MUSI259-15S2 (C) Semester Two 2015

Special Topic: Philosophy of Music

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 13 July 2015
End Date: Sunday, 15 November 2015
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Friday, 24 July 2015
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 9 October 2015

Description

Special Topic: Philosophy of Music

MUSA 259 provides students with an overview of the history of musical thought from Antiquity to the early 20th century, focusing on the writings of key thinkers from Plato to Hanslick.  It covers issues such as the connection between music and ethics, music and mathematics, music and language, and emotions in music.  The course provides students with an introduction to working with original philosophical texts, and situates these texts within the wider historical, cultural, and musical context.

COURSE CONTENT

Lectures will cover the following topics:
*  Music, ethics, and education in Plato's thought
*  Music and Metaphysics in Classical Greece, Late Antiquity, and the Renaissance
*  Aristotelian views on music and their influence in the Renaissance
*  Nature, language, and expression in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
*  Eighteenth-century controversies about music as an imitative art
*  romantic ideology and metaphysics
*  Formalism in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries

Learning Outcomes

*  Describe the development of key trends and issues in the history of musical thought.
*  Describe key concepts in the philosophy of music.
*  Discuss philosophical ideas related to music, including the connection between music and ethics, and the relationship between music and language, number, and emotion.
*  Critically evaluate primary source documents, including original philosophical texts.
*  Access and critically analyse scholarly literature relevant to the philosophy of music.
*  Present arguments in writing and orally, using appropriate scholarly language.

TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

*  Information literacy skills:  the ability to search for relevant information to research topics using bibliographic tools and electronic databases.
*  Reading skills:  the ability to comprehend complex texts that address issues from a diverse range of perspectives.
*  Paraphrasing and summarising skills:  the ability to rephrase in one's own words to avoid plagiarism and to extract key ideas from texts.
*  Synthetic skills:  the ability to bring together information from a wide range of sources so as to discuss issues and solve problems.
*  Analytical skills:  the ability to evaluate collected information and to extract significant themes and ideas.
*  Critical thinking:  the ability to engage in reflective and independent thought.
*  Written communication skills:  the ability to communicate ideas in clear, articulate language appropriate to the intended audience.
*  Oral communication skills:  the ability to speak with clarity and in an engaging manner.
*  Time management skills:  the ability to set clear goals, meet deadlines, and work within prescribed parameters.

Prerequisites

MUSI 102 or 130 or 131, or
15 points PHIL

Restrictions

Timetable Note

WORKLOAD
Student workload (150 hours) will be allocated to:
*  36 hours attending lectures
*  12 hours attending tutorials
*  22 hours researching, drafting, and writing essay 1
*  18 hours researching, preparing and presenting the seminar
*  26 hours researching, drafting, and writing essay 2
*  36 hours completing assigned reading and preparing for weekly tutorial discussions

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Francis Yapp

Lecturer

Jonathan Le Cocq

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Essay 1 28 Aug 2015 30% An essay of 1500 words - topic to be provided during the course.
Seminar Presentation 25%
Essay 2 16 Oct 2015 35%
Contribution to class discussion 10%


Essay 1:
Frist draft due Friday 7 August at 4 pm.  The draft will be marked and you will be given feedback upon which you will base your revisions for the final submission.

Seminar Presentation:
A seminar presentation of 10 minutes, followed by questions.  A written version of your seminar presentation should be submitted within one week of your delivery; this should be in formal academic English and referenced as for an essay.

Seminar presentations will take place during the tutorial on Friday 25 September.

Contribution to class discussion:
The Friday tutorials (12–1 in 206) will focus on class discussion of the weekly readings (available the previous Friday).  You will be assessed on the quality of your contribution to these discussions.

Textbooks / Resources

Required Texts

Kivy, Peter; Introduction to a philosophy of music ; Clarendon Press, 2002 (A copy of this text is available from the University Bookshop).

Additional readings will be provided in the course.

Notes

Use of Technology

This course assumes that you have sufficient information and technology skills to confidently use a computer to access material for your course.  Your written work will be handwritten and submitted in class time.

You will be required to access our learning management system – LEARN – and to become familiar with its tools.  LEARN provides easily-accessible information about the course and assessments, topics and deadlines, and supports the learning you will gain from attending all lectures and tutorials.  For help using LEARN, refer to: http://learn.canterbury.ac.nz/course/view.php?id=2157

Additional Course Outline Information

Assessment and grading system

The following shows how to translate grades to numerical scores:

A+  90–100;    A   85–89;    A-  80–84;    B+   75–79;    B 70–74;    B-   65–69;     C+  60–64;     C  55–59;     C- 50–54;     D  40–49;   E  0–39
In a course at 100- or 200-level examiners may grant restricted credit (R) which will be equivalent to a pass for all purposes except as a prerequisite.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $778.00

International fee $3,450.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see Humanities .

All MUSI259 Occurrences

  • MUSI259-15S2 (C) Semester Two 2015