Music and East Asian Studies BA

Core modules (80 credits):

Digital Skills for Music

The module aims to develop your confidence and technical expertise with a range of technologies of value to academic and professional practice. Lectures will introduce fundamental principles and specific technologies for use in researching, creating and producing music. These technologies will then be applied in the production of a collaborative project, helping students to develop team work and interpersonal skills that will serve them in subsequent levels of study and professional practice.

Indicative areas of study include audio recording and production, sound design, computational literacy, data analysis, the ethics of artificial intelligence, effective group work, research management and productivity.

20 credits

History of Western Music

This module considers key moments in the history of Western music from the 1500s to the present day. Taking individual composers and works, it aims to introduce students to different approaches to the study of music history, the development of particular musical genres, and the impact of cultural, historical and geographical context on composers. In addition, the module will consider ways of writing about music, and the use of primary and secondary sources for informing critical discussions of the subject.

20 credits

Key Questions in East Asian Studies

This module introduces students to the study of East Asia as a region by looking at key questions and debates that have shaped the academic study of the region as a whole. The module introduces these questions and debates through case studies of key events, phenomena, or transformations across pre-modern and modern periods. As an introductory module, students will also learn how academic knowledge is produced, how questions are formed and how scholars form their own answers to these questions. Across the academic year, students will gradually build up their core academic skills and learn to see themselves as not just summarising academic arguments but developing their own.

20 credits

Inventing East Asian Traditions

This module introduces students to the critical study of East Asian traditions. While the region is often touted for its ancient cultures, practices, and rituals, many of these have been carefully represented, invented, or repackaged in contemporary times for a variety of purposes. Students will learn to critically examine the histories and representations of famous traditions such as Japanese samurai, Korean corporate hierarchy and Chinese philosophy. The module will introduce core academic works from scholars across the region that reveal the complicated backgrounds of these traditions. Understanding these dynamics students will have a more robust understanding of the relationship between tradition, modernity, and the modern nation. The module will also allow students to develop their own projects using group-work through which students will build core media skills in addition.

20 credits

Optional modules (20 credits from this list):

Composition

In this module you will develop your composition skills, practice writing music in staff notation, and learn to write effectively for different instrumental and vocal forces. Drawing on the models of a diverse range of classical composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, we will focus on techniques for writing inventive melodies and rhythms, and employing wide-ranging approaches to harmony. The module aims to give you a foundation in composition and increase your confidence in preparation for further study.

20 credits

Popular Music Studies

This module provides an introduction to the academic study of popular music. You will explore key approaches to studying popular music in its socio-cultural contexts, investigating major issues and debates. Lecture materials and in-class tasks will engage with approaches to the analysis of popular music and media, issues of representation, authenticity, identity, technology and industry. The module is delivered via lectures and group tasks to encourage interaction and collaboration between students. Assessments are designed to allow you to apply key analytical and theoretical frameworks to music of your own choosing, testing both your individual skills and knowledge alongside group work and collaboration.

20 credits

Music in a Global Context

Whatever kind of music study you decide to specialise in, you'll do it better if you see it in the context of music as a phenomenon common to all humanity. You'll understand what's different about your own chosen field but also how the music you love derives from diverse cultural sources.In this module we examine how any music uses specific ways of organising sound to serve particular cultural purposes. You'll learn to recognise and describe diverse musical styles, research them through scholarly sources, present an analysis using appropriate audio-visual technology, and take control of the transferable skills you're developing.

20 credits

Performance

In this module you will develop the musical and intellectual abilities appropriate to solo performance. The theoretical background is considered, focusing on the aural and analytical skills essential to performance at an advanced level. An awareness of style and interpretation, as well as effective preparation and communication are built into teaching. You will receive one to one tuition in addition to attending whole class performance lectures.

20 credits

Music Analysis

This module aims to introduce, develop and refine ways of thinking, listening and writing about western music.  You will learn to listen to and analyze harmonic, tonal, motivic, thematic, melodic, rhythmic, textural and formal features of a range of western music genres, such as Common Practice harmonic principles, Medieval counterpoint, jazz standards and rock'n'roll.  By using analytical techniques to reveal distinctive structural characteristics across multiple styles of music, this module not only prepares you for western-music-based modules at FHEQ levels 5 and 6  but also provides new models of approaching music that can be applied in wider creative and empirical contexts.

