Communication, Media and Popular Music BA (Hons)

This module will introduce students to foundational knowledge in the field of communication and media studies. Students will learn how communication practices and media technologies have developed historically and their relevance for social, political and economic changes, as well as learning about the development of Communication and Media as a broad and diverse academic field. The module familiarises students with different theoretical perspectives both historical and contemporary.

This module provides an overview of key developments in Anglo-American popular music particularly during the latter part of the twentieth century and the early twenty-first century.  Students are introduced to the musical characteristics of key styles and genres, as well as significant social/cultural movements and critical issues that are relevant to an understanding of the music in question. The module also provides an introduction to key perspectives and issues in popular music studies.

This is an introduction to issues and concepts surrounding media and communication industries and institutions. The module gives students exposure to core and current debates and issues such as the political economy of media, relations with power and regulation, and processes of globalisation, digitalisation and conglomeration. Students will learn about creative roles and the practices and lived experiences of professional media workers, including the process of conceiving and developing media texts. Successful students will be able to critically consider media and communication studies with an emphasis on its industries and institutions.

This module will give students foundational knowledge about ways that communication, media, and culture can be systematically and critically analysed: students will learn about key concepts and theories from the field of media and communication studies and about how these are applied as tools for analysis. The module offers examples of the craft of screen analysis, cultural analysis, and social scientific communication studies. These will be analytical approaches that students can subsequently use in the course of their studies.

This module will provide a broad introduction to digital communication and social media as an object of study. It will facilitate students in thinking about the role of the internet, digital platforms and social media apps and their role in culture, society and democracy. It will firstly ask what is different about digital and social media compared to more traditional media, and pose the question of whether we need new tools and ways of thinking in relation to these newer media. It will then introduce several topics and case studies to allow students to think about the role and potential influence the rise of these tools may or may not have had on society.

This module is an introduction to MIDI sequencing in Logic Pro and Ableton Live. It is suitable for complete beginners and intermediate users of Logic. Through lectures and workshops, both of which involve much hands on practice, students learn about MIDI sequencing, software instruments and Digital Audio Workstations (DAW). Topics and techniques covered include recording and editing MIDI; use of effects processors and mixing, software synthesis and sampler instruments. Two creative coursework projects, concentrating on differing compositional approaches and styles, enable students to demonstrate the technical and compositional skills taught and practiced during the module.

​​​The module introduces students to the basic principles of sound, acoustics and music technology. They will learn about many of the core concepts, relevant terminology and theories essential to modern music technology studies. Subjects covered will include acoustics and sound propagation, analogue and digital audio theory, key electronics theories and sound measurement systems. The module includes some practical work at a digital audio workstation. Normally, the module will include a visit to the University’s Acoustics Research Unit.​

Music is ubiquitous, yet its function and meaning can be specific to the context in which it is situated. Similarly studying music, in the 21st century context for example, is both complex and specific in equal measure. This module will examine how and why music matters as a cultural expression, intimately linked to the contexts of its production, dissemination, and reception. The scope and breadth of the study of music will be introduced, along with key terms and concepts used in the study of music in relation to culture. The module will provide students with a foundation for the further study of music and culture at levels two and three, and helps students to understand interdisciplinary approaches to the study of music.​

A practical and constructive course in Music Theory, with specific reference to the practical needs of popular musicians. Students will be introduced to a range of scales and modes, diatonic chords and their extensions, common chord symbols, along with common musical forms and structures. Musical notation will be used, though not exclusively, and there will be an aural component. Delivery will be via online lectures, workshop sessions, seminars and tutorials. Formative assessment will be an important teaching tool, and summative assessment will be via an end of term theory test.

This module introduces students to the use and role of music in a range of audiovisual media. It focuses specifically on the sound and music of mainstream narrative cinema, as the lead expression in contemporary audiovisual media and one that has shaped this aspect of other artforms, such as television and videogames. From the relationship between music and early moving pictures, to the importance of re-using popular musics to score gender or sexuality in the modern Hollywood blockbuster, the module considers both the historical practicalities of sound and music in cinema and some of the key critical ideologies that have been shaped by and shaped the soundtracks of film. Through a focus on key case studies and fundamental theories, students will acquire a firm grounding in the history, nature, and critical discussion of the function of sound and music in film specifically, and audiovisual media more generally. The module is delivered in a manner designed to be equally accessible to students from a non-Music background.

