MUSGEN 3002 - Music and Ideas

North Terrace Campus - Semester 1 - 2018

The course on Music and Ideas is offered by the Elder Conservatorium of Music in the Faculty of Arts as a Broadening Elective, suitable for a wide range of students - from all Faculties and Schools - who are curious to explore ideas associated with one of the arts and sciences of the ancient Quadrivium. The number 12 looms large in Music and the course contains 12 broad themes that will explore ideas from the ancient Greeks to the present day: Music of the Spheres, Music and Proportion, Music as Language, Music as Drama, Music and the Transcendental, Music as Song, Music as Rhythm, Music and Worship, Music and Chance, Music and Dialectics, Music with and beyond Words, Music as Art or Science? The approach taken in these exploratory lectures will be to stimulate students' thoughts about what music is, what it contains, what it represents, how it communicates, and how it acts as a medium for the transmission of ideas. The course will be taught by the Elder Professor of Music and does not require students to read musical notation.

  • General Course Information
    Course Details
    Course Code MUSGEN 3002
    Course Music and Ideas
    Coordinating Unit Elder Conservatorium of Music
    Term Semester 1
    Level Undergraduate
    Location/s North Terrace Campus
    Units 3
    Contact Up to 3 hours per week
    Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y
    Course Description The course on Music and Ideas is offered by the Elder Conservatorium of Music in the Faculty of Arts as a Broadening Elective, suitable for a wide range of students - from all Faculties and Schools - who are curious to explore ideas associated with one of the arts and sciences of the ancient Quadrivium. The number 12 looms large in Music and the course contains 12 broad themes that will explore ideas from the ancient Greeks to the present day: Music of the Spheres, Music and Proportion, Music as Language, Music as Drama, Music and the Transcendental, Music as Song, Music as Rhythm, Music and Worship, Music and Chance, Music and Dialectics, Music with and beyond Words, Music as Art or Science? The approach taken in these exploratory lectures will be to stimulate students' thoughts about what music is, what it contains, what it represents, how it communicates, and how it acts as a medium for the transmission of ideas. The course will be taught by the Elder Professor of Music and does not require students to read musical notation.
    Course Staff

    Course Coordinator: Professor Charles Bodman Rae

    Course Timetable

    The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from Course Planner.

  • Learning Outcomes
    Course Learning Outcomes
    1 Knowledge of a broad range of range of ideas (from the Ancient Greeks to the present day) that have influenced music
    2 Understanding of the cultural interconnections between music and the other sciences and arts
    3 Understanding of the concept of music as a mathematical science/art within the Quadrivium
    4 Understanding of the ideas that have influenced the creation of the Apollonian and Dionysian types of music
    5 Ability to evaluate relevant readings (such as book chapters and articles) in an Annotated Bibliography
    6 Ability to communicate clearly and coherently in a prepared oral presentation about ideas and music
    7 Ability to communicate clearly and convincingly in a scholarly research essay on a chosen topic about ideas and music
    University Graduate Attributes

    No information currently available.

  • Learning Resources
    Required Resources
    All the resources for this course will be made available to enrolled students via MyUni in the following formats: recorded lectures that can be viewed online; required source readings posted in pdf format on MyUni. In addition, students are encouraged to make use of the excellent materials available in the Elder Music Library (musical scores, recordings, books, journals, and so forth).  The course guide includes a comprehensive listing of relevant source materials held by the university.
    Online Learning
    The course lectures are all recorded and made available to be viewed online via MyUni.
  • Learning & Teaching Activities
    Learning & Teaching Modes
    The course is delivered via two, parallel strands: a sequence of weekly lectures, each of two hours duration; and a sequence of weekly tutorial session, each lasting one hour.  The purpose of the tutorial sessions will be to discuss, as a group, the ideas presented in the preceding lecture.  Each lecture will be associated with source readings that will be posted on MyUni and also made available during the lectures in hard copy. These readings will provide the focal points for discussion in the tutorial sessions.
    Workload

    No information currently available.

    Learning Activities Summary

    No information currently available.

    Small Group Discovery Experience
    This course relates strongly to the approach developed at the first year level in The Enquiring Mind. Like the latter, it incorporates an Annotated Bibliography, an Oral Presentation, and a Research Essay. The tutorial sessions for Music and Ideas relate to the SGDE concept and allow for direct contact and lively discussion facilitated by one of the senior Professors of the university.
  • Assessment

    The University's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:

    1. Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
    2. Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
    3. Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
    4. Assessment must maintain academic standards.

