Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Experimental Musics
School	Lan, Cult, Art Hist & Music
Department	Music
Module Code	09 37029
Module Lead	Christopher Haworth / Scott D Wilson
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-180 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module offers a transnational exploration of experimental music. It engages with these fields through a topics-based approach that may cover: John Cage and indeterminacy; fluxus, happenings and performance art; minimalism; graphical and verbal notation; site-specific sound art; experimental electronics; conceptual music. Since each of these movements were in their own ways responses to changes in social, political, and technological realms, particularly during and after the Cold War, experimental music and sound art will be situated in relation to their wider cultural and artistic contexts. To this end, students may also become acquainted with adjacent developments in the gallery arts (painting, sculