MODERNISM AND POSTMODERNISM - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module enables students to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the major currents of 20th- and 21st-century music in the Western classical tradition through the exploration of key composers and repertories as well as key documents in the critical reception of the repertoire. It draws on analytical skills acquired in previous modules such as Encounter Music History and Nineteenth-Century Music as well as Music Project and the Topic Study modules. It also consolidates students’ experience of 20th- and 21st -century music encountered elsewhere on the programme. Intersections with global cultural developments form a significant strand in developing an understanding of composers’ decision-making. The module facilitates further development of students’ writing skills, and their ability to assess the significance of scholarly work, including that in the digital domain.

Module provider

Music & Media

Module Leader

ARMSTRONG Thomas (Music & Med)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None.

Module content

Topics in modernist and postmodernist music will be introduced in lectures, focusing on issues of technique and style, ideology, historiography, and reception. Discussion may focus on the influence of geographical location (the way in which the cultural identity of cities such as Vienna, Paris, Darmstadt, London, and New York shaped the outlook of groups or individuals) and responses to broad intellectual movements such as Marxism, structuralism, poststructuralism, capitalism, and so on. Composers to be studied may include Debussy, the Second Viennese School, the Darmstadt School, Reich, Glass, Zorn, Rochberg, and Schnittke.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the central issues pertaining to the aesthetics and techniques of modernism and postmodernism.

 Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

 Coursework essay of not more than 3,000 (addresses outcomes 1, 2, 3, and 4).

  Formative assessment

Students will submit a plan for the coursework essay

  Feedback

Students will receive verbal feedback in tutorials and lecture discussions, written feedback on formative assessment (essay plan), and formal feedback on the summative coursework.
 

Module aims

• Develop acquaintance with 20th- and 21st-century musical repertoires through the study of key figures and compositional and critical responses to them.
• Develop knowledge of the history and global historical context of 20th and 21st century music
• Foster an understanding of 20th and 21st century musical and more broadly artistic aesthetics, so that students can relate compositional developments to global cultural developments.
• Develop and understanding of the motivation behind developments in 20th and 21st century musical styles and techniques.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

  The learning and teaching strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the central issues pertaining to the aesthetics and techniques of modernism and postmodernism.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MUS3083

Other information

The Department of Music and Media is committed to developing graduates with attributes encompassing employability, digital skills, global and cultural awareness, and sustainability as it relates to music and the wider arts and, finally, resourcefulness and resilience. This module affords students the opportunity to explore the cultural context in which musical modernism and postmodernism has been created, including via available digital resources. The digital creation of music may also be explored, as appropriate.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.