This module introduces students to Sound, Recording and Production techniques in the University Recording Studio. This is a practised based module where teaching is delivered through hands on workshops and lectures. Lectures will discuss recording, audio editing and effects processing techniques in Pro Tools. The weekly workshops, which are in small groups, will be led by the module leader who will demonstrate production techniques and then set group tasks which will allow students to practice key skills during the workshop sessions. By the end of the module the student will be competent enough to use the studio independently and effectively.

Students will complete two assessments. The first is an individual mixing assignment to be completed in the Mac Suites. Assignment 2 is a group recording project carried out in a University Studio and includes a group presentations about the project.

This module will introduce students to the structure, history and contemporary challenges of the music industries, as well as potential careers available in this sector. Students will be introduced to key debates around the commodification of music, and the influence of technology, managers, artists and market forces on the development of the music industries. Topics covered within the module will typically include: the roles and functions of record labels, the digital watershed, the relationship between live and recorded music industries, as well as exploring how professional music workers have forged careers in the sector today.

Content will include but not limited to:

Content will include but not limited to:
Musique concrete,
ElektronischeMusik,
American Experimentalism,
Tape composition,
Analogue Synthesizers,
Computer Music,
BBC Radiophonic Workshop
Electronic music in rock and jazz,
Noise Music – Japanoise, Noise in Rock, Metal, Punk and Hardcore
Hardware Hacking – Reed Ghazala and Nicholas Collins
Minimalism – Tape Looping and minimalist compositional practices
Sound Design in Cinema.

A practical module that explores issues in Popular Music performance.

This module will enhance students’ understanding of academic research in the field of communication and media studies. It is the first of a series of two modules that will equip students with the skills and techniques needed to analyse, execute, interpret, and present academic research. The module will also prepare them for advanced academic projects such as their final-year projects/academic dissertations. This module will introduce students to the basics of academic research – from the key elements in a research study to the difference between primary and secondary, and quantitative and qualitative research. Students will be taught how to write literature reviews and what ethical considerations to bear in mind when designing a research study.

This module will enhance students’ understanding of academic research in the field of communication and media studies. It is the second of a series of two modules that will equip students with the skills and techniques needed to analyse, execute, interpret, and present academic research. The module will also prepare them for advanced academic projects such as their final-year projects/academic dissertations. This module will introduce students to specific quantitative and qualitative research methods for the study of media texts, audiences and producers, continuing on from the semester 1 Research Methods module. These will include textual analysis, content analysis, thematic analysis, discourse analysis; surveys, interviews, focus groups, ethnography; as well as archival research and digital research. Students will also be taught how to formulate research questions, what makes a good student dissertation/final year project and how to communicate their research. They will then be required to prepare research proposals for their final year projects/dissertations.

This module provides an introduction to the design and implementation of sound and music in video games. Students engage with game music scholarship and case studies, then apply their knowledge to create original sounds and music for premade game projects.

Converged Media and Screen Entertainment B examines key ideas and arguments in the broader field of media industry studies with a view to provide students with wide-ranging account of how the screen industries produce and distribute commercial entertainment within a converged media environment, while operating as part of organizational arrangements and professional practices that separate them from industries with an information focus. The module accounts for the local, national and global dimension of screen entertainment with case studies and examples taken from a variety of geographical contexts and covers a number of industries, mainly film and television, but also with references to games and social medial.

Organised around 4 blocks – Terms of Reference, The Global Spectre of Entertainment, The Production of Entertainment and Entertainment Labour – the module kicks off with some conceptual issues and definitions around what entertainment is and how the landscape in which it is produced and disseminated is defined by media convergence and – increasingly – deconvergence. With these terms of reference accounted for, the second block surveys some key characteristics related to the global nature of screen entertainment: the issues at stake in regulating its circulation across different geographical, political and cultural environments; the ways in which its production tends to be clustered around particular hubs and networks, the ways in which it contributes to global media flows organised around distribution power and the ways it is also disseminated through informal or piracy networks.

After an independent study week that enables students to catch up with reading and prepare for their first assignment, the module continues with a block on the production of entertainment, with an emphasis there being on some of the textual characteristics of entertainment products as these are influenced by marketing and brand integration, by intellectual property management and the increasing reliance on narrative universes and world-building, and by promotional content designed to move swiftly across media platforms and to attract online interaction. Some of these characteristics distinguish clearly entertainment media from media that revolve around information. Finally, the last block deals with issues relating to working in screen entertainment industries, focusing primarily on issues relating to unions and crafts and the ways they try to control entertainment with an environment where the power of the unions has declined as well on issue of diversity in the screen industries work force.

