Master of Arts in Music in Cultural History

Institution Liverpool Hope University
Method At the institution
Location Liverpool
Type Masters
Course fee By request

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Master of Arts in Music in Cultural History

Course description
The MA Music in Cultural History is a unique interdisciplinary postgraduate programme designed to explore relationships between the academic study of music (musicology) and cultural history: what can the study of music contribute to the writing of cultural history, and how can the work of cultural historians inform musicology?

Students develop understanding of the sources, theories, concepts and research methodologies appropriate to musicological investigation from the perspective of cultural history, and the issues and challenges that arise. They apply these understandings in the final stages of the programme to an extended research project leading to a dissertation on a negotiated topic.

Liverpool Hope University has a long tradition of facilitating interdisciplinary scholarship, and students on this programme have access to a wide array of expertise across the arts and humanities. Throughout the programme students are mentored in their choice of optional courses and in making connections between the different components of their studies, taking into account their developing interests, backgrounds and perspectives. Courses are delivered in a range of formats – interactive classes, tutorials, online materials, practical assignments – and lead to a variety of assessments. More broadly, students have the opportunity to participate in the vibrant musical and cultural life of the University, to acquire advanced transferable skills, and to develop their interests and ambitions towards postgraduate research (MPhil/PhD).

Postgraduate students at Hope enjoy unique opportunities for creative and intellectual development in a city steeped in music-making and the contemporary arts. From the Mersey Beat, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and two cathedral choirs, to the annual Mathew Street Festival , Irish Festival and Milapfest , Liverpool’s musical traditions provide focus, inspiration and a welcoming environment for further training.

This programme will appeal to those with interests in music and history, who want to encounter both familiar and unfamiliar repertoire from new perspectives, and who want to develop as confident and professional scholars with specialisms in the cultural history of music. The programme is broad in chronological and geographical scope, and engages with a wide spectrum of musics; but it has particular strengths in the period from 1750 to the present day, in archival research, and in the growing area of British music studies. There are also opportunities to participate in research conferences at Hope and overseas study tours to cities such as Berlin, Paris and Vienna.

Study Details / Module Information
Four taught modules comprise the core components of this programme:
- Theories of Culture and Identity (15 credits) – this provides induction into postgraduate study and research skills, and introduces key concepts and theories that inform musicological and cultural-historical scholarship, such as modernity, postmodernity, diaspora and globalization, feminism, postcolonialism and Marxism.
- Methods and Issues in Music and Cultural History (30 credits) – this is co-taught by a musicologist and a cultural historian. It explores aspects of historiography and the methodological challenges presented by the different sources available to the musicologist and cultural historian. It also equips students with an understanding of archival etiquette and techniques for orientation, facilitated by at least one archival field-trip. Classes alternate with tutorials, enabling the student to explore links and make connections between the different elements of the programme.
- Dissertation Preparation (Music in Cultural History) (15 credits) – this provides a structured approach to planning a large-scale research project, leading to submission of a dissertation proposal with appropriate methodological foundations and a survey of relevant sources. Input from the Writing Centre helps students to develop their writing and self-editing skills.
- Dissertation (Music in Cultural History) (60 credits) – early in the Dissertation Preparation course students will have agreed a research area with an allocated supervisor, which demonstrates the intersections of musicology and cultural history and is informed by the optional courses the student has followed during the programme.
In keeping with the interdisciplinarity of the programme, students take 60 credits of optional courses, of which 15-30 credits are taken from List B (non-Music). (NB: Negotiated Learning A cannot be taken with Negotiated Learning B.)

In consultation with the programme leader, students select optional taught courses from the following (subject to staff availability):

List A (Music):
- The Beatles in Context (30 credits)
- Music and the First World War (15 credits)
- Musical Source-Studies and Editing (15 credits)
- Negotiated Learning A (15 credits)
- Opera and Politics (30 credits)
- Perspectives on Music Since 1900 (30 credits)
List B (non-Music):
- African-American Literature (15 credits)
- American Modernism (15 credits)
- The Court of Charles I (15 credits) (available in 2011-12 only)
- Early Modern Popular Culture (15 credits)
- Ideas of Empire: Politics, Society and Culture (30 credits)
- Islam in Britain (15 credits)
- The Literature of the First World War: Gender, Class and Conflict (15 credits)
- Liverpool and the Atlantic (15 credits)
- The Missionary Movement from the West (15 credits) (subject to validation)
- Negotiated Learning B (15 credits)
- Religion and Migration (15 credits)
- Religion, Literature and Identities (15 credits)
- The Rise of the Novel (15 credits) (available in 2011-12 only)
- Studies in Christian Worship (15 credits)
- Theories of the Self (15 credits)
- Transatlantic Perspectives on Nation, Race and Identity (30 credits)
- Transcultural Contexts (15 credits)
- Translating the Renaissance: From Italy to England (15 credits)
Please Note:
1. The Postgraduate Certificate will be awarded on the successful completion of 60 credits, which will consist of:
- Theories of Culture and Identity (15 credits)
- Methods and Issues in Music and Cultural History (30 credits)
- One optional course from List A (15 credits)
2. The Postgraduate Diploma will be awarded on the successful completion of 120 credits, which will consist of the above plus:
- Dissertation Preparation (15 credits)
- One optional course from List A (15 or 30 credits)
- One optional course from List B (15 or 30 credits)