• Total units 48 Units
  • Major code MUSY-MAJ
  • Academic career Undergraduate

The Musicology major gives students the opportunity to develop a deep and sophisticated understanding of the cultural, historical, theoretical, and analytical situation of music across a variety of cultures and historical periods. Students complete two introductory courses that introduce the notion of inquiry-based musical scholarship. The two later year compulsory courses provide a broad understanding of styles of music writing (such as music criticism), as well as key theoretical and methodological skills, including an introduction to the study of key types of research documents and culminates on the writing of a research project using resources in one of Canberra's cultural institutions. Thereafter, a wide range of academic music courses are available to students for them to complete the additional required 24 units of musicology to gain a robust preparation for Honours and postgraduate research in musicology.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. Demonstrate high-level skills and knowledge of the languages, forms, materials, and techniques of a wide range of musics;
  2. Develop and evaluate musical, cultural, and artistic ideas, concepts and processes by thinking creatively, critically and reflectively, and through engaging with genuine scholarship and recent research;
  3. Interpret, communicate and present ideas, problems and arguments to do with music and the arts in modes suited to a wide range of audiences, informed by sophisticated inquiry and scholarship;
  4. Recognise and reflect on complex social, cultural and ethical issues, and apply local and international perspectives to practice in music.

Back to the top

Requirements

This major requires the completion of 48 units, which must include:

24 units from completion of the following course(s):

Code Title Units
MUSI1109 Music from 1900 to the Present: A Century of Crisis and Change 6
MUSI1113 Introduction to Ethnomusicology 6
MUSI2211 Writing about Music 1: Styles and Theories 6
MUSI3313 Writing about Music 2: Sources and Methods 6

24 units from completion of the following course(s):

Code Title Units
ANIP3003 Australian National Internships Program A 6
INDG2002 Contemporary Australian Indigenous Music Studies 6
MUSI2209 Music Recording and Production Techniques 6
  MUSI 2217: A History of Jazz
MUSI2222 Music in the Long 19th Century: From Classicism to Modernism 6
MUSI2225 Australian Music Culture Studies 6
MUSI3309 Music and Digital Media 6
MUSI3310 Music and Globalisation 6
MUSI3317 Popular Music: In Culture and in Context 6
Back to the top

Responsible Officer: Registrar, Student Administration / Page Contact: Website Administrator / Frequently Asked Questions