Handbook

This course examines Western music in its cultural and historical contexts with a focus on performance. Studying the aesthetic outlook, role and function of composers, performers and audiences from the Baroque period up to the 21st Century, the course provides a forum for you to explore how styles change in tandem with shifting social norms, cultural prerogatives, and technological developments, whether in classical music or in jazz. In this Level 4 core course, you will learn about historical performing practices and the impact of social change on audience expectations as well as on musicians’ aims and outlook. You will engage with provocative texts to refine your critical thinking skills and deepen your understanding of musical practice in its cultural context. Through assessment tasks you will demonstrate your ability to develop further and bring together knowledge and experience gained in Levels 1-3 musicology and performance lab courses. When you have finished this course you will be positioned to offer persuasive arguments and justification for your musical choices and practices within the larger historical and cultural context of music-making.