| Unit name | Medieval Music Palaeography |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MUSI30121 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Hornby |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
Technical knowledge of music (ability to read notation fluently is essential; music A level or Associated board grade 8 or equivalent may be required). |
| Co-requisites |
none |
| 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
4. comment critically on the codicological and palaeographical aspects of a primary source of medieval music
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions, including lectures and self-directed exercises.
Weekly transcription assignments x 8, of which the best five marks contribute 50% of the unit mark. ILO 1-2 Final portfolio submission of palaeographical analysis of the manuscript(s) studied, together with (optionally) a set of transcription exercises from those manuscripts (determined in consultation with the unit convenor). Where no transcriptions are undertaken, the portfolio submission will total 3,000 words; the word limit is lower when there is transcription also (to be determined by the unit convenor, depending on the complexity of the transcriptions to be undertaken). 50% of the unit mark; ILO 1-4.
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)
