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MUS21000

Academic Year 2026/2027

Performing Process (MUS21000)

Subject:
Music
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Music
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Sean L Clancy
Trimester:
Autumn
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module examines collaborative creative performances from the 1960s to the present day. Using performative work created by the Fluxus group as a starting point, the module documents practice that foreground the process of creation over the outcome. A variety of different artforms are discussed including music, performance art, concrete poetry, and dance to illustrate creative approaches to performing a process. Students are equipped with the tools to contextualise their work in a broader continuum; to develop artistic material from very little; to sustain an idea; to translate from one medium to another; and to bring different disciplines together in a coherent performance. Crucially, through the critical feedback sessions in the second half of each class, students are thought the tools to peer critique creative practice, which can be difficult when creative work is so personal.
The outcome of the module is for students to create a collaborative group piece of creative performance preceded by a formative commentary discussing one or more of the artforms explored in class. The module is supported by lectures, practical workshops, and tutorials utilising the trapdoor performance space. The module is available to all with an open mind regardless of their experience in creative practice or performance.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this module students should be able to:
- demonstrate a contextual knowledge of experimental performance practices from the 1960s to the present day.
- deploy with precision the creative techniques and characteristics of multidisciplinary performance.
- perform according to the specific requirements of the genre.
- work collaboratively, create, and problem-solve as a team.

Indicative Module Content:

Week I: Introduction - Walking pieces, Text and Instructive Scores // Group Feedback
Week II: Fluxus // Group Feedback
Week III: Early Minimalism // Group Feedback
Week IV: Performance Art // Group Feedback
Week V: Concrete Poetry // Group Feedback
Week VI: Contemporary Dance // Group Feedback
Week VII: Workshop I // Group Feedback
Week VIII: Workshop II // Group Feedback
Week IX: Workshop III // Group Feedback
Week X Workshop IV // Group Feedback
Week XI: Dress Rehearsal // Group Feedback
Week XII: Final Performance

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. 
Learning Competency Additional Information Level

Collaboration

 The ability to learn from others; to understand and respect the needs, perspectives and actions of others (empathy); to understand, relate to and be sensitive to others (empathic leadership); to deal with conflicts in a group; and to facilitate collaborative and participatory problem solving. Competent

Critical Thinking

 The ability to question norms, practices and opinions; to reflect on one’s own values, perceptions and actions. Competent

Systems Thinking

 The ability to recognize and understand relationships; to analyse complex systems; to think of how systems are embedded within different domains and different scales; and to deal with uncertainty. Competent

Self-awareness

 The ability to reflect on one’s own role in the local community and (global) society; to continually evaluate and further motivate one’s actions; and to deal with one’s feelings and desires. Competent

Normative

 The ability to understand and reflect on the norms and values that underlie one’s actions; and to negotiate values, principles, goals, and targets, in a context of conflicts of interest and trade-offs, uncertain knowledge and contradictions. Competent

Anticipatory

 The ability to understand and evaluate multiple scenarios for the future – possible, probable and desirable; to create one’s own visions for the future; to apply the precautionary principle; to assess the consequences of actions; and to deal with risks and changes. Competent

Wellbeing

 Wellbeing is having the resources and skills to meet life's challenges, including attributes such as personal development skills, resilience, stress management, strengths, lifestyle skills, nutrition, physical activity, sleep, alcohol/substance use, academic skills, time management, goal setting, interpersonal skills, group work, communication. Competent

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:
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

6
Tutorial

12
Practical

6
Project Supervision

12
Autonomous Student Learning

75
Total

111

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
In-person lectures (1 hour per week first half of trimester)
Face-to-face group tutorial (1 hour per week directly following lecture - critical feedback session)
Face-to-face in-class studio group work (second half of trimester)
self-directed group practice leading up to the final assessment

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Participation in Learning Activities: Participate in lectures, group feedback, and workshops by engaging in weekly group discussions, and collaborative workshops from week 6 onwards. Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 8, Week 9, Week 10, Week 11, Week 12 Graded No
15
 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Write an essay of between 1500-2000 words discussing one of the artforms explored in class. The essay should include references to existing discourse and incorporate ideas from group feedback. Week 7 Graded No
25
 No
Group Work Assignment: Devise and perform a piece of collaborative multidisciplinary work that utilises techniques and methods discussed in class. Week 12 Graded No
60
 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

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
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

written/annotated feedback through the VLE on students' commentaries In-class feedback on work-in-progress ahead of final group performance, and written/annotated feedback through the VLE on final performance.

