Outline

Overview

This unit of study deals with the different ways in which we comprehend music and with the different ways in which that comprehension might be explained. It deals with modes of hearing and musical analysis for the purpose of leading students towards a deeper knowledge of how music in various genres (ranging from the classical mainstream to the twentieth-century avant-garde, from Tin Pan Alley songs to punk rock and hip-hop) is understood. This is a required unit of study for a music major in an Arts degree.

Unit details and rules

Academic unit
Credit points	6
Prerequisites ?	None
Corequisites ?	None
Prohibitions ?	None
Assumed knowledge ?	None
Available to study abroad and exchange students	Yes

Teaching staff

Coordinator	Charles Fairchild, charles.fairchild@sydney.edu.au
Lecturer(s)	James Maher, james.maher@sydney.edu.au

Type	Description	Weight	Due	Length
Assignment	Three brief essays Essay	40%	Multiple weeks Due date: 27 Aug 2023 at 23:59 Closing date: 20 Nov 2023	1500 words
Outcomes assessed:
Participation	Class Discussion and Weekly Journal Participation in class discussion and weekly journal	20%	Ongoing Due date: 13 Nov 2023 at 23:59 Closing date: 14 Nov 2023	Ongoing (1000-3000 words)
Outcomes assessed:
Assignment	Final paper Essay	40%	Week 13 Due date: 05 Nov 2023 at 23:59 Closing date: 04 Dec 2023	2000 words
Outcomes assessed:

Assessment summary

Class Discussion/Journal: From week 2, participation will be assessed in terms of tutorial attendance and focused engagement in the weekly discussions (10%) in tandem with the writing of a weekly journal (10%) - totalling 20% of the entire course mark.

In summary, this assignment module consists of two components:

1. Each week you are required to submit one comment about the weekly content via the designated Discussion Board in Canvas.

2. Within the journal, you will write a general summary of the week’s reading(s) as well as brief observations/critiques etc. This is also a good place to store a ‘glossary of terms’ as the course progresses – and make casual observations about your own musical tastes/encounters as they relate to the content. 1000-3000 words. Due November 13 via Canvas.
Three brief essays (500 words) on topics representative of the music covered by the unit’s various segments, to be turned in electronic format, via Turn-It-In on the unit’s Canvas website. This task could involve a small annotated bibliography of literature in a particular field discussed; a brief analysis/discussion of music that relates to a field/development; or critical comparisons of two or more of the assigned readings. These will be due by midnight Sunday, weeks : 4, 8, 10 (40%).
Final paper: (2000 words) in essay/research format – on an instructor approved topic of the student's choice due in electronic format via Turn-It-In on the unit’s Canvas website by midnight, November 5.

Possible topic areas and examples of questions will be posted on Canvas. Research conducted for the four brief essays can be developed into the final paper, but should be integrated appropriately and not adapted ‘word for word.’ (40%)

Detailed information for each assessment can be found on Canvas.

Assessment criteria

The following assessment criteria are used for written work in this unit of study:

Result name	Mark range	Description
High distinction	85 - 100	Demonstrates high level of initiative in research and reading; sophisticated critical analysis of evidence; high level engagement with theoretical issues, innovative use of reading/research material and impressive command of underlying debates and assumptions; properly documented and written with style, originality and precision.
Distinction	75 - 84	Demonstrates initiative in research and wide, appropriate reading; complex understanding of question and ability to critically review material in relation to underlying assumptions and values; analyses material in relation to empirical and theoretical contexts; properly documented; clear, well-developed structure and argument with some signs of literary style.
Credit	65 - 74	Evidence of broader understanding than pass level; offers synthesis with some critical evaluation of material; coherent argument using a range of relevant evidence; some evidence of independent thought, good referencing. A high credit (70-74) shows some evidence of ability to problematise and think conceptually.
Pass	50 - 64	Written work meets basic requirements in terms of reading/research; relevant material; tendency to descriptive summary rather than critical argument; makes a reasonable attempt to avoid paraphrasing; reasonably coherent structure; often has weaknesses in particular areas, especially in terms of narrow or underdeveloped treatment of question; acceptable documentation.
Fail	0 - 49	Work may fail for any or all of the following reasons: Unacceptable paraphrasing; irrelevance of content; poor spelling; poor presentation; grammar or structure so sloppy it cannot be understood; failure to demonstrate understanding of content; insufficient or overlong word length.

For more information see guide to grades.

Late submission

In accordance with University policy, these penalties apply when written work is submitted after 11:59pm on the due date:

Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

This unit has an exception to the standard University policy or supplementary information has been provided by the unit coordinator. This information is displayed below:

Any assessment submitted after the due time and date (or extended due time and date) will incur a late penalty of 5% of the total marks per 24 hour period

Academic integrity

The Current Student website provides information on academic integrity and the resources available to all students. The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly and will treat all allegations of academic integrity breaches seriously.