Early Musical Cultures from the Islamicate Court to the English Reformation introduces students to a wide range of early cultures of song and instrumental music from before 1600. Students will learn about the role of musicians in diverse contexts, including: the troubadours and trobaritz (12th-century France); music and mysticism (including Abbess Hildegard von Bingen and the pilgrimages of Margery Kempe); gender-queer musicians working at court in modern Syria, Israel, and Iraq (7th – 13th century); the role of Muslim, Christian, and Jewish musicians in late medieval Iberia; disability and musicianship (Notker, Landini, Machaut); and English composers negotiating their music during a period of dramatic religious change (Dunstaple, Fayrfax, Tallis, Queen Katherine Parr, Byrd). Teaching will take the form of lectures based on key themes, and seminars and workshops that consider sources relevant to certain musical traditions. Students will have the opportunity to work first-hand with early musical sources (digitally and using the archives), to explore early notations, and to engage in informal practical work. On the completion of this module, students will have a strong knowledge of the ways in which musicians played key roles in culture, and of the musical repertories that they produced. They will be able to identify compositional styles, and will know about how to handle early manuscript and print sources in their research, in person or via key online resources. Final projects combining written and practice-based elements will be encouraged, but may alternatively be fully written.

The module uses both scores and recordings to examine music across different repertoires, focusing on how harmony, chord progressions and pitch are organised. We explore different techniques and methods for understanding harmonic developments, and evaluate the use of these techniques through a range of pieces from different repertoires (classical, popular and film). The module uses examples ranging from Schubert, to Frank Zappa, to Hitchcock films. It will be of use to those wishing to learn about how harmony and chord progressions are constructed, and will be a useful supplement to those studying performance, composition or musicological topics.

This module will introduce the student to sound recording, audio editing and sound transformation in a DAW in the context of sound design for the moving image. Students will learn a variety of recording techniques, audio editing and sound transformation skills in the studio a DAW and third-party applications to produce the foley for a video clip and also produce the sound design for number of idents. The module will be delivered via lectures in the Mac Suites and workshops in the studio.

This module explores the development of popular musics of the world. Particular emphasis will be given to popular music genres and styles of non-Anglophone origins to understand how different artistic creativities and practice operate in the contemporary system of popular music production, distribution and consumption.
How are specific genre and styles of indigenous/local popular music created? What are the local characteristics of musical techniques and aesthetics? How are specific regional and local cultural values reflected in these musical outputs while cultural, economic and political globalisation also gives shape to these musical processes. In connection with these broad questions, we will look into specific musical genres and forms from Asia, South/Latin America, Africa and the Middle East to develop the skills needed to analyse and critically assess the developments in popular musical outputs and their specific socio-cultural contexts which facilitate the creation and consumption of these artistic works throughout the world.

Introduction to Cultural Studies provides a foundational understanding of the key approaches, methods and theoretical perspectives in the interdisciplinary field of cultural studies. The module starts with an historical overview of the development of cultural studies and explores its links with related fields such as anthropology, sociology, and everyday life studies. The module is taught in four blocks. Blocks 2-4 are organised around core thematic areas of focus which provide, respectively, an introduction to perspectives in the study of contemporary visual cultures; an introduction to urban cultural studies and the spatial humanities; and critical reflection on ‘future cultures’ and the shifting boundaries that define understandings of ‘nature’ and ‘culture’ in the age of the posthuman and the Anthropocene. Engaging with theoretical perspectives and debates that address a broad range of contemporary issues in the study of culture, media and everyday life, the module draws extensively on ethnographic, text-based and other qualitative methods, with a particular emphasis towards understandings of culture and media as forms of social, embodied and political practice and the everyday ‘doingness’ of cultural experience.

Music Psychology is a multi-disciplinary field that aims to understand and explain musical activities and experiences through the scientific study of mind and behaviour. This module introduces key contemporary topics and research in this area, including the origins of music, music and emotion, the brain on music, musical development, music and cognitive performance, and music and health. The module will follow a flipped classroom instructional strategy that includes a set of video lectures, hands-on seminars, and individual tutorials. In the lectures, students will be introduced to central concepts, perspectives, and research on a variety of core topics of Music Psychology. These topics will then be actively explored during the seminars through a set of practical activities and group discussions. Individual tutorials will support students to develop their knowledge of research in the field, refine their areas of interest within the topics discussed and coursework preparation. The assessment framework includes one coursework assignment and one multiple choice exam.

This module introduces students to Live Sound technology and the practical skills needed to competently and safely operate a Live Sound system. Students will receive lectures on live sound equipment and its applications, along with relevant electronics and acoustics theory. They will also have weekly practical workshops in the Music Hub, where they will learn to operate the Hub P.A. system. They will cover front of house mixing and stage monitor mixing techniques, as well as microphone techniques for live sound and learn about ancillary equipment requirements for live sound. The module also covers very basic lighting set-up and control.

This module examines the function and design of music in video games (including games-consoles, PCs, and smart-phone ‘apps’). It considers the historical development of music in gaming, the relationship between game-music and technological advance, and the role and function of music in different types of game (and how this dictates compositional choice). This is achieved via a combination of case-study analyses and engagement with appropriate literature and research. Delivery incorporates lectures, workshop/seminars, and directed activity. Assessment incorporates a discursive essay and a portfolio of case-study analyses. The module assumes the study and discussion of case-study examples, but is delivered and assessed in a manner which does not require technical music skills (ie notational literacy or formal analytical method).

During the course of their education, students will already have travelled on an individual musical journey. This course aims to continue this process by exposing them to models of song writing and composition from a broad array of popular music, underpinned with a solid and practical theoretical grounding. Arrangement and orchestration of instruments from beyond those used in the standard rock “backline” will also be covered.  An over-arching theme of the course will be the need to identify a broader “common practice” than that traditionally associated with classical composition classes. Practical exercises and assignments will lead to the completion of two original compositions.

A practical module that explores issues in Popular Music performance, including development of individual instrumental and vocal skills as well as ensemble playing and group dynamics.​​ Normally students will have taken MUSI 104 Popular Performance 1; proficiency and understanding of how the module works may also be established via a demonstration recording or audition.

The module aims to prepare students for a smooth transition into a work placement year and, more broadly, to develop lifelong skills, attitudes and behaviours and support students in their continuing professional development. This will help students lead flexible, fulfilling careers working as a professional in their field, and enable them to contribute meaningfully to society.

This module will explore theoretical perspectives on Public Relations, including critical perspectives on its role in media and digital society and the professional practice of promotional writing, a key skill within and beyond PR. Students will develop understanding of what it means to be a creative professional in the PR industries by learning to organise their time effectively, to produce work to specific briefs and to ensure attention to detail in the delivery of projects.

In this module students learn techniques for mixing and remixing, using samples, stems or tracks from existing songs. Using Apple’s Logic audio editing and sampling techniques are explored, as well as mixing techniques suitable for EDM and electronic music. There will also be a focus on correctly using relevant software instruments and effects plugins available in Logic.

This module will extend students’ knowledge of studio recording and production techniques, including stereo recording; editing; mixing tracks with problems (poor quality recordings, unwanted noise, poor performances); making timing and tuning adjustments; audio quantisation; comping; and working with large multitrack projects.

This module introduces students to who does what in music industry. Essentially, music industry is a collaborative effort between musicians and various personnel from a range of music companies. Music companies ‘add value’ to musicians by providing them with services they find difficult or impossible to provide for themselves. These ‘music companies’ are spread across the music industries of recording, music publishing and live performance; increasingly companies from outside traditional music industry also offer services to musicians (for example, online and IT companies). The module will consider what key jobs and roles exist in the world of converting imaginative ideas into commodities for sale in music markets.

Students will learn how to effectively compose and arrange music for film and television. The module will cover practical issues such as: working in a software programme such as Logic Pro to compose with synchronised video clips; arranging instrumental parts using sample libraries, working with tempo, speed and appropriate harmonic languages. The coursework will involve a series of compositions to written briefs and video clips, totalling 4-8 minutes in duration. Each composition assignment will address a different challenge and style aspect of film or TV music and be accompanied by a written commentary explaining the reasons for the approach and style taken in the music.

The module is designed to introduce critical perspectives on current developments in popular music. Each week will introduce a particular genre or subgenre of contemporary popular music which will act as a way in to a discussion of a set of theoretical issues relating to culture, identity, aesthetics, technology and industry. Topics may include: Introduction to genres and classification, mainstreaming, R&B, UK dance and post-dub musics, New Folk and the legacy of authenticity, Post Rock, Noise music, DIY scenes and digital democratisation, new strains in electronic music, metal in the 21st Century.

