Program Overview

Introduction to the University Program

The Australian Catholic University (ACU) offers a wide range of programs for students. One of the programs is MUSC336 - Researching Music.

Unit Rationale, Description, and Aim

Music graduates should be able to employ musicological research and writing skills to communicate information about the development and performance of music across diverse cultures and time frames. The unit provides the context for an in-depth study of music, including consideration of diverse styles, genres, specific periods, composers/practitioners, and culturally significant major works.

Learning Outcomes

To successfully complete this unit, students will be able to:

• Critically evaluate current knowledge and scholarship in music research
• Explain the cultural forces that have shaped different understandings of diverse musics
• Formulate research in the field of music
• Formulate and communicate research findings in writing and verbally

Unit Content

Topics will include:

• Diverse modes of musicological research such as historical musicology, ethnography, style studies, culture studies, and music analysis
• The nexus between music practice, music research, style change, and broader cultural issues such as cultural appropriation
• The mechanics of musicological research, including reviews of scholarly literature, approaches to the use of primary source material, the formulation of research questions, issues of methodology, and an introduction to influential theoretical frameworks in contemporary musicological discourse
• Bibliographic citation and referencing, including specific music sources
• Techniques for analyzing representative music works and scholarly articles

Assessment Strategy and Rationale

A range of assessment procedures is used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. Such procedures include a seminar presentation, writing examples, and a major essay that reports on individual research.

Overview of Assessments

• Seminar Presentation via an online forum or similar platform (25%)
• Writing Task (25%)
• Major Project/Essay (50%)

Learning and Teaching Strategy and Rationale

MUSC336 is an advanced-level unit in which students are guided to develop musicological research skills. For this reason, the unit adopts an enquiry-based learning approach in which learning is driven by a process of inquiry owned by the student.

Representative Texts and References

• Beard, David & Kenneth Gloag, Musicology: The Key Concepts. 2nd ed. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 2016.
• Bellman, Jonathan. A Short Guide to Writing About Music. 2nd ed. London: Longman, 2006.
• Clendinning, Jane Piper and Elizabeth West Marvin. The Musician's Guide to Theory and Analysis. 4th ed. New York, NY: Norton, 2021.
• Cutler, Timothy. Anthology of Music for Analysis. New York, NY: Norton, 2018.
• Hanning, Barbara Russano. Concise History of Western Music. 5th ed. New York, NY: Norton, 2020.
• Hawkins, Stan. The Routledge Research Companion to Popular Music and Gender. London: New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.
• Herbert, Trevor. Music in Words: A Guide to Researching and Writing About Music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Liamputtong, Pranee. Qualitative Research Methods. 5th ed. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2019.
• Shuker, Roy. Understanding Popular Music Culture. 5th ed. Abingdon, NY: Routledge, 2016.
• Rice, Timothy. Modelling Ethnomusicology. New York, NY: Norton, 2017.

Locations

• Online

Credit Points

10

Year

2026