Objectives

On completion of a music major in the Bachelor of Arts, students are expected to have acquired:

• the ability to communicate effectively about music via both verbal and written skills;
• a comprehensive understanding of the various genres of performance in Western music, such as instrumental and vocal ensembles, large instrumental and vocal groups, and the multimedia genres of opera and musicals (for the major in music of the Western tradition);
• a comprehensive understanding of the various eras of Western music history, such as early and late medieval music, Renaissance music, music of the baroque era, classical music, Romantic music, and music of the twentieth century (major in music of the Western tradition);
• a fundamental understanding of musical instruments, vocal music, musical ensembles, and music performance contexts in selected music traditions, and popular music genres in Western music traditions (major in ethnomusicology);
• a fundamental understanding of the various periods of music history in selected Asian and African music cultures, such as sub-Saharan Africa, India, the Southeast Asian Mainland, Indonesia, and East Asia, including China, Korea, and Japan (major in ethnomusicology);
• musicological skills, including the ability to communicate effectively, the ability to analyse music into its various components, the ability to communicate effectively about music and the ability to think independently about issues associated with music in society;
• fundamental research skills, including the gathering of published written materials and sound-recorded or video or film materials, on a given topic;
• the ability to organise and report on the results of research through clearly written argument and effective oral presentation;
• a basic understanding of, or ability to place, any particular performance of music within its cultural context, with due regard to the historical, economic, and sociocultural factors that impinge upon the performance and contribute to the generation of the sound being communicated from the performer to the listener, and also with respect to the values placed by the listener upon the sound communicated;
• an ability to make critical judgements about a particular music performance with respect to aesthetic values held by the society and/or culture that may be identified as the tradition within which the music is normally performed.

Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3168 Copyright © Monash University 1996 - All Rights Reserved - Caution Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996