We use similarity detection software to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breach. If such matches indicate evidence of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches, your teacher is required to report your work for further investigation.

Use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) and automated writing tools

You may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if you are permitted to by your unit coordinator. If you do use these tools, you must acknowledge this in your work, either in a footnote or an acknowledgement section. The assessment instructions or unit outline will give guidance of the types of tools that are permitted and how the tools should be used.

Your final submitted work must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of generative AI tools that have been used in the assessment, and any material that forms part of your submission must be appropriately referenced. For guidance on how to acknowledge the use of AI, please refer to the AI in Education Canvas site.

The unapproved use of these tools or unacknowledged use will be considered a breach of the Academic Integrity Policy and penalties may apply.

Studiosity is permitted unless otherwise indicated by the unit coordinator. The use of this service must be acknowledged in your submission as detailed on the Learning Hub’s Canvas page.

Outside assessment tasks, generative AI tools may be used to support your learning. The AI in Education Canvas site contains a number of productive ways that students are using AI to improve their learning.

Learning support

Simple extensions

If you encounter a problem submitting your work on time, you may be able to apply for an extension of five calendar days through a simple extension.  The application process will be different depending on the type of assessment and extensions cannot be granted for some assessment types like exams.

Special consideration

If exceptional circumstances mean you can’t complete an assessment, you need consideration for a longer period of time, or if you have essential commitments which impact your performance in an assessment, you may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements.

Special consideration applications will not be affected by a simple extension application.

Using AI responsibly

Co-created with students, AI in Education includes lots of helpful examples of how students use generative AI tools to support their learning. It explains how generative AI works, the different tools available and how to use them responsibly and productively.

Weekly schedule

WK	Topic	Learning activity
Week 01	Modes of Listening: In week 1, we will discuss course structure and assessments. We will also explore concepts pertaining to listening, music, noise, and analysis - as well as examples of the types of critical thinking encountered in this course.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 02	Modes of Listening (continued): In week 2, we will extend upon some of the concepts discussed in week 1 – particularly what it means to listen to music in different socio-cultural contexts, as well as ideas related to the emergence of the “musical work” within the discipline of musicology.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 03	Disciplining Musicology: In week 3, we will explore the enshrining of early musicology as a so-called 'scientific' discipline, anticipated by the development of theoretical treatises on music theory (from the Antique to Modern periods). We will also discuss the rise of musical criticism and its relationship with the Ideal philosophy of Kant and Schiller - revisiting questions regarding formalism, absolute music, (post) tonal analysis and the 'musical object.'	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 04	Musical Ethnographies: Differing from musicology, ethnomusicology is known as being concerned with the music of ethnic or non-western cultures. This week explores the development of Ethnomusicology from the late-19th century as it developed out of Musical Folklore, and what Guido Adler termed “Comparative Musicology.” We will examine the influence of anthropological and linguistic approaches to analysing the music of non-Western cultures, technological interventions, and the role of fieldwork.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 05	Hungry Listeners: Around the mid-20th century, cultural theorist and Frankfurt School figurehead Adorno wrote about the role of music in society and culture, as well as what it means to 'listen' under Capitalism. Adorno’s writing had a subsequent impact on the development of music sociology – associated with musicologists Tia DeNora and Georgina Born. In week 5, we will focus on the emergence of what Adorno called the "culture industry" and how it relates to the study of music and mass culture.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 06	Musicology goes Pop: Continuing on from the discussion of the relationship between music and consumption, this lecture will explore how popular music is understood within scholarship as a genre which exploded out of the post-war periods. We will explore what it means to 'analyse' such music within the field of popular music studies. We will also examine how we might begin to approach popular genres such jazz, rock and electronic music.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 07	Experimental Modes of Listening: In week 7, we will approach the vast socio-cultural changes of the mid-20th century from another direction: the experimental compositions of the American and European avant garde and how this has reconfigured the philosophical foundation of music itself. We will touch upon conceptions of music-as-politics within the music of John Cage, Pauline Oliveros and Fluxus; music technologies; as well as the dynamics of the audience within new-music contexts.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 08	Politicised Music: In week 8, we will extend upon some of the concepts from weeks 4-5 and examine the role of political music and the 'politicisation of music' in genres such as 'world music,' protest music and punk. We will ask: how has musicology and ethnomusicology responded to these developments? We will also examine the growing influence of post-colonial studies, as well as questions surrounding cultural appropriation/exchange within the context of neo-liberal globalisation.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 09	Listening through Technology: In week 9, we will discuss the role of technology in mediating the musical experiences of our everyday lives – the role of the internet in changing how we listen and understand music – as well as the ways in which composers and artists have 'hacked' technology for their artistic and aesthetic goals in genres such as electronic music, hip hop, glitch and noise music. We will be asking, how has technology transformed our relationship with the ‘sound object’?	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 11	The 'New' Musicology: A discussion of the concerns which led to the development of 'new musicology' – a break with formalism and towards, in the words of Laurence Kramer: “understanding cultural, social, historical” factors in tandem with the aesthetic. We will return to the discussion of the minimisation of 'context' in 'old musicology' – following the writings of Kofi Agawu and Georgina Born. We will also examine some case studies regarding the emergence of queer and feminist musicologies.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 12	Sound-as-Material: In the words of Christopher Cox, sound is culturally mediated, (post) material flux. This week, we will discuss the spatial re-conceptualisation of the sound object within sound-art, as well as the role of soundscapes within acoustic ecology. This will lead to an exploration of ‘sound studies’ - a field which, arguably, shares parallels with the 'new' musicology – as well as growing concerns around the 'cultural politics' of listening and the cultural economy of music/sound.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)
Week 13	Modes of Understanding: In the final lecture, we will summarise the trajectory of the course - leading to a discussion of how the idea of the musical subject/object has transformed philosophically and aesthetically within different approaches to understanding music - and how music is not something to be encountered in isolation but entangled within broader socio-cultural, technological, non-human, and ecological contexts.	Lecture and tutorial (3 hr)

