MUSI3711: Music Theology

• B in A-Level Music

• None.

• None.

• To build on Level 1 and Level 2 work in musicology and extend this into areas linking historical and contemporary liturgical, worship and concert music to aspects of Christian theology, aesthetics, philosophy, musical meaning and the history of ideas. The module aims to embed and enhance musicological skills within examination of relevant intellectual ideas and associated repertoires, developing methodological techniques for application across pertinent repertoires and conceptual ideas of music. Theological concepts will be discussed in relation to music, such as transcendence, immanence, creation and eschatology, as will concepts of the sacred; and denominational liturgical frameworks and musical practices will be explained and explored as used in history and today.

• An exploration of the history of music theology, ranging from the early church to the present day, engaging with and building on a range of musicological and theoretical issues introduced at Levels 1 and 2. The first half of the module introduces key concepts relating music and theological aesthetics, and then covering a selection of theologians on music (from the early church to the present) and composition (from Bach to the present). The second half of the term introduces liturgical and non-liturgical worship music, and discuss key genres and types of music associated with theological content, including psalms, hymns, plainchant, birdsong, improvisation and jazz, spirituals and gospel, musicals and silence. The module ends with an examination of musical worship from a denominational standpoint, including Evangelicalism, Anglicanism and Catholicism.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• Students will gain a broad-based, yet focused, knowledge of theological concepts relating to the history of music from the early church to the present within the Christian tradition.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Students will acquire specific knowledge of theological aesthetics concerning music from the early church to the present, and be able to locate that knowledge critically in the context of musical compositions, genres and musicological ideas.

Key Skills:

• Students will acquire methodological skills, using musicology and theology to interpret key historical concepts, compositions and type of musical worship.

• Whole group lecture/seminars, including class discussion
• Oral presentations in small groups (formative)
• Tutorials
• Directed reading

In preparation of summative assignments, students will be asked to prepare a two page outline. Both formative assignments will serve as the basis of for tutorials in terms 1 and 2.

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