MU6008 - Tudor Music and Popular Culture

You will learn through a combination seminars and workshops. These will introduce key themes, topics, and concepts, provide opportunities for debate and discussion in both large and small groups, and develop your skills in critically analysing both primary sources from the Tudor period and representations of Tudor music in contemporary film, TV, musical theatre, popular music, literature, etc.

You will be expected to prepare for the weekly seminars by undertaking essential reading, listening or other preparatory tasks, and sampling recommended reading lists and playlists and tasks in order to be able to contribute ideas and arguments to discussions with your peers. Independent reading and engagement with source materials will also be an essential part of module assessments. You will receive oral feedback throughout the course via seminar discussions, written feedback on each module assignment, and have opportunities to discuss your plans with tutor and/or peers prior to each assignment.

Your academic development will be supported through your module tutor, engagement with your peers, and through the programme leader. The module tutor will be accessible within publicised feedback and consultation hours and via email. Individual/group tutorials will also support the development of your final essay. Your peers will provide you with a collaborative learning environment, and your programme leader will guide you through the requirements and expectations of your degree programme, of which this module is part. You will also be supported through individual engagement with the academic literature, lectures, and resources available on the eLearning Portal. Formative feedback will be on-going through seminar activities and assessment tasks.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Demonstrate a nuanced understanding of the forms and functions of popular music in Tudor society, and the use of Tudorism in 20th/21st century popular culture.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
2. Ability to interpret and critically evaluate primary sources, secondary literature, and creative outputs in a range of media, and to present your own arguments in a clear and persuasive way
3. Demonstrate independent learning and time management, taking responsibility for your own learning, and an ability to work in partnership with others.


Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

4. Curiosity about and appreciation for the musical and sonic experiences of past peoples and cultures
5. Cultural awareness of the ways in which perceptions of the past shape contemporary popular culture

1) A choice of experiential assessment (weighted 40%; MLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4) comprising one of the following:

a) A creative response to the Tudor music encountered in the module with an accompanying 1500-word commentary situating the creative output in relation to themes and academic literature encountered in the module. (This might include recording a performance of music encountered in the course, writing a contemporary take on an early modern ballad, or a plan for a themed musical programme)
b) Working on a mock brief to recommend historically appropriate music for a given scene in a Tudor-themes TV episode /film, supporting those recommendation with reference to appropriate academic literature. This might be presented as a 2000-word report or a 15-minute recording presentation.

2) 1 x 3000-word essay (weighted 60%) (MLOs 1, 2, 3, 5)
Suggested questions will be provided by the module tutor, which will relate to themes and topics of the course, but encourage independent enquiry to explore an issue in greater depth and the use of examples from beyond the course materials.
Alternative questions of the student’s own choosing may also be agreed with the tutor, providing they similarly meet the learning outcomes

Students may take EITHER the level 5 (MU5XXX) OR the level 6 (MU6XXX) version of this module in their degree, but not both.

N/A

This module explores the role of music in everyday life in early modern England and the continuing influence of the Tudors and their music on twentieth and twenty-first century popular culture.

In part one of the module, we will trace popular music-making from streets and alehouses to homes and theatres, exploring music’s political, social, communal, and devotional functions, c.1525-1625. In the second part we will investigate how the Tudors (including Shakespeare) are represented and appropriated in twentieth and twenty-first century popular culture. We will explore both questions of the accuracy of the representation of Tudor music in historical film/ TV series, while also looking at how and why themes from Tudor history, music and theatre have been transplanted into twentieth/twenty-first century musicals (e.g., Six), TV shows, and popular music, and to what effect.

(No musical literacy is required for this module)