Musical Cultures and Practices in the Age of Mass Media
A.Y. 2021/2022
Learning objectives
The course develops historical-cultural and theoretical-interpretive competences concerning the interactions between music and mass media in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The course aims to enable students to relate their musicological knowledge with a theoretical and methodological apparatus derived from media and cultural studies. The ability to read and interpret complex intermedia processes informing contemporary musical practices is the main learning goal of the course.
The course aims to enable students to relate their musicological knowledge with a theoretical and methodological apparatus derived from media and cultural studies. The ability to read and interpret complex intermedia processes informing contemporary musical practices is the main learning goal of the course.
Expected learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students will have acquired theoretical-methodological and historiographical awareness regarding some cultural processes which underpin musical practices in the age of mass media. This will be achieved with particular reference to the different monographic theme constituting the main focus of the course every year.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Specific information on the delivery modes of the training activities for the academic year 2021/22 will be provided over the coming months, based on the evolution of the public health situation.
Course syllabus
The course focuses on a different monographic subject each year. This year's subject is "music compiling", broadly intended as covering several creative practices of assembling existing materials in a dialectic and complementary relation with notions of composition, author, authenticity and originality. PART A will have an introductory character and will deal with theoretical and historical issues that are useful for understanding music in relation to analogue and digital media: a special emphasis will be given to the notions of quotation, borrowing, remix, sampling, plagiarism, cover, bricolage, revivalism. Part B will focus on compiling practices in film music, examining their main historical trends and geo-cultural specificities.
Prerequisites for admission
Competence in musical theory and grammar as well as awareness of the research tools of musicological research are assumed during the classes: it is hence highly advisable having attended the workshops "Formazione musicale di base II" and "Strumenti e tecniche della ricerca musicologica (STRiM). It is possible to pair this course with the workshop "Analizzare la popular music", subjected to the assessment of the workshop's access requisites.
Teaching methods
The course is structured as a workshop. Lectures will be interpolated with discussion sessions, the general goal being to provide students with a framework to apply the theoretical-methodological notions available in the bibliography on specific case studies.
Teaching Resources
Classes will be supported by slides and multimedia contents, which will be uploaded to the course's website on the Ariel platform (https://mcorbellacpmemm.ariel.ctu.unimi.it/v5/Home/).
International or Erasmus incoming students are invited to get in touch with the course instructor as soon as possible to define personalised assignments.
The study materials for students with physical and/or learning disabilities will need to be arranged with the course instructor, according to the guidelines of the competent Helpdesk.
PART A
Reading materials for attending and non-attending students
- J. PETER BURKHOLDER, "Borrowing", in Grove Music Online, 2001 (sections 1, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- LUCIO SPAZIANTE, Sociosemiotica del pop. Identità, testi e pratiche musicali, Carocci, 2007, pp. 15-47 (Chps. 1-2: "I confini del pop"; "Il testo pop"), 131-162 (Chp. 7: "Testualità sonora: dalla scrittura alla lettura")
- - SERGE LACASSE, Intertextuality and Hypertextuality in Recorded Popular Music, in The Musical Work: Reality or Invention?, ed. by Michael Talbot, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 35-58.
- GABRIELE MARINO, Frammenti di un disco incantato. Teorie semiotiche, testualità e generi musicali, Aracne, 2020, pp. 137-159 (Cap. VIII: "Ideologie del vero e del nuovo"; Cap. IX: "Nuovo, vecchio e di nuovo")
- LUCA MARCONI, Per una tipologia e una storia delle cover, in Remix-Remake. Pratiche di replicabilità, a cura di Nicola Dusi e Lucio Spaziante, Meltemi, 2005, pp. 209-227.
- EDUARDO NAVAS, OWEN GALLAGHER, XTINE BURROUGHS (eds.) Keywords in Remix Studies, Routledge, 2018, the following chapters:
· Appropriation, 14-23
· Mashup, 188-201
· Remix, 246-258
· Sampling, 259-272
Further reading for non-attending students:
- TAMAS TOFALVY, Continuity and Change in the Relationship Between Popular Music, Culture, and Technology: An Introduction, in Popular Music, Technology, and the Changing Media Ecosystem: From Cassettes to Stream, ed. by Tamas Tofalvy and Emília Barna, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 1-13.