This module introduces students to feminist media studies. Throughout the module, they will become familiar with key concepts and debates relating to gender and its interaction with media and cultural practices. The module will refer to a wide range of media, such as television, journalism, and digital platforms to bring to life the character of gender relations in contemporary media cultures, as well as in historical perspective. Students will consider the power relations which characterise media production environments, the gendered nature of representations, and the political contestation of these by feminist activists. The module adopts an intersectional approach, ensuring that gender is considered alongside other identity markers such as race, class, disability and sexuality.

This module examines the transformation of Hollywood cinema as a distinct mode of film practice with its own codes and conventions to a complex and multifaceted global media enterprise that now encompasses film, television, the internet and other screen-based media. With film being increasingly consumed away from the theatres, and with the talent that is involved in entertainment media circulating fluidly across different media and markets, Hollywood is not only about cinema but about a number of entertainment industries that are controlled by a handful of giant conglomerates. The module is organised in two blocks. The first block examines the key characteristics of Hollywood cinema as these were crystallised in the earlier decades of the 20th Century. Concepts such as the studio system, the classical narrative and style, modes of representation, film genres, stardom, technology and performance are discussed in detail. The second block deals with the transformations that started taking Hollywood by storm especially from the 1970s onwards, including: the emergence of the blockbuster film culture, the conglomeration of the film industry, the rise of franchise entertainment, the links to independent film production, Hollywood’s relationship to television (cable and online/streaming) and others.

The second-year module Immersive Media and Virtual Worlds explores the histories, theories, and industries related to the production of immersive experiences, digital technologies and virtual realities and worlds. In particular, the module will focus on video games and cinema.

Students will be introduced to Ableton’s Live software for music creation, and they will learn how to create simple effects plugins using Max for Live. They will create electronic music in Live that utilises effects they have created with MAX, as well as learn how to use both the session and arrange windows to compose and structure musical material. They will learn how to mix music in Live and discover the new options Live offers for music production, compared to other common digital audio workstations.

This module examines the role of the media and cultural industries in shaping the narratives that define who – and where – we are in relation to our past(s). As an examination of media and the past, the module acknowledges that the study of the mediation of history is closely bound up with the history of media itself as a set of technologies, discourses and practices. The weekly lectures each focus on a specific topic, although there is considerable overlap between ideas and themes that run throughout the module. As well as gaining a theoretical understanding of some of the core issues relating to the representation and mediation of the past, the module also incorporates a practical element in the form of a museum field trip. The module provides a detailed overview of themes and critical perspectives on heritage and cultural memory, including: media and historiography; heritage and nostalgia; the relationship between media, memory and forgetting; museums and the curating of memory; identity, imagined communities and post-memory; and the impact of digital cultures on archival practices.

This module is suitable for anyone who is interested in the role of music in everyday life, i.e., people’s quotidian engagement with music. Students will develop a practical understanding of music’s ability to support individual and social functions, the ability to engage in current debates in the research literature and the capacity to explore new directions to advance research in this field. The module is interdisciplinary, drawing on perspectives such as music, psychology, and sociology, however no prior knowledge of any specific discipline is necessary.

The module includes a series of lectures, seminars, and individual tutorials. Lectures support the students in identifying pertinent topics concerning the uses of music in everyday life and how to approach these topics from a research perspective. Seminars place a strong focus on the gradual development of enquiry skills through guided engagement in various research activities. Individual tutorials will be scheduled with students to support the preparation of coursework.

Assessment takes the form of a written research proposal (100%) and students will have the opportunity to receive formative feedback throughout the module.

​This module will explore the musical practices of film traditions outside the Anglophone world and their cultural contexts, with particular emphasis on comparisons to classical Hollywood practice. Students will develop the ability to think and write about music in audiovisual contexts. Topics will variably include East Asian films, Bollywood, North African/Middle Eastern films as well as cinemas from Europe and Latin America.

This module aims to introduce students to a range of ideas about gender and sexuality, and to explore how they interact with musical texts, practices, and cultures. Over the semester, students will consider a range of theories and movements to do with gender and sexuality, which might include social constructionism, psychoanalysis, feminism, and queer theory. The module traces the historical developments of some of these models and considers the extent to which musical texts, practices, and cultures reflect and/or contribute to prevailing ideologies of gender and sexuality. The case studies used to explore these ideas will be drawn from a range of musical repertoires, including popular and art musics. The module aims to encourage students to think about all kinds of western music as gendered practices and to introduce them to ways of exploring the relevance of gender and sexuality as questions for consideration when thinking about the cultural work being done by particular musics. Students should emerge from the module with an understanding of the intersections of history, culture, and music, in terms of ideas about gender and sexuality.

