Subject Area: Music

This course examines music in its social and historical contexts while drawing links with broader ideological-intellectual pursuits showing recurring trends and interrelations with contemporary practice. Studying the role and function of composers, performers and audiences in various epochs and cultures provides a forum for students to explore and question commonly held notions regarding "art" versus "entertainment"; the function of music in society; the concept of the "work" and what this may mean for the study of music as performance; and various other aspects of making and experiencing music, such as craft, excellence, politics and subjectivity.

Being a Level 2 core course, it deepens knowledge gained and refines skills developed at Level 1. In particular, it builds on the level 1 core course, Music: A Panorama, by revisiting some of the concepts, technical terms, repertoire, cultures and historical periods studied earlier. The approach to these matters serve different purposes and questions while aiming at a deeper level of study. The discussions embrace angles of investigation that engage with cultural issues placing music squarely in the domain of history and social practice.