ARCHEY, Karen & HEATHFIELD, Adrian (Eds.), Marina Abramović [RA Catalogue] (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2023)

AREFORD, David (Ed), Locating Sol LeWitt (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2021)

BERGER, John, Ways of Seeing (London: Penguin, 2008)

BISERNA, Elena, Walking from Scores (Dijon: Les Presses du Reel, 2022)

BISHOP, Claire Disordered Attention: How We Look at Art and Performance Today (London: Verso, 2024)

BURROWS, Jonathan, A Choreographer’s Handbook. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2010)

CAGE, John, Silence (London: Marion Boyars, 1968)

CONRAD, Tony Writings (New York: Primary Information, 2019)

GALLOPE, Michael; HARREN, Natilee; HICKS, John, The Scores Project: Essays on Experimental Notation in Music, Art, Poetry, and Dance, 1950-1975 (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2025)

GOLDBERG, RoseLee, Performance Art: from Futurism to the Present (London: Thames & Hudson, 2001)

GOLDBERG, RoseLee Performance Now: Live Art for the 21st - Century (London: Thames & Hudson, 2018)

GOTTSCHALK, Jennie, Experimental Music Since 1970 (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016)

HARREN, Natilee, Fluxus Forms: Scores, Multiples, and the Eternal Network (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020)

JOHNSTONE, Stephen The Everyday (London: Whitechapel Art Gallery, 2008)

LELY, John & SAUNDERS, James, Word Event: Perspectives on Verbal Notation (London: Bloomsbury, 2012)

LEWIS, George, A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2009)

LEWITT, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art (New York: Artforum, 5:10 Summer 1967)

LEWITT, Sol, Sentences on Conceptual Art (New York: 0-9, issue 5, 5 January 1969)

LUCIER, Alvin, Music 109: Notes on Experimental Music (Middletown CT, Wesleyan University Press, 2012)

LUCIER, Alvin, Eight lectures on experimental music (Middletown CT, Wesleyan University Press, 2018)

NYMAN, Michael, Experimental Music: Cage and Beyond (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974)

OLIVEROS, Pauline, Deep Listening: A Composer's Sound Practice (iUniverse, 2005)

ONO, Yoko, Grapefruit (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000)

PACKER, Renée Levine & LEACH, Mary Jane, Gay Guerrilla, Julius Eastman and his Music (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2015)

PERLOFF, Nancy, Concrete Poetry: A 21st-Century Anthology (London: Reaktion Books, 2021)

POPE L. William, Notes on Crawling Piece (New York: Arts Journal, Vol 56, No. 4, 1997)

POPE L. William, Canary in the Coal Mine (New York: Arts Journal, Vol 70, No. 3, 2011)

POPE L. William, My Kingdom for a Title (New York: Mitchell-Innes & Nash and New Documents, 2021)

POTTER, Keith, Four Musical Minimalists (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002)

PRIEST, Eldritch, Boring Formless Nonsense: Experimental Music and the Aesthetics of Failure (London: Bloomsbury, 2013)

RECKITT, Helena & PHELAN, Peggy, Art and Feminism (London: Phaidon, 2001)

REICH, Steve, Writings about Music: 1965-2000 (New York: OUP, 2002) [Particularly music as a gradual process]

SPENCER, Catherine Beyond the Happening: Performance art and the Politics of Communication (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2020)

SWENSON, Kirsten Irrational Judgments: Eva Hesse, Sol Lewitt, and 1960s New York (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015)

TENNEY, James, From Scratch: Writings in Music Theory (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2019)

WOOD, Catherine: Performance in Contemporary Art, (London: Tate Publishing, 2022)

ZIMMERMANN, Walter, Desert Plants, Conversations with 23 American Musicians (Cologne, MusikTexte, 2020)

It's also useful to read articles in periodicals such as Journal of Music, Tempo, Perspectives of New Music, MusikTexte, Art Journal

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Autumn Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 Wed 12:00 - 13:50
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