Unit name | Medieval Music Palaeography |
---|---|
Unit code | MUSI20123 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Hornby |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
n/a |
Co-requisites |
n/a |
School/department | Department of Music |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit will introduce students to the editorial challenges presented by medieval musical notations. The students will be actively engaged with the interpretation and transcription of medieval music throughout the course.
Aims:
Students will gain familiarity with and experience of reading primary sources of medieval music. They will look closely at, analyse and transcribe some medieval notations.
On completion of this unit, a successful student will:
1. Use the correct nomenclature for medieval musical notations and the conventional palaeographical terminology
2. Understand and articulate key issues related to the transcription of music written in early notational systems
3. Make accurate, critical transcriptions of medieval music
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions, including lectures and self-directed exercises.
Bent, Margaret, ‘The Grammar of Early Music: Preconditions for Analysis’, in Tonal Structures in Early Music, ed. Cristle Collins Judd (Garland Publishing, Inc., 1998)
Hiley David, ‘Notation’, in Western Plainchant - A Handbook (Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1993), pp. 340-401
Levy, Kenneth, ‘On the origin of neumes’, Early Music History 7 (1987), pp. 59-90
Rankin, Susan, ‘On the Treatment of Pitch in Early Music Writing’, Early Music History 30 (2011), pp. 105-75
Rastall, Richard, The Notation of Western Music: an introduction (London, Melbourne, Toronto: J.M. Dent, 1983)
Treitler, Leo, With voice and pen: coming to know medieval song and how it was made (Oxford University Press, 2003)