Performance and Context - MUS00197C

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Module summary

This module examines the relationship between what we do in musical performance and the contexts in which it takes place. Through practical workshops and lectures/seminars we explore the situations and functions of musical performance, both historically and today.

Module will run

Occurrence	Teaching period
A	Semester 2 2025-26

Module aims

This module aims to develop understanding of the relationship between what we do in musical performance and the contexts in which it takes place. The word 'context' is understood broadly, encompassing not just where, physically, a performance takes place, but also how: the surrounding social and cultural conditions.

We will examine how performance operates (or has operated historically) in selected contexts, exploring the sites, codes, and rituals of these practices, and how they relate to the music ‘itself’.

How can we respond creatively to the specifics of context? What role does context play in the mediation of musical meaning, and how can musicians select and/or create performance material that engages with the specifics of space, place, and audience?

Module learning outcomes

All students, on completion of the module, should have:

• participated in workshops exploring the relationship between performances and the contexts in which they take place;
• developed an awareness of the role of site and function in the composition, performance and/or reception of music;
• demonstrated familiarity with relevant musicological and performance theory;
• developed the ability to apply theory to selected examples of practice;
• gained the skills to reflect critically on the issue of context in their own musical practice.

First years: in their independent work, students should demonstrate Learning Outcomes A1-6. Students taking the essay assessment option should additionally demonstrate learning outcome A9. Students being assessed in performance should additionally demonstrate learning outcome A8. Students being assessed in composition should additionally demonstrate learning outcome A10.

Module content

Initially, we will examine the development of the Western concert tradition and its associated rituals, considering the history and function of concert halls, along with how and why particular modes of performance behaviour have arisen. We will also address the relationship between the emergence of the concert tradition and the idea of the autonomous musical work (the ‘work concept’). Of what musical and cultural use are concert rituals today, whether for composers, performers or audiences? Are they restrictive or liberating?

Then, through practical workshops in addition to seminars, the project will look beyond this tradition, examining examples of performance outside the concert hall. How do composers and performers devise and develop work for other sites and spaces, for different audiences, and for different relationships with audiences? What is the impact of new media forms on modes of performance and the role of and/or relationship to the public? We will examine examples of musical performance developed for different kinds of arts venues (theatres, galleries, museums, libraries, etc), for various community settings, for networked performance, and for the outside environment. For comparative purposes we will draw on theory and practice from other disciplines: this includes examining selected examples of site-specific art and devised theatre.

Indicative assessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

Assessment is by an essay (3000 words) on an agreed topic OR (by negotiation) a performance or composition devised for a specific context.

The location and date of performance will be decided by the module tutor in advance of the project. Students can make an individual creative response to the context, or work collaboratively in pairs or groups, and the process will be supported by tutorials with the module tutor. The practical work must be accompanied by a short piece of critical documentation (max. 1000 words) that identifies the key ways in which the work has addressed questions raised in the project.

Indicative reassessment

Task	% of module mark
Essay/coursework	100.0

Module feedback

Report form with marks to student within University designated turnaround time.

Indicative reading

tbc