Courses: MUV280 Popular Music Studies - Autumn 2019
Credits
15.0ECTS Credits
15 sp
Level of Study
Bachelor
Language of Instruction
English
Teaching semester
Autumn
Place of Instruction
Bergen
Objectives and Content
The course aims to give a broad basis for the study of popular music. The course gives an introduction to central approaches in popular music studies. The course takes as a point of departure theoretical perspectives from both the social sciences and the humanities. Specific topics to be explored and discussed include the music industry; readings of popular music texts in relation to race, class, age and gender; music video and popular music in film; ethnographic and historical approaches; world music and world beat; and issues related to globalization.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of the course the student should have the following learning outcomes:
Knowledge
The student¿
- Has knowledge of the relationships between popular musics, mass media, and related technologies and industries.
Skills
The student¿
- Has skills to assess how processes of representation and reception contribute to the creation and mediation of meaning in popular music texts.
- Has skills to analyze multimedia popular music texts in terms of their structural and stylistic attributes, as well as their relationships to cultural, historical and technological contexts.
- Has skills to assess how processes of representation and reception contribute to the creation and mediation of meaning in popular music texts.
General competence
The student..
- can identify and make use of relevant academic literature in independent research on popular music
- Has competence to productively discuss how cultural and historical conditions are implicated in the development and performance of popular music genres and styles.
- Has competence to assess the ways in which audiences, fans, and communities contribute to the formation of popular musics.
- Has competence to evaluate specific styles and genres of popular musics in relation to current acadmic debates and paradigms (including for example, gender and sexuality, authenticity, and globalization).
Required Previous Knowledge
Recommended Previous Knowledge
Credit Reduction due to Course Overlap
Access to the Course
The course is open for students with 60 study points (ECTS credits) in subjects within the humanities and/or social sciences.
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching takes place in the form of lectures. There is also an obligatory seminar for presentation of the term paper.
Compulsory Assignments and Attendance
- Attendance at lectures and seminars.
- The students will present their drafts of their term papers orally in seminar form.
All instruction is obligatory. Absence of more than 20% leads to loss of right to take the exam. All mandatory instruction must be completed and approved of before the exam. Approved obligatory activities are valid for 2 semesters after they are completed.
Forms of Assessment
Term paper of ca. 5000-6000 words. This paper will be either a reading (analysis/interpretation) of a specific musical text, or a discussion of a research question in which the task is to set the music within a specific cultural, social or historical context. The term paper can be written in Norwegian or English.
Internal evaluation with at least two examiners.
Examination Support Material
Grading Scale
Letter grade from A to F.
Subject Overlap
None
Assessment Semester
Reading List
The literature list will be available by 01.06. for the Autumn semester and 01.12. for the Spring semester.
Course Evaluation
The course will be evaluated in accordance with the quality assurance system of the University of Bergen.
Programme Committee
The Program Board is responsible for the academic content and structure of the study program, and for the quality of all the subjects therein.
Course Coordinator
Course Administrator
The Grieg Academy ¿ Department of Music at the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design has the administrative responsibility for the course and the study programme.
Contact Information
The study adviser can be contacted at:mailto:studieveileder@kmd.uib.no
mailto:studieveileder@kmd.uib.nostudieveileder@kmd.uib.no