​The module will study musical theatre in its twentieth/twenty-first century context.​

A practical module that explores issues in Popular Music performance, including development of individual instrumental and vocal skills as well as ensemble playing and group dynamics.​ Normally students will have taken MUSI 104 Popular Performance 1; proficiency may also be established via a demonstration recording or audition.

This module provides an introduction to the university’s student-run record label, Merciful Sound Records. Working in a fully functioning record label, students will develop ‘real-world’ employability skills focussed on music marketing, promotion and distribution, culminating in the release of an album to be launched at the end of the semester.

​This course examines the ongoing relationship between technological development, popular music and the cultures which surround it. Students are introduced to major perspectives on popular music and technology in order to examine social, aesthetic and historical issues.

This module will develop students’ knowledge of experimental approaches to electronic music composition, to an advanced level. Building on the sound design skills acquired MUSI208, the first half of the module will focus on developing the students’ sound organisation and transformation skills to an advanced level through production of an acousmatic composition, advanced sound processing such as granular synthesis will be covered. The second half will develop the students’ knowledge of synthesis to an advanced level by focusing on modular synthesis and non-linear composition such as building a modular instrument or creating a generative composition.

This module explores entertainment (specifically film and television) as an “unofficial” source of historical knowledge. For many people, entertainment is the primary site of engagement with history and one that makes history relevant, accessible and enjoyable in the present. It will consider what is required to make history entertaining and what this suggests about the kinds of stories that are enjoyable to consume compared to those that are omitted and silenced. The majority of screenings are British/American productions and we will consider the way in which this shapes those perspectives, but we will also draw on international examples during the course. These non-academic popular encounters with history offer a space for alternative and challenging versions of history. In this module we will consider the ways in which this can reinforce, resist or disrupt “official” accounts of history.

This module invites classical and popular musicians, singers, and music technologists for a course into hardware-hacking and hyper-instruments; Students will explore imagining and designing their own bespoke instruments, by uniquely re-purposing electronic circuits, soldering and connecting their choice of components towards artistic goals.

Additionally, students will build on their existing instrumental, vocal, and technological skills and extend these into new technologically enabled modes of performance and practice.

Weekly lectures covering the theories and history of the field will supplement workshops exploring, testing, and building bespoke instruments using hardware and software in laboratories and performance spaces.

Games and Algorithmic Culture investigates how videogames are responding and contributing to the current technological and cultural changes in the use of AI, data mining, procedurally generated content, metrics and automation. The module provides a fundamental knowledge of the videogame industry and its new markets and trends, such as eSports, live streaming, independent productions, casual and mobile gaming. It explores how these new social, cultural and aesthetic trends of game culture are framed around a broader algorithmic culture that pervades our contemporary technics of digital production and distribution. The module will enable students to understand the specificity of games as new media, to critically analyse the technical, economic and social factors that frame contemporary digital culture, and identify areas of intervention within the global entertainment industry.

The module will cover jazz in the broadest sense of the genre – from its nineteenth/early twentieth century precursors to assessments of the present day scene and its global significance. Awareness of the historical scope and trajectory of the genre will be complemented by analysis of specific ‘moments’ (e.g. albums, tracks, concerts) and longitudinal topics (e.g. personalities, race, dance, improvisation, nationalism/transnationalism). There will be opportunity for students to develop work for assessment based on their own interests.​

The climate crisis is a human crisis: soaring global temperatures, extreme weather events, and the loss of vital ecosystems and biodiversity are a product of our lifestyles, our cultures, and our political choices – all areas of life in which music is present. This module explores what music might tell us about the climate crisis, in particular its historical roots in the conflation of industrial capitalism and settler colonialism, and a resulting view of the world that divorces human existence and activity from all other living things. We will also explore how music has been used to respond to and resist the causes of climate change, and how music might help us (re)establish a more sustainable relationship with the natural world.

Students will develop an understanding of the political and cultural causes of the climate crisis, its present manifestations and future impacts. Students will use their musical and critical skills to develop individual and collective responses to our current predicament, and to (re)engage with the natural world in their everyday musical lives.

