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MUS41050

Academic Year 2024/2025

Sounding Ireland Onscreen (MUS41050)

Subject:
Music
College:
Arts & Humanities
School:
Music
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Laura Anderson
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

Ireland appears onscreen in a range of guises, frequently romanticised and sometimes critiqued. Moving chronologically from the silent film era to the present day, this course considers a range of musical approaches by which Ireland has been ‘sounded’ on the screen. The course will present students with analytical tools and theoretical perspectives from musicology and film studies to interpret music and sound design in audio-visual media. These approaches will be employed in the study of selected case studies.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Explain and evaluate important theoretical concepts related to music, sound, and the moving image.
- Interrogate specific examples using the technical terminology of film music studies.
- Describe different music and the moving image practices and aesthetics in relation to aspects of Irish culture and issues of national identity.
- Discuss key aesthetic trends, practices, and examples of media music from different periods and genres of film and television programme, made in Ireland or representing Ireland.
- Recognise the contribution of a range of film music composers and musically-minded directors in the representation of Ireland onscreen.

Having completed the course, students will also have improved their skills in reading analytical texts, appraising scholarly views, offering synthetic readings of scholarly disagreements, conducting academic research, and communicating their findings to others (both in the form of essays and presentations).

Indicative Module Content:

Week 1: Silent film music practices with reference to Ireland and early sound film
Week 2: Classic Hollywood, Ireland, and Irish-American Connections
Week 3: Romanticising, Mythologising, Politicising Irishness
Week 4: Presentations
Week 5: Recent Developments
Week 6: Music and Sound for Documentary Film

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

42

Autonomous Student Learning

46

Lectures

12

Total

100


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Lectures.
Critical engagement with scholarship and audio-visual case studies.
Task-based learning.
Discussions in class.

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
Assignment(Including Essay): Written essay to be submitted following completion of the module. Week 6 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
60
No
Individual Project: Individual presentation task with written report to be submitted during trimester. Week 4 Standard conversion grade scale 40% No
40
No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn 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?

Not yet recorded.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 Wed 11:00 - 12:50