Undergraduate

From composition to performance: musicians at work

On this page

• What you will study
• Entry
• If you have a disability or additional requirement
• Study materials
• Teaching and assessment
• Students also studied
• Future availability

This theme-based course draws on a wide variety of musical traditions and periods, including western art music of the last 500 years, jazz, popular and film music, and music of non-western traditions. You’ll examine the processes by which music is formed and transmitted – composition, improvisation, performance, editing, and publication – and social and historical factors that shape those processes. You need appropriate knowledge of harmony, form and score-reading before you start the course; these will enable you to develop technical skills in tasks such as transcribing and editing music. The assessed essays require evaluation of historical and contemporary sources, listening to music and engaging with musical controversies and debates.

Course facts

Register for the course

This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees and financial support may vary by country.

What you will study

Much of the music in this course comes from the western art tradition, commonly referred to as the ‘classical’ repertoire, but you will also be studying a good deal of music from outside that tradition, such as popular music, jazz, film music, and music from cultures other than those of western Europe and North America.

You will investigate:

• processes by which music comes into being and is transmitted: composition, improvisation, performance, editing and publication
• social factors that shape those processes (such as why orchestras developed as they did)
• the nature of the historical evidence concerning those processes (for example, how do we find out how musicians improvised before the advent of modern recording technology?)
• how far modern musicians and audiences can and want to interact with the past: what exactly is the modern ‘authentic’ performance movement trying to do?

Each of these themes appears to a greater or lesser extent in most of the blocks that make up the course. At the beginning of each block you will find an introduction explaining how its material relates to the course as a whole, and there are block conclusions to summarise the main issues examined. There are five blocks:.

The Composer in Context This block investigates why composers compose in certain ways, depending on the social and economic contexts in which they are writing. The subject matter includes musicians from Africa, South America and South Asia; composers of the English Reformation; Monteverdi; some composers for the early piano; Schumann, Chopin, Berlioz, Mahler, Debussy, Schoenberg and others.

What is Composition? A wide variety of compositional techniques is examined, looking at the working methods of Gluck, Beethoven and Elgar, as well as musicians outside the western art tradition: film composers; blues, rock and jazz musicians; and Indian and Indonesian musicians. Historical and modern improvisation techniques are also investigated.

Notation and editing This block begins with the development of notation and music printing. Historical editing techniques are described, and then the work of the modern editor is examined at length, in preparation for an assignment in which you edit music yourself.

Performance The history of instruments and their performance is traced by means of studies of keyboard, stringed, wind and brass instruments. The development of solo singing, choirs and orchestras is also discussed, as are certain elements of jazz and popular music performance, and there is a study of historical recordings.

Reception The history of a musical work does not end with its first performance. The audience’s response will affect the way in which the work is subsequently regarded and may lead to changes in a single work or in a whole tradition. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony; so-called World Music; and early twentieth-century European avant-garde music all feature here.

Entry

AA302 is a Level 3 course. Level 3 courses build on study skills and subject knowledge acquired from previous studies at Levels 1 and 2. They are intended only for students with recent experience of higher education in a related subject, preferably at the OU.

The reading and writing skills developed in The arts past and present (AA100) and From Enlightenment to Romanticism c.1780-1830 (A207) would be ideal preparation for this course.

This course requires a knowledge of harmony, form and score reading at the level of our Level 2 music courses. You are strongly advised to study Inside music (A224), before taking AA302, unless you have already studied the discontinued course A214.   

Your regional or national centre will be able to tell you where you can see reference copies of the Level 1 and 2 study materials, or you can buy selected materials from Open University Worldwide Ltd.

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.

Preparatory work

You would be well advised to listen to – and if possible consult – scores of a broad range of the western music repertoire from about 1500 to the present. Try also to listen to music from other cultures, and to familiarise yourself with some of the different strands in popular music of the twentieth century.

If you have a disability or additional requirement

Block 4, Performance, includes comparative listening activities which may be very challenging for students with hearing impairments. Alternatives to tutor-marked assignments which include listening exercises may be provided where there is evidence of a need for this based on a student’s additional requirements. If you have concerns about accessing any elements please contact a learning advisor in your region before enrolling on this course.

Written transcripts of any audio components and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader and where applicable: musical notation and mathematical, scientific, and foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.

If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publication Meeting Your Needs.

You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.

Study materials

What's included

Course books, other printed materials, DVDs, audio CDs.

You will need

Television, DVD player, CD player, manuscript paper. A keyboard is not essential, but you might find it helpful to have the use of one.

Computing requirements

This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.

You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.

Teaching and assessment

Support from your tutor

You will have a tutor who will help you with the study material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where your tutorials are held will depend on the distribution of students taking the course.  Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.

Assessment

The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.

You can choose whether to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) on paper or online through the eTMA system. You may want to use the eTMA system for some of your assignments but submit on paper for others. This is entirely your choice.

One of the TMAs is double-weighted. You must be able to include notated music examples with your electronically submitted work.

Students also studied

Students who studied this course also studied at some time:

• The technology of music (TA212)
• Inside music (A224)
• The arts past and present (AA100)
• Start listening to music (A179)
• From Enlightenment to Romanticism c.1780-1830 (A207)

Future availability

The details given here are for the course that starts in October 2012. We expect it to be available once a year.

Fees 2012

See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.

Study explained

Financial support

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Study explained

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