20 credits

Psychological Foundations of Music

Music Psychology offers insights, ways of thinking, reflective tools and methods to understand the foundations of musical behaviour, learning and thought. This module offers the foundation to students to be able to engage with the literature, knowledge and underpinning techniques in this area. Learning about psychology of music will help you engage with some of the most provocative questions about musicality, such as what enables our capacity for music, why we respond emotionally to music, whether music makes us smarter, and what underlies therapeutic applications of music for health and wellbeing?

20 credits

Optional modules (20 credits from this list):

Korean for Non-Specialists 1

This module aims to provide an introduction to the Korean Language for students with no previous knowledge. The emphasis is on achieving a basic level of communication in all four language skills; listening, speaking, reading and writing, which will lay the foundation for further study through classroom practice and self-directed learning. The module also aims to stimulate students' interest in Korea and Korean society by being aware of some of the major social and cultural characteristics of modern Korea and Korean culture.

20 credits

Japanese for Non-Specialists 1

This module aims to enable students with no prior knowledge of Japanese to acquire practical skills in spoken and written Japanese, with the focus placed on elementary structures and core phrases for basic daily communication in university settings.. Japanese script (Hiragana and Katakana) will be introduced at the start and consolidated. The module also introduces some Chinese characters (about 68 Kanji). Through classroom activities, coursework and self-directed learning, the module also aims to develop students' cultural agility and confidence to use the language in real communication.

20 credits

Chinese for Non-Specialists 1

This module aims to enable students with no prior knowledge of Mandarin Chinese to acquire basic practical language skills. With an emphasis on communicative abilities, all four language skills - listening, reading, speaking and writing - are developed through classroom practice and self-directed learning.

20 credits

Thinking Cross-culturally in East Asian studies

This module is designed to introduce students to the benefits of thinking cross-culturally. It will examine transnational and cross-cultural approaches that compare, contrast and connect different contexts across East Asia. Through a series of guided readings and lectures, students will be encouraged to think beyond a single-country approach, learning concepts, approaches and skills that are key to a regional understanding of East Asian studies.

20 credits

Arts, History  and Culture in China, Japan and Korea

This module introduces China, Japan, and Korea through their entangled histories, arts, and cultural practices. By engaging with the sources and subjects that animate these topics we expose students to the diverse cultural topographies of East Asia. Along the way, the module underscores the complexity and analytical potential of the humanities in an East Asian context.

The course is built around three core themes: people, places, and practices. Each of these topics provide a framework to study the region by foregrounding how human communities are formed, shaped by their environments, and transformed through cultural, intellectual, and economic patterns. The study of people invites questions pertaining to identity, kinship, and social organization. The topic of place encourages reflection on geography, mobility, and historical memory. Finally, practices highlight the ways in which belief systems, artistic expression, and intellectual traditions alter or persevere. These three themes will constitute the three distinct sections that make up the course. Each section will progress through time, from an ancient or premodern starting point up to the contemporary moment. In charting this course, the module will allow our discussion to extend from a distant past to the present day.

This module is as much an introduction to the ways we study East Asia as it is a class on the region itself. Towards this end, we focus on core skills within the humanities. These include critical reading of texts, images, and films; locating and assessing primary and secondary sources; comparative research across disciplines; and analytical writing. Students will be encouraged to identify areas of difference, overlap, and transformation across East Asian traditions while also reflecting on broader scholarly tools and methods. By the end of the module, students will not only have a foundational understanding of East Asian cultures and histories but also a working knowledge of the interpretative approaches that define the humanities as a field.

20 credits

Politics, Economy and Society in China, Japan and Korea

East Asian societies today are shaped by rapid economic, social and political change. This module introduces students to social science approaches to engaging with these changes. Taking a critical and diverse approach to how we understand Chinese, Japanese and Korean contexts, students will explore how political, economic and social processes affect the lives of everyday people in the region. Through thematic research-led case studies, students will develop a critical understanding of how political, social and economic systems in East Asia operate, while developing foundational skills necessary for the remainder of the degree and beyond.

20 credits