MusM Music (Performance Studies)

This course build on the knowledge and skills acquired in MUSC60071 Advanced Music Studies: Research Skills in the Digital Age. It introduces students to a range of skills, methodologies and theoretical perspectives pertinent to researching performance, applying them to personalized tasks relevant to their own interests. 

● to equip students with the essential core skills for researching music performance at Masters level 

● to introduce students to methods, theories and approaches relevant to research in performance practice and to practice-based research 

● to give practical experience of a range of methodologies, and thus a foundation for subsequent work in the field 

● to stimulate engagement with broader debates and challenges in practice-based research 

● to develop professional skills such as producing research outlines and funding applications 

Weekly seminars and workshops  

● Demonstrate a knowledge of topics, issues and trends pertinent to researching performance in music 

● Demonstrate familiarity with a range of current methodologies in performance research 

● Make effective use of performance-specific bibliographic resources, including databases, and be able to describe, analyse and evaluate a range of textual and musical sources 

● Demonstrate the ability to apply research methods to their own areas of interest 

● Research and use primary and secondary sources appropriate to Masters level 

● Demonstrate the ability to discuss and critically to assess the strengths and limitations of particular methods and approaches 

● Articulate their ideas cogently orally, in writing and through performance 

● Contribute to discussions and defend their viewpoints effectively 

● Demonstrate skills in the analysis and interpretation of texts and performances 

● Demonstrate skills in oral and written presentation 

● Write effective research and funding proposals 

● Demonstrate the ability to communicate complex ideas and information in academic and non-academic contexts 

● Demonstrate the ability to engage thoughtfully and critically with a range of texts and concepts 

● Exhibit the capacity to work creatively, effectively and empathetically with others 

Burke, Robert and Andrys Onsman (ed.), Perspectives on Artistic Research in Music (Lanham, MA: Lexington, 2017) 

Cook, Nicholas, Music as Creative Practice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018) 

 Doğantan, Mine (ed.), Artistic Practice as Research in Music: Theory, Criticism, Practice (Farnham: Routledge, 2015) 

Harrison, Scott D. (ed.), Research and Research Education in Music Performance and Pedagogy (Dordrecht: Springer, 2014). 

Impett, Jonathan, Artistic Research in Music: Discipline and Resistance (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2017). 

Reid, Anna, Neal Peres Da Costa and Jeanell Carrigan, Creative Research in Music: Informed Practice, Innovation and Transcendence (London: Taylor and Francis, 2020). 

Vear, Craig (ed.), The Routledge International Handbook of Practice-Based Research (Routledge, 2021) 

Williamson, Aaron et al., Performing Music Research: Methods in Music Education, Psychology, and Performance Science (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021).