IRFL30090 Collectors of Song and Music

Academic Year 2022/2023

This module explores the documentation of the instrumental music and song of Ireland, its diasporas and its neighbours. From passing on a song at the hearthside to touring musicians on international stages, this module will focus on selected melodies and song texts as maintained, performed and transformed by generations of singers and musicians. Together we will explore collectors’ sustained efforts to document local aesthetic criteria, social functions and modes of transmission alongside challenges of documentation and subsequent (re)presentation. Our learning in the course will highlight the dynamic relationship between performers and collectors through their collaborative undertakings. Our discussions will emphasise the diverse approaches and motives toward the documentation, curation and performance in the staging of these traditions by tracing personal networks in extant field diaries and resulting recordings. Students will cultivate an ability to reflexively approach questions of style, variation, authenticity and accuracy of representation, from performances captured in the grooves of a wax cylinder to sessions streamed live on social media. Together we will hone our skills at deep listening, hearing what these performances have to tell us about the dynamism of tradition. Ultimately, we will emphasize how these performances speak to us by situating performers, collectors and audiences alike in terms of time, space, language and identity.


Students will need a laptop and Wifi connection to participate fully in this module.

Show/hide contentOpenClose All

Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module, students should be able to:
• Demonstrate in oral and written form an understanding of, and a familiarity with, various forms of instrumental music and song in Ireland, among its neighbours as well as the diaspora;
• Recognize the contributions of individual performers and collectors of music and song from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century;
• Identify and define specific musical genres and styles from both emic and etic perspectives
• Describe the relevance and function of song and music within particular social contexts; Compare the role of music and song as dynamic expressions of Irish identity
• Trace the historical transformation of performances alongside the development of ethnographic methods in collecting traditional music and song in Ireland and beyond;
• Assess and critique the contribution and authenticity of the work of Irish collectors at home and internationally alongside their relationship with international collaborators in Ireland and abroad;
• Communicate personal knowledge of the impacts of linguistic, cultural and social contexts upon the performance and collection of music and song through self-reflective lenses.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

22
Specified Learning Activities

38
Autonomous Student Learning

40
Total

100
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Teaching in the module is geared towards the promotion of a spirit of enquiry among students and towards encouraging them to develop a reflective approach to their studies. Teaching is carried out in classroom-based lectures. Assessment takes the form of (an) in-semester assignment(s) and an end-of-semester open-book guided assessment. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Assignment: Performance Reflections ‘Field’ Diary Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

15
Essay: 1000 word essay Unspecified n/a Graded No

15
Essay: 1500 word essay. Week 11 n/a Graded No

35
Examination: Guided Final-Assessment 2 hour End of Trimester Exam Yes Graded No

35

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback in this module is centred around in-semester continuous assessment components, enabling students to draw on feedback provided for the earlier in-semester component to improve their performance in the later in-semester component.

Name Role
Dr Tiber Falzett Lecturer / Co-Lecturer