Attendance and class requirements

Attendance: Students are expected to attend a minimum of 90% of timetabled activities for a unit of study, unless granted exemption by the Dean, Head of School or professor most concerned. The Dean, Head of School or professor most concerned may determine that a student fails a unit of study because of inadequate attendance. Alternatively, at their discretion, they may set additional assessment items where attendance is lower than 90%.

Study commitment

Typically, there is a minimum expectation of 1.5-2 hours of student effort per week per credit point for units of study offered over a full semester. For a 6 credit point unit, this equates to roughly 120-150 hours of student effort in total.

Required readings

All readings for this unit can be found on Canvas and accessed through the Library eReserve, available on Canvas.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are what students know, understand and are able to do on completion of a unit of study. They are aligned with the University's graduate qualities and are assessed as part of the curriculum.

Outcomes
Graduate qualities

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

LO1. explain, through verbal descriptions, how music as an 'object' of study has transformed historically, aesthetically and contextually
LO2. explain, in essays, how the understanding of different musical practices is underpinned by various academic and/or socio-cultural developments
LO3. by employing diverse methods to comprehending music, students will be able to deal intellectually not just with music they already ‘know’ but also with music they have yet to encounter

Graduate qualities

The graduate qualities are the qualities and skills that all University of Sydney graduates must demonstrate on successful completion of an award course. As a future Sydney graduate, the set of qualities have been designed to equip you for the contemporary world.

GQ1	Depth of disciplinary expertise Deep disciplinary expertise is the ability to integrate and rigorously apply knowledge, understanding and skills of a recognised discipline defined by scholarly activity, as well as familiarity with evolving practice of the discipline.
GQ2	Critical thinking and problem solving Critical thinking and problem solving are the questioning of ideas, evidence and assumptions in order to propose and evaluate hypotheses or alternative arguments before formulating a conclusion or a solution to an identified problem.
GQ3	Oral and written communication Effective communication, in both oral and written form, is the clear exchange of meaning in a manner that is appropriate to audience and context.
GQ4	Information and digital literacy Information and digital literacy is the ability to locate, interpret, evaluate, manage, adapt, integrate, create and convey information using appropriate resources, tools and strategies.
GQ5	Inventiveness Generating novel ideas and solutions.
GQ6	Cultural competence Cultural Competence is the ability to actively, ethically, respectfully, and successfully engage across and between cultures. In the Australian context, this includes and celebrates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, knowledge systems, and a mature understanding of contemporary issues.
GQ7	Interdisciplinary effectiveness Interdisciplinary effectiveness is the integration and synthesis of multiple viewpoints and practices, working effectively across disciplinary boundaries.
GQ8	Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity An integrated professional, ethical and personal identity is understanding the interaction between one’s personal and professional selves in an ethical context.
GQ9	Influence Engaging others in a process, idea or vision.

Outcome map

Learning outcomes	Graduate qualities
Learning outcomes

Responding to student feedback

This section outlines changes made to this unit following staff and student reviews.

This unit of study has been reworked with a new unit of study coordinator.

Disclaimer

The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units, including where there are low enrolment numbers.

To help you understand common terms that we use at the University, we offer an online glossary.

Current students

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect

Current students

MUSC3699: Understanding Music: Modes of Hearing

Semester 2, 2023 [Normal day] - Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Overview

Overview

Unit details and rules

Teaching staff

Assessment

Assessment

Assessment summary

Assessment criteria

Late submission

Academic integrity

Learning support

Learning support

Simple extensions

Special consideration

Using AI responsibly

Weekly schedule

Weekly schedule

Attendance and class requirements

Study commitment

Required readings

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes

Graduate qualities

Outcome map

Responding to student feedback

Responding to student feedback

Disclaimer

On this page

Useful links

Media

Student links

About us

Connect