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MUSI2771: The Music of India

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Type Open
Level 2
Credits 20
Availability Not available in 2024/2025
Module Cap None.
Location Durham
Department Music

Prerequisites

  • None

Corequisites

  • None

Excluded Combinations of Modules

  • None

Aims

  • Facilitate detailed investigation of Indian musical genres and forms, their social and cultural context, and South Asian music scholarship;
  • enhance students' listening, analytical, and critical skills;
  • afford students an opportunity to reflect on wider ethnomusicological issues as applied to South Asian music scholarship.

Content

  • The module will explore different genres of Indian music, as practiced both in India and in the rest of the world. Repertoires studied will include classical, folk, devotional, popular and Bollywood music.
  • Topics to be covered include:
  • aesthetic and technical concepts (e.g. raga, tala);
  • social and cultural contexts; and
  • notation, transcription and performance analysis.

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

  • Students will become familiar with a range of theoretical and analytical tools appropriate to the study of Indian music.

Subject-specific Skills:

  • The module will further develop practical skills in transcribing, analysing, and commenting critically on a range of Indian musics and South Asian scholarship.

Key Skills:

  • Students will achieve competence in applying the skills and knowledge gained through a series of written and oral assignments.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

  • The module will be taught through lectures, seminars and tutorials. The combination of lectures, tutorials and practical exercises (transcription) instils and reinforces the awareness of relevant issues and methodologies. This format is designed to ensure active participation of students in the learning process. The assessments address creative, practical, and critical modes of engagement, making students develop original research questions as well as analytical skills.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

ActivityNumberFrequencyDurationTotalMonitored
Lectures10Weekly during one term 2 hours20 
Seminars/tutorials3During one term2 x 2 hours and 1 x 1 hour5 
Preparation and Reading175 
TOTAL200 

Summative Assessment

Component: TranscriptionComponent Weighting: 60%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
A music transcription accompanied by a 2,000 word analysis/essay2,000 words100Yes
Component: EssayComponent Weighting: 40%
ElementLength / DurationElement WeightingResit Opportunity
A 2,000-word essay/analysis of a piece of music or videoclip2,000 words100Yes

Formative Assessment

Students will be asked to prepare: 1) short oral and/or written presentations on particular topics; 2) short transcriptions, which will lead to the preparation of the summative assessment. Feedback will be given during tutorials.

More information

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