The module will be delivered via weekly lectures and seminars, with students conducting their own wider reading, listening, and independent reflection; we will also visit sites of musical and ecological interest in the Liverpool area, including campus green spaces, Sefton Park, and the Liverpool Waterfront. Assessment 1 is a 2000-word essay on a musical case study that offers insight into an aspect of the climate crisis or responses to it. Assignment 2 is a 3000-word reflective diary, completed over the course of the module, in which students will reflect on how the climate crisis impacts them musically and personally, and how they might respond to it.

This module examines various issues relating to popular music performance, in an attempt to better understand how music has resonated with audiences, aiming for a more informed appreciation of popular music in all its forms.

Queer Film, Video and Documentary explores the different ways in which ‘queers’, specifically lesbian, gay, and transgender people, have been represented in moving images, produced their own films, videos, and documentaries, and shaped reception practices, politics and moving image cultures specific to them. The module will introduce students to queer theory alongside advanced moving image analysis paying particular attention to key theoretical debates and texts in queer politics and film, video and documentary, that demarcate shifts in knowledge, representations, sexual identities, cultures, and practices related to ‘queerness’. The module will be structured around three conceptual blocks. The first block is an overview of the foundational theories, debates and concepts in queer theory including their relationship to canonical films and documentaries. The second block on the AIDS crisis addresses the historical trauma’s centrality to the development of queer theory and the politics of queer identity. The final block examines particular moments in queer moving image history from underground cinema to multiplex acceptance. 

This module introduces students to the A&R, artist management, recording, production and project planning aspects of the university’s student-run record label, Merciful Sound Records. Working in a fully functioning record label, students will develop ‘real-world’ employability skills focussed on music management, recording and production and project planning, culminating in the release of an album to be launched at the end of the academic year.

This module develops research and critical skills when examining digital cultures with a particular focus on the Americas. It takes examples that encompass North, Central, and South America as well as the Caribbean. Building confidence in handling theoretical tools in the analysis of digital cultures it examines a range of professional and amateur content creators from social, institutional and personal perspectives and considers issues of curatorship, archival approaches, the ethics of (re)appropriation and remediation, and the relationship between the self and the public and private spheres.

Most musicians and music industry practitioners are self-managed and self-employed. This final year module prepares students who want to work in any role within the music industries for the realities of managing the businesses aspects of developing a career in music. Through the lecture and online content and seminar tasks, students will develop a practical understanding of the fundamentals of contracts and copyright, royalties and accounting, marketing and promotion and other relevant enterprise and business skills necessary for developing a sustainable career in the music industries and wider creative economy. Students are assessed on their ability to produce a professional portfolio of work that demonstrates their ability to devise and deliver career development activities and their understanding of professional standards of engagement in areas such as planning, marketing, accounting and working with third parties.

This module will introduce students to various theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of music and sound in their social and cultural contexts.   The module considers sounds and music as experienced across diverse settings (private, public, individual and collective) and considers key issues relating to how the sonic is embedded in everyday life and impact upon our perception and understanding of the world.   Using a wide variety of examples drawn from popular music, art music and other audiovisual media it will outline key issues relating to the sociology and philosophy of sound.  

This module develops skills learnt in MUSI214 and takes a more in-depth look at advanced live sound theory and practical techniques. Students will receive lectures covering theory content and the opportunity to develop these skills on a variety of different systems including those in The Music Hub and The Tung Auditorium in weekly practical workshops.

​The module will consider how popular music is presented as heritage in different contexts such as museum exhibitions, library collections and DIY online archives. It will examine the different ways in which popular music heritage has been represented, mobilized and interpreted. Taking a case study approach, it will explore who is invested in discussions of heritage, how heritage is defined, and what this can tell us about representations of the popular past. The module will have a particular focus on the context of gallery and museums and will examine curatorial approaches to popular music and its related cultures.​

This module offers students an introduction to study of strategic communication, seen as an interdisciplinary field of research and professional practice. Students will familiarise themselves with key concepts for critical understanding and analysis of how organisations communicate strategically in social contexts. The teaching content combines theories and case studies which relate to strategic communication phenomena in different sectors (e.g. business, politics, non-profit). Assessment is based on an essay and a group project.

This module focuses on debates about the nature, cultural television practices and significance of ‘cult’ television. Students will critique the idea of ‘cult’ from textual, industry and audience perspectives, as well as considering its relationships with the rise of ‘quality’ TV forms in the US and UK and with fan studies, including tracing shifts in representation and audience practices related to marginal groups and identities.