    Assessment Summary
    The course on Music and Ideas has three components of assessment: a) an Annotated Bibliography (20% weighting); b) an Oral Presentation (30% weighting); c) a Research Essay (50% weighting).

    The Annotated Bibliography (AB) builds on the generic study skills addressed and developed in the first-year course, The Enquiring Mind (for which the first assignment is an AB). Students are required to select and evaluate 5 scholarly sources relevant to the topic they have chosen. The bibliography should be presented with full scholarly citations plus a paragraph of evaluative comment (of circa 100 words for each source). This assignment should be submitted by noon on the Friday of Week 5 (via MyUni). The AB carries a 20% weighting for the overall course mark/result.

    The Oral Presentation is due in Week 8 of the course and will normally be scheduled in class time. It has a 30% weighting for the overall course mark/result. The time allowed for each presentation will be 15 minutes, subdivided as 10 minutes for the actual presentation, plus 5 minutes for questions from the rest of the group. The presentation should be scripted rather than improvised and should use a style of delivery akin to a radio programme (ie a personal style, in the first person, rather than the third person style of an academic research essay). The topic for the presentation can be chosen from any of the 12 topics listed for the course.  It can be on the same topic as the Annotated Bibliography, and this is the most likely choice; but it can be on a different topic. The topics need to be notified to the course tutor by Week 5 so that they can be pre-approved well in advance of Week 8.  The presentation can be supported by photocopied handouts and/or Powerpoint slides. The presentation should be clear, audible, well-paced (neither too fast nor too slow), and engaging.

    The Research Essay of circa 3,000 words has a weighting of 50% and should be submitted (via MyUni) by noon on the Friday of Week 13. The topic for the essay should be submitted to the course tutor for approval/modification no later than Week 8. The topic for the essay can be drawn from any of the topics covered in the course. The essay should be presented in a suitably scholarly manner with appropriate references (either as footnotes on as in-text references) and all the sources should be listed neatly/correctly in a Bibliography at the end. The style of writing should be objective (third person rather than first person) and elegantly academic.

    Assessment Detail
    The course on Music and Ideas has three components of assessment: a) an Annotated Bibliography (20% weighting); b) an Oral Presentation (30% weighting); c) a Research Essay (50% weighting).

    The Annotated Bibliography (AB) builds on the generic study skills addressed and developed in the first-year course, The Enquiring Mind (for which the first assignment is an AB). Students are required to select and evaluate 5 scholarly sources relevant to the topic they have chosen. The bibliography should be presented with full scholarly citations plus a paragraph of evaluative comment (of circa 100 words for each source). This assignment should be submitted by noon on the Friday of Week 5 (via MyUni). The AB carries a 20% weighting for the overall course mark/result.

    The Oral Presentation is due in Week 8 of the course and will normally be scheduled in class time. It has a 30% weighting for the overall course mark/result. The time allowed for each presentation will be 15 minutes, subdivided as 10 minutes for the actual presentation, plus 5 minutes for questions from the rest of the group. The presentation should be scripted rather than improvised and should use a style of delivery akin to a radio programme (ie a personal style, in the first person, rather than the third person style of an academic research essay). The topic for the presentation can be chosen from any of the 12 topics listed for the course. It can be on the same topic as the Annotated Bibliography, and this is the most likely choice; but it can be on a different topic. The topics need to be notified to the course tutor by Week 5 so that they can be pre-approved well in advance of Week 8. The presentation can be supported by photocopied handouts and/or Powerpoint slides. The presentation should be clear, audible, well-paced (neither too fast nor too slow), and engaging.

    The Research Essay of circa 3,000 words has a weighting of 50% and should be submitted (via MyUni) by noon on the Friday of Week 13. The topic for the essay should be submitted to the course tutor for approval/modification no later than Week 8. The topic for the essay can be drawn from any of the topics covered in the course. The essay should be presented in a suitably scholarly manner with appropriate references (either as footnotes on as in-text references) and all the sources should be listed neatly/correctly in a Bibliography at the end. The style of writing should be objective (third person rather than first person) and elegantly academic
    Submission

    No information currently available.

    Course Grading

    Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:

    M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme)
    Grade Mark Description
    FNS   Fail No Submission
    F 1-49 Fail
    P 50-64 Pass
    C 65-74 Credit
    D 75-84 Distinction
    HD 85-100 High Distinction
    CN   Continuing
    NFE   No Formal Examination
    RP   Result Pending

    Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.

    Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.

    Final results for this course will be made available through Access Adelaide.

  • Student Feedback

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    SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the University to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.

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