This module will explore how music performance relates to other forms of performance. Music performance will be set in context as part of a wider phenomenon of performance in everyday life.
Module will run
Occurrence
Teaching period
A
Autumn Term 2022-23
Module aims
This module will explore how music performance is part of a wider phenomenon of performance in everyday life. It will draw on theories that originated outside musicology, and will focus on key ideas from performance studies, a discipline that grew out of a combination of theatre studies and anthropology. Selected theatre theory will also be examined and applied to performances involving music. In this way, students will be encouraged to
consider performance from new angles
think about the wider social contexts of music performance
examine their own modes of performance critically
Module learning outcomes
On completion of the module, all students should
understand how music studies can intersect with interdisciplinary performance theory
demonstrate familiarity with a number of performance studies theories
have acquired the knowledge to apply performance theory to music
have gained the critical distance necessary to reflect on their own performance of music
In their independent work,
second-year students should demonstrate B1-6
Indicative assessment
Task
Length
% of module mark
Essay/coursework Essay 4000 words
N/A
100
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
Task
Length
% of module mark
Essay/coursework Essay 4000 words
N/A
100
Module feedback
Feedback to student no later than 20 working days from submission of assessment.
Indicative reading
Schechner, Richard. Performance Studies: An Introduction. London and New York: Routledge, 2002.
Cook, Nicholas. 'Between Process and Product: Music and/as Performance', Music Theory Online 7/2 (April 2001). <>
Auslander, Philip. 'Musical Personae', The Drama Review 50/1 (Spring 2006), 100 119.
Auslander, Philip. Liveness. Performance in a Mediatized Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.
Davis, Tracy C. The Cambridge Companion to Performance Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Counsell, Colin and Laurie Wolf, eds. Performance Analysis. Abingdon and New York: Routledge, 2001.