The module explores how popular culture can be political by examining a range of popular cultural commodities discursively. The module surveys a range of views on how to examine popular culture in order to contextualise discourse analysis. This is examined and then used to critically consider the political potential of popular culture. Successful students will be able to critically analyse a range of popular cultural commodities such as film, television programmes, digital popular culture, popular music and the tabloid press. The module is delivered in the forms of lectures and more hands-on analysis during seminars. Students are assessed by an essay, which is an analysis of a popular culture commodity.

In MUSI 210 Students have investigated a range of tonal and rhythmic practices, some of which will have informed their own music making. This module will continue this process. Song-writing, extended and jazz harmony, improvisation and orchestration will all be further investigated.  Practical exercises and assignments will lead to the completion of two original compositions.​

Students in this module oversee the day-to-day operations of the university’s student-run record label, Merciful Sound Records. Working individually and in teams, students will manage the label’s various departments as well as oversee the production, marketing, sales and distribution of an album to be released at the end of the academic year.

Screen Industries and Sports is a new module that aims to examine the complex and multifaceted relationship between screen media and sports, focusing primarily on the ways in which the screen industries engage with sports as a commercial product that reaches audiences globally through a proliferation of legacy and digital media. In doing this the module asks questions about how sports are produced, packaged and disseminated, how global media corporations increasingly control sports and the kinds of issues that are at stake. It is organised around 4 blocks, with the first block examining primarily the relationship between the television industries and sports, the second looking at how the relationship between sports and screen media is being reconfigured in the digital arena, the third on how mega sports events shape and are being shaped by screen industries and the final one focusing on issues of diversity and cultural difference and how they figure in the broader picture. Together, all these sessions are designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of how screen industries are intricately linked to the evolution of sports as one of the most commercial media products of the 20th and 21st century.

This module examines the film-music output of the composer John Williams. It considers the historical development of John Williams’ compositional style, in the context of Hollywood convention and the evolution of the ‘blockbuster’. It situates his style in relation to classical and other relevant influences (especially late romantic and early modernist techniques). It considers the relevance of his close relationship with particular directors (e.g. Lucas and Spielberg). It relates particular compositional techniques (such as leitmotif) to the filmic and narrative context. Delivery incorporates lectures, workshop, and directed activity. Assessment incorporates a discursive essay and a portfolio of case-study analyses. The module assumes the study and discussion of case-study examples, but is delivered and assessed in a manner which does not require technical music skills (i.e. notational literacy or formal analytical method).

A dissertation is a self-contained piece of original research. It is your chance to study a topic that interests you in depth, guided by a member of the Department’s academic staff who will act as a supervisor for your research. While it is not expected that the dissertation will achieve the standard of a published article, a general idea of the length, format and style of presentation envisaged can be obtained by scanning academic articles in the area that the dissertation will deal with.

This module will provide students with the opportunity to work on a final year project. The nature of the project will be negotiated between the students and their supervisors. It might include: working on live academic research projects or working on live projects in collaboration with academic staff and external partners or working on practical outputs related to a specified (research) task.

This module is an extended research project in which students can concentrate in an in-depth manner on a particular issue or subject area. This gives students the opportunity to carry out independent study at an advanced level, with appropriate support, into a topic of interest to them and to draw on and extend the skills and knowledge acquired in taught modules. The module will include a taught element providing guidance on dissertation planning, preparation and skills.

This module is an opportunity for you to undertake a placement in a setting which matches your academic and possible career/industry interests, develop materials and/or undertake tasks within a practical or vocational context, apply academic knowledge from your degree, and develop your personal and employability skills within a working environment. SOTA300 is not open to students who have taken SOTA600.

This module offers students a blend of theoretical knowledge and practical production skills enabling the design, production and marketing of ‘viral videos’. Students develop their own creative practice and take a highly active role in designing, presenting and producing their own videos, and promoting them through video-sharing and social media networks.

Viral videos are an important and rapidly evolving cultural phenomenon. As yet there is little consensus on a definition but essentially they are videos that gain popularity by being shared and recommended through online and offline sharing and recommendations (France et al 2016: 20).

The module is aimed at students considering a career in digital communications, public relations and corporate, political and third sector communications.

France, S., Vaghefi, M. and Zhao, H. (2016) Characterizing viral videos: Methodology and applications. Electronic Commerce Research and Applications 19: 19–32.