Course content

Throughout the ages and across many cultures, music has played a role in shaping how different forms of dance, folk as well as staged, have been performed and perceived.

Some dance forms have strong connections to their music. In other instances, the dance inspires and contributes to the shaping of the music. There have traditionally been close ties between the musician and the dancer, and between the choreographer and the composer, but in some traditions, the music and dance work more in parallel.

The subject of music and dance has developed as a distinct research area that explores so-called choreomusical relationships and connections within the music-dance relationship.

This course aims to develop students' understandings of the role of music and musicians for dance and the dancer. This subject is broadly explored across choreomusical relationships in both European and non-European contexts. Students will have the opportunity to study and assess factors that influence the construction, production, and application of music and dance both in relation to dance as an art form and as a popular activity. This course also deals with the connection between what we see and what we hear, and how factors affect the music-dance experience. This course provides both an introduction to, and practice in, analytical methods for how music and dance work together.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

Candidates who successfully complete MUSV3148:

• Can demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the role and importance of music in relation to various dance forms.
• Can demonstrate knowledge of a wide range of contexts, including historical, aesthetic and philosophical.
• Will have a critical understanding of the diverse interactions between music and dance and insights into methods for how these interactions can be studied/analyzed.

Skills:

Candidates who successfully complete MUSV3148:

• Can apply relevant methods within choreomusical analysis (i.e., analysis of the interactions between music and dance).
• Can identify and independently explore a specific study area as well as apply the methods learned in the course.
• Will have the ability to apply their knowledge and understanding of their own work in music-dance studies.
• Will be able to present his/her findings, as well as his/her knowledge and critical understanding, in a coherent and convincing manner in both writing and speech.

Learning methods and activities

Combined lectures and seminars.

Compulsory activity: Completion of a practical task where the student develops skills to see choreo-musical contexts or choreomusical analysis. This assignment will involve an optional area, or self-selected, topic. The student will deliver a two-page assignment about this work at the specified deadline. This assignment must be approved for the student to qualify for the exam.

Compulsory assignments

• Attendance at lectures and seminars (at least 80%)
• Practical assignment with a 2-page assignment

Specific conditions