MUS20080

Learning Outcomes:

This course aims to develop students’ ability to listen critically, analyse music and sound across diverse cultural contexts, and understand sonic practices as forms of knowledge, social relation, cultural expression, and global circulation.
Upon Successful completion of this module, students will be able to:
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of diverse sonic concepts and musical traditions covered in the course.
• Differentiate between different styles and traditions of music, identifying the elements, instruments, and processes in the musics covered in this course.
• Listen analytically to a variety of musics in different cultural contexts globally.
• Apply and integrate various sound and music concepts in your writing and analysis.

Indicative Module Content:

UNESCO highlights a set of key competencies that support individuals in their development and support society in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UCD has adapted these competencies and is combining them with others to form a general framework of learning competencies. This module will help you develop the competencies below to the levels specified. 

The United Nations identified seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as core to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and UCD contributes in general to SDG 4 Quality Education. Further SDGs explored within this module if relevant are listed below. A scale of 1 - 5 indicates the extent to which the SDG is covered.


 

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

Teaching and learning in this course will combine lectures, seminars, guided listening, group discussion, field-based observation, peer review, and reflective practice. Lectures will introduce students to key concepts in ethnomusicology and sound studies, while seminars and group discussions will allow students to apply these concepts to specific musical traditions, sound practices, recordings, performances, and cultural contexts.
A central feature of the course will be active and analytical listening. Students will participate in weekly listening labs where they engage with musical examples, soundscapes, audiovisual materials, and digital media. These sessions will develop students’ ability to describe, compare, interpret, and critically analyze music and sound. Playlists will also be used to help students think about the circulation, mediation, and representation of sonic cultures.
The course will also use practice-based and experiential learning. Students will complete short field observations, soundwalks, and listening reflections. These activities are designed to help students understand ethnomusicology and sound studies as methods of inquiry, rather than only as bodies of content.
Peer learning will be encouraged through some group work, informal presentations, discussion forums, and peer review of project ideas. Students will have opportunities to share listening examples, present developing research questions, and receive feedback from both the lecturer and classmates. Reflection will be integrated throughout the course so that students can consider their own listening positions, cultural assumptions, and analytical choices.
Overall, the course uses a blended approach that combines conceptual instruction with close listening, collaborative discussion, field-based learning, and creative or digital modes of analysis.

Students may use AI only for limited support in assessment planning and technical review. This includes interpreting the assessment prompt, brainstorming initial ideas, scoping possible research directions, outlining, checking spelling, grammar, and punctuation, and aligning a bibliography or Works Cited with a required citation style. AI must not be used to generate, rewrite, or refine the substantive content, argument, analysis, fieldwork interpretation, or critical discussion of the assessment; the main intellectual work must be authored by the student. Any use of AI must be acknowledged in a brief AI Use Statement included at the end of the assessment, specifying what tool was used, for what purpose, and exactly where in the assignment it was used, for example: “AI was used to check grammar in the introduction” or “AI was used to format the Works Cited page in MLA style.” Students are responsible for checking the accuracy of any AI-assisted output and remain fully accountable for the final submitted work.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment Feedback individually to students, post-assessment Group/class feedback, post-assessment Peer review activities Self-assessment activities

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Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.