Unit of Study MUSC1009 Sounds, Styles and Cultures (2025)

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Unit Snapshot

Unit type

UG Coursework Unit
Credit points

12
Faculty & College

Faculty of Business, Law and Arts
Placement

No

Unit description

Explores the fundamental elements involved in the historical development of contemporary music styles and introduces foundation concepts of musicology and ethnomusicology. Students will participate in weekly tutorials and workshops and engage with a range of musical cultures.

Unit content

Module 1: The physics of sound and human sound cognition.

Module 2: Ancient musical cultures and aural musical traditions.

Module 3: Music scale systems, instrumentation and notation.

Module 4: Western Art music traditions.

Module 5: African American music traditions.

Module 6: The emergence of popular music and the music industry.

Availabilities

Location	Domestic	International
Coomera	Term2	Term2
Lismore	Term2	Term2

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

explain fundamental concepts relating to the physics of sound and the neurology of human sound perception

describe the historical development of global musical cultures and factors that influenced the emergence of specific musical styles of popular and contemporary music

identify prominent stylistic features of a range of popular music styles

utilise specific research methodologies employed in the analysis of global musical styles and cultures.

Teaching and assessment

Teaching method

Workshop 1 hour (Weekly)

Tutorial 2 hours (Weekly)

Assessment
Essay	45%
Critical review	30%
Quiz	25%

Teaching method

Workshop 1 hour (Weekly)

Tutorial 2 hours (Weekly)

Assessment
Essay	45%
Critical review	30%
Quiz	25%

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts

Prescribed text information is not currently available.

Prescribed Resources/Equipment

Prescribed resources/equipment information is not currently available.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.

Fee information

Domestic

Commonwealth Supported courses
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Fee paying courses
For postgraduate or undergraduate full-fee paying courses please check Domestic Postgraduate Fees OR Domestic Undergraduate Fees.

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