Aesthetics of Music (Level 3)

Code School Level Credits Semesters
MUSI3019 Music 3 20 Autumn UK
Code
MUSI3019
School
Music
Level
3
Credits
20
Semesters
Autumn UK

Summary

Discussions of music have a long-established history of engaging with philosophical issues, while music has often challenged and shaped philosophical thought. This module introduces the student to relationships between the two disciplines and examines some of the crucial issues at stake. The first half of the module will explore the foundations of modern aesthetics in the writings of enlightenment and nineteenth-century philosophers, including Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. The second half will explore key twentieth-century contributions from thinkers including Adorno, Barthes and Lydia Goehr. The module offers a variety of conceptual tools that will enable the student to develop critical and philosophical skills relevant for the historical and theoretical study of music.

Target Students

Available to all Year 3 students including Liberal Arts, exchange and subsidiary students. Students are unable to take this module if they have previously taken MUSI2015 Aesthetics of Music Level 2

Classes

One 1.5 hour lecture and one 2-hour seminar per week. Breakdown of hours: classes – 38.5 hours; individual study – 161.5 hours.

Assessment

Assessed by end of autumn semester

Educational Aims

To develop critical skills for understanding and writing about key issues related to music and philosophy and to broaden knowledge of this interdisciplinary area.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, the students should be familiar with the history and the methods of philosophical discussions about music and be able to apply critical and interpretative skills, and relate philosophical issues, to the field of music studies.

Conveners

View in Curriculum Catalogue
Last updated 07/01/2025.