HISTORY OF MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY MUSIC
cod. 1011091

Academic year 2024/25
2° year of course - First semester
Professor
Marco CAPRA
Academic discipline
Musicologia e storia della musica (L-ART/07)
Field
"storia, archeologia e storia dell'arte"
Type of training activity
Characterising
30 hours
of face-to-face activities
6 credits
hub: PARMA
course unit
in

Integrated course unit module: MUSIC HISTORY (integr.)

Learning objectives

At the end of the course students - who do not require a previous disciplinary competence - will have acquired knowledge and awareness on the main aspects of language, genres, and protagonists of European and North-American music from the 18th to the 21st century, with particular reference to social implications and relationship with other artistic forms.
Knowledge and understanding:
students will develop knowledge and understanding skills through the constant use of different sources (sound and multimedia materials, books and articles of scientific, educational and informative nature, conferences, seminars, guided visits to museums, theatrical, concert and orchestra institutions).

Applying knowledge and understanding:
students will be able to apply their knowledge and understanding skills to critically consider their experience as music users, to reflect on the historical roots and the evolution of music as an artistic expression. The application of such knowledge and skills will be particularly useful for students in the educational, literary and artistic fields, who will complete their disciplinary training with concepts and notions generally not covered by lower levels of the school system.

Making judgment:
students will develop the ability to collect and interpret data useful to formulate independent judgments, critically reflecting on the current reality and on the historical reasons that have determined it. In particular, they will be able to critically consider their personal experience, evaluate the reliability of sources and information, and integrate the acquired knowledge in a conscious way.

Communication skills:
the student will put to good use the work done on the contents together with the teacher and the other students to develop the ability to communicate clearly and well-founded his personal experience and his reflections both during the lessons and during the exam and in non-educational context towards specialists and non-specialist interlocutors.
Learning skills:
thanks to the approach to the subject, which tends to problematic reflection and aims at developing a critical sense with respect to the current reality, the student will develop the stimuli and skills needed to increase their knowledge through further non-occasional studies and even independently conducted.

Prerequisites

No

Course unit content

The course is dedicated to the salient aspects of musical culture (European and North-American traditions in particular) without distinction of genre, from the 18th to the 21st century:
- economy and society: production and representativeness
- places: theatres and halls, outdoor places, virtual places
- technology: instruments, stagecraft, reproducers and speakers
- communication: shows, oral and press release, reproduction, mass media
- protagonists: authors, interpreters, implementers, managers, governors, communicators, public
- language: genres and forms

Full programme

See 'Contents'.

Bibliography

Bibliography contains general reference texts. The final list for the preparation of the exam is provided at the beginning of the lessons on paper and on the Elly online teaching portal.
- ‘Dispensa’ for the preparation of the written test.
- U. Michels, “Atlante di musica”, Milano, Sperling & Kupfer, 1994
- AA. VV., “Storia della musica”, voll. 6-12, cur. SIdM, Torino, Edt, 1982 sgg.
- AA. VV., “Italia 1911. Musica e società alla fine della Bella Époque”, cur. B.M. Antolini, Milano, Guerini e Ass., 2014
- AA. VV., “Italia millenovecentocinquanta”, cur. B.M. Antolini e G. Salvetti, Milano, Guerini e Ass., 1999
- AA. VV., “Italia 2000”, cur. A. Estero e G. Salvetti, Milano, Guerini e Ass., 2011
- “La nuova enciclopedia della musica”, Milano, Garzanti, 2012

Teaching methods

Lectures (with constant use of slides, audio and audiovisual aids); listening sessions; guided tours; participation in seminars and conferences.
The exam preparation program (in the versions for attending and non-attending students) is available on paper and on the Elly portal at the beginning of the lessons. The program for non-attending students provides additional bibliography that make up for the lack of attendance to the lessons.
All the texts indicated for the preparation of the exam can be consulted at the Library of the Musicology section. The ‘Dispensa’ (see Texts of reference) indicated for the preparation of the written part of the exam is available at the beginning of the lessons on the Elly portal or can be requested directly from the teacher.
The teaching materials used during the lessons (schemes, texts, slides) or support for guided tours, seminars and conferences are available on the Elly portal after their use in class or during the aforementioned events.

Assessment methods and criteria

The exam consists of an oral examination. The examination consists of questions aimed at verifying the degree of knowledge and awareness achieved by the student. For attending students 50% of the oral examination focuses on the content of the lessons (including slides, multimedia aids, musical listening), the rest on the content of the texts indicated in the exam program. For non-attending students the test focuses on the content of the texts and on the listening musical pieces indicated in the program.
As a whole, the exam aims to evaluate:
- the ability to correctly insert events and protagonists of music in their historical period
- the awareness and the critical sense in relation to the actual daily reality and to the historical roots
- the ability to relate the musical experience with other artistic forms
- the ability to connect the concepts learned from the study of the texts to the experience of direct listening
- the capacity for rationalization on specific topics and the correct presentation of the related results
For evaluation, the insufficiency is determined by the ignorance of the minimum contents of the course; the inability to formulate judgments in an autonomous and founded way, and to relate concepts and events between them; from the inability to express themselves adequately. A sufficient assessment (18-23 / 30) is determined by an acceptable level with respect to the aforementioned evaluation indicators; an average rating (24-27 / 30) reflects a level that is more than sufficient to good; a high rating (28-30 / 30 ‘e lode’) attests a very good to excellent level.

The exam aims to evaluate:
- the ability to correctly insert events and protagonists of music in their historical period
- the awareness and the critical sense in relation to the actual daily reality and to the historical roots
- the ability to relate the musical experience with other artistic forms
- the ability to connect the concepts learned from the study of the texts to the experience of direct listening
- the capacity for rationalization on specific topics and the correct presentation of the related results

Other information

Lessons and exams in PRESENCE MODE at Casa della Musica (p.le San Francesco, 1).

2030 agenda goals for sustainable development

This teaching contributes to the realisation of the UN objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.