, cadences, etc.). |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 33 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 10,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Formative Assessment Hours 3,
Summative Assessment Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
156 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
100 %,
Coursework
0 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1 take-home exam, one coursework essay, each worth 50% of final mark:
- 1 Time-limited take-home exam held in/around week 10. A stylistic composition exercise. Worth 50% of final mark.
- 1 Essay (normally in Exam conditions; under Covid restrictions simply as coursework essay). This will involve an analysis of one piece of music from two possible options. These pieces are given one week prior to the deadline. To be held in the usual examination period at the end of semester 1, worth 50% of final mark.
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| Feedback |
Formative assessments will be carried out continuously throughout the course in class time, with ample opportunity for verbal formative feedback on weekly tutorial tasks.
Summative feedback on the first exam will be given within 15 working days of the exam. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate the ability to describe musical form and structure by talking about compositional components and their interactions.
- Demonstrate the ability to identify specific information about a musical work via a score (e.g. key stylistic and structural features).
- Engage with a variety of musical styles through technical exercises and projects
- Acquire the technical skills necessary to reproduce a number of important past musical styles
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Reading List
William E. Caplin, Classical Form: A Theory of Formal Functions for the Instrumental Music of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (Oxford, 1998).
William E. Caplin, Analyzing Classical Form: An Approach for the Classroom (Oxford, 2013).
James Hepokoski and Warren Darcy, Elements of Sonata Theory (Oxford, 2006).
Peter Schubert, Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style (New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).
Anna Butterworth, Stylistic Harmony (London: Associated Board, 1994 and reprints) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
1) Understand some key ways in which Western music is constructed through practical and theoretical means.
2) Use some of the most important specialist terms and concepts to articulate analytical responses to music.
3) Develop the ability to choose from within a range of analytical approaches to draw out specific attributes of the music studied.
4) Develop the ability to engage with a musical work without reliance on secondary literature. |
| Keywords | Music Analysis,western,medieval,twentieth,scores,listening,composition |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Benedict Taylor
Tel: (0131 6)50 4155
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr Hugh Black
Tel: (0131 6)51 5926
Email: |
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