MU1229: The History of Musical Instruments

School Cardiff School of Music
Department Code MUSIC
Module Code MU1229
External Subject Code 100664
Number of Credits 10
Level L4
Language of Delivery English
Module Leader Dr Louis Johnson
Semester Spring Semester
Academic Year 2013/4

Outline Description of Module

This module aims to

  • introduce students to the history, design, construction and development of selected keyboard, stringed, woodwind and brass instrumentsfrom their origins to the present day;
  • foster an understanding of how technological, musical, cultural and social factors have influenced instrumental construction and performance through history;
  • demonstrate how the development of musical instruments intersects with changes in musical style, performance techniques, taste and expression;
  • introduce students to the collection of reproduction historical instruments housed in the School’s Centre for Research into Historically Informed Performance;
  • prepare students for the study of modules in Performance Practice in Years 2 and 3 of the School’s undergraduate degree programmes, and to enhance the student experience of learning based on research-led teaching.

 

On completion of the module a student should be able to

  • chart important organological developments within particular families of instruments;
  • distinguish the key technological, musical, cultural and social factors that have influenced the development of musical instruments;
  • show an understanding of the relationship between organology, musical style and the technical and aesthetic aspects of musical performance;
  • demonstrate the ability to gather and assimilate information through exploration of texts and repertory, practical experimentation and active participation in discussion;
  • articulate a personal, critical and/or creative stance in relation to relevant academic arguments.

How the module will be delivered

Teaching on this module takes the form of ten 50-minute lectures/demonstrations/workshops, with some involving visiting specialists as speakers. Lectures are used to disseminate the fundamental information about the topic, including contextual matters. Prepared handouts and/or items available in electronic format on Learning Central form an integral part of the teaching and learning materials.

Students spend additional time in private reading, listening and score study as an important element of their independent learning.

Skills that will be practised and developed

Discipline-specific (including practical) skills

The ability to

  • assimilate relevant primary and secondary source materials and relate their theoretical and aesthetic insights to organology and the practice of performance;
  • pursue independent musicological enquiry;
  • demonstrate an understanding of the interrelationship of analytical and contextual aspects of historical study in music;
  • demonstrate an elementary level of musical, bibliographical and textual literacy.

Generic skills

The ability to

  • absorb concepts, build upon them and communicate the resultant synthesis accurately, convincingly and imaginatively;
  • demonstrate initiative, critical self-awareness, transferable research and analytical skills, organisation of material and personal time-management;
  • show a thorough and systematic approach to bringing coursework assignments to their conclusion.

How the module will be assessed

 

Type of assessment

 

%

Contribution

Title

Duration
(if applicable)

Approx. date of Assessment

Summative assessment

40

Assignment

 

Week 9 (Spring)

Summative assessment

60

Project

 

Guided study week (May)

The potential for reassessment in this module

Either summative assessment can be retaken in the resit period subject to the approval of the Undergraduate Examination Board.

Assessment Breakdown

Type % Title Duration(hrs)
Written Assessment 40 The History Of Musical Instruments - Written Assessment N/A
Written Assessment 60 The History Of Musical Instruments - Examination Spring N/A

Syllabus content

The history, design, construction and development of keyboard, stringed, woodwind and  brass instruments from their origins to the present day, incorporating, such broader questions as

  • The principal source materials for the study of organology, including instrumental treatises, iconography, surviving instruments, instrument collections, and patents
  • The impact of new technologies on instrument design
  • National and regional variations (and eventual standardisation) in the design of certain instruments
  • The influence of stylistic change on instrumental development, or vice-versa

  • Sociological and technological influences on the development of instruments
  • Modern technological advances and the broadened scope of organological investigation

Essential Reading and Resource List

Baines, Anthony, Brass Instruments: Their History and Development(London: Faber, 1980)

———,Woodwind Instruments and their History, 3rd edn (New York: Dover, 1991)

——— (ed.), Musical Instruments through the Ages (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1961)

Campbell, Donald Murray, Greated, Clive and Myers, Arnold, Musical Instruments: History, Technology, and Performance of Instruments of Western Music (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003)

Donington, Robert, Music and its Instruments (London: Methuen, 1982)

Herbert, Trevor and Wallace, John (eds), The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997)

Powell, Ardal, The Flute (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2002)

Rowland, David (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Piano (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Sadie, Stanley (ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, 3 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1984)

Stowell, Robin (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Violin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992)


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