- ALESSANDRO BRATUS, Mediatization in Popular Music Recorded Artifacts, Lexington Books, 2019, pp. 1-29 (Introduction: "Theoretically Live: Performance and Mediation between Experience, Intermediality, and Authenticity")
PARTE B
Reading materials for attending and non-attending students:
- MAURIZIO CORBELLA, Introduzione. La compilation soundtrack come ipotesi di lavoro per la storia della musica nel cinema italiano, «Schermi» IV/7 (2020), pp. 7-27. Accessible online: https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/schermi/article/view/14091
- JULIE HUBBERT, The Compilation Soundtrack from the 1960s to the Present, in The Oxford Handbook of Film Music Studies, ed. by Jim Buhler, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 290-318
- JEFF SMITH, 'The tunes they are a-changing': Moments of Historical Rupture and Reconfiguration in the Production and Commerce of Music in Film, in The Oxford Handbook of Film Music Studies, ed. by Jim Buhler, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 270-290.
- MIGUEL MERA, Screen Music and the Question of Originality, in The Routledge Companion to Film Music and Sound, ed. M. Mera, R. Sadoff, B. Winters, Routledge, 2017, pp. 38-49
- ARVED ASHBY (ed.), Popular Music and the New Auteur, Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 1-27 ("Introduction")
- ANAHID KASSABIAN, Hearing Film: Tracking Identifications in Contemporary Hollywood Film Music, Routledge, 2001, pp. 1-14 ("Listening for identifications. A prologue")
- RONALD RODMAN, The Popular Music as Leitmotiv in 1990s Film, in Changing Tunes: The Use of Pre-existing Music in Film, eds. P. Powrie and R. Stilwell, Ashgate, 2006, pp. 119-136.
- MARCO TARGA, La prassi della compilazione nel cinema muto italiano, «Musica e storia» 3 (2009), 679-700.
Further reading for non-attending students:
Two articles of your choice, from the special issue "La compilation soundtrack nel cinema sonoro italiano", ed. by M. Corbella, in «Schermi» IV/7 (2020). Accessible online: https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/schermi/issue/view/1583
For preparing the two articles, the audio-vison of the films treated in each articl is required.corrispondenti.
International or Erasmus incoming students are invited to get in touch with the course instructor as soon as possible to define personalised assignments.
The study materials for students with physical and/or learning disabilities will need to be arranged with the course instructor, according to the guidelines of the competent Helpdesk.
PART A
Reading materials for attending and non-attending students
- J. PETER BURKHOLDER, "Borrowing", in Grove Music Online, 2001 (sections 1, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
- LUCIO SPAZIANTE, Sociosemiotica del pop. Identità, testi e pratiche musicali, Carocci, 2007, pp. 15-47 (Chps. 1-2: "I confini del pop"; "Il testo pop"), 131-162 (Chp. 7: "Testualità sonora: dalla scrittura alla lettura")
- - SERGE LACASSE, Intertextuality and Hypertextuality in Recorded Popular Music, in The Musical Work: Reality or Invention?, ed. by Michael Talbot, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 35-58.
- GABRIELE MARINO, Frammenti di un disco incantato. Teorie semiotiche, testualità e generi musicali, Aracne, 2020, pp. 137-159 (Cap. VIII: "Ideologie del vero e del nuovo"; Cap. IX: "Nuovo, vecchio e di nuovo")
- LUCA MARCONI, Per una tipologia e una storia delle cover, in Remix-Remake. Pratiche di replicabilità, a cura di Nicola Dusi e Lucio Spaziante, Meltemi, 2005, pp. 209-227.
- EDUARDO NAVAS, OWEN GALLAGHER, XTINE BURROUGHS (eds.) Keywords in Remix Studies, Routledge, 2018, the following chapters:
· Appropriation, 14-23
· Mashup, 188-201
· Remix, 246-258
· Sampling, 259-272
Further reading for non-attending students:
- TAMAS TOFALVY, Continuity and Change in the Relationship Between Popular Music, Culture, and Technology: An Introduction, in Popular Music, Technology, and the Changing Media Ecosystem: From Cassettes to Stream, ed. by Tamas Tofalvy and Emília Barna, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, pp. 1-13.
- ALESSANDRO BRATUS, Mediatization in Popular Music Recorded Artifacts, Lexington Books, 2019, pp. 1-29 (Introduction: "Theoretically Live: Performance and Mediation between Experience, Intermediality, and Authenticity")
PARTE B
Reading materials for attending and non-attending students:
- MAURIZIO CORBELLA, Introduzione. La compilation soundtrack come ipotesi di lavoro per la storia della musica nel cinema italiano, «Schermi» IV/7 (2020), pp. 7-27. Accessible online: https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/schermi/article/view/14091
- JULIE HUBBERT, The Compilation Soundtrack from the 1960s to the Present, in The Oxford Handbook of Film Music Studies, ed. by Jim Buhler, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 290-318
- JEFF SMITH, 'The tunes they are a-changing': Moments of Historical Rupture and Reconfiguration in the Production and Commerce of Music in Film, in The Oxford Handbook of Film Music Studies, ed. by Jim Buhler, Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 270-290.
- MIGUEL MERA, Screen Music and the Question of Originality, in The Routledge Companion to Film Music and Sound, ed. M. Mera, R. Sadoff, B. Winters, Routledge, 2017, pp. 38-49
- ARVED ASHBY (ed.), Popular Music and the New Auteur, Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 1-27 ("Introduction")
- ANAHID KASSABIAN, Hearing Film: Tracking Identifications in Contemporary Hollywood Film Music, Routledge, 2001, pp. 1-14 ("Listening for identifications. A prologue")
- RONALD RODMAN, The Popular Music as Leitmotiv in 1990s Film, in Changing Tunes: The Use of Pre-existing Music in Film, eds. P. Powrie and R. Stilwell, Ashgate, 2006, pp. 119-136.
- MARCO TARGA, La prassi della compilazione nel cinema muto italiano, «Musica e storia» 3 (2009), 679-700.
Further reading for non-attending students:
Two articles of your choice, from the special issue "La compilation soundtrack nel cinema sonoro italiano", ed. by M. Corbella, in «Schermi» IV/7 (2020). Accessible online: https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/schermi/issue/view/1583
For preparing the two articles, the audio-vison of the films treated in each articl is required.corrispondenti.
Assessment methods and Criteria
ATTENDING STUDENTS
Students who attend classes are required to write a final paper (approximately 4500/5000-word long). The topic of the paper will have to be agreed upon with the course instructor and will have to show connections with the monographic subject of the course.
The assessment criteria for the paper will be:
1. Pertinence with the monographic subject of the course;
2. Originality of the chosen topic/approach;
3. Analytical competence and interpretive depth;
4. Ability to integrate the perspectives and notions drawn from the classes and the bibliography (by recurring to extra bibliography, if required by the topic) within a personal critical framework;
5. Formal quality of writing (terminological appropriateness, precision, fluidity, coherence, accuracy of the critical apparatus).
The paper must be submitted with a minimum 10-day advance on the date selected for the exam. The following oral examination will consist in a discussion of the paper, drawing on the topics covered during classes and on the bibliography of the course.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
Students who do not attend classes will have to hold an oral exam consisting in a discussion of the bibliographic, audio and audiovisual materials enlisted in the programme. The assessment criteria for the exam will be:
1. Knowledge of the programme materials;
2. Ability to critically re-elaborate what was studied;
3. Quality of expression (terminological appropriateness and precision, argumentative coherence).
STUDENTS WITH PHYSICAL AND/OR LEARNING DISABILITIES
The modes of examination for students with physical and/or learning disabilities will need to be agreed with the course instructor, according with the guidelines of the competent Helpdesk.
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
International and Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the course instructor in advance, in order to agree on a specific programme and on the exam's modality.
Students who attend classes are required to write a final paper (approximately 4500/5000-word long). The topic of the paper will have to be agreed upon with the course instructor and will have to show connections with the monographic subject of the course.
The assessment criteria for the paper will be:
1. Pertinence with the monographic subject of the course;
2. Originality of the chosen topic/approach;
3. Analytical competence and interpretive depth;
4. Ability to integrate the perspectives and notions drawn from the classes and the bibliography (by recurring to extra bibliography, if required by the topic) within a personal critical framework;
5. Formal quality of writing (terminological appropriateness, precision, fluidity, coherence, accuracy of the critical apparatus).
The paper must be submitted with a minimum 10-day advance on the date selected for the exam. The following oral examination will consist in a discussion of the paper, drawing on the topics covered during classes and on the bibliography of the course.
NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
Students who do not attend classes will have to hold an oral exam consisting in a discussion of the bibliographic, audio and audiovisual materials enlisted in the programme. The assessment criteria for the exam will be:
1. Knowledge of the programme materials;
2. Ability to critically re-elaborate what was studied;
3. Quality of expression (terminological appropriateness and precision, argumentative coherence).
STUDENTS WITH PHYSICAL AND/OR LEARNING DISABILITIES
The modes of examination for students with physical and/or learning disabilities will need to be agreed with the course instructor, according with the guidelines of the competent Helpdesk.
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
International and Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the course instructor in advance, in order to agree on a specific programme and on the exam's modality.
Unita' didattica A
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Unita' didattica B
L-ART/07 - MUSICOLOGY AND HISTORY OF MUSIC - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)
Reception:
Thursdays, 10:00-13:00, upon appointment. Meetings will either take place in presence or via Microsoft Teams.
Office of the professor, Via Noto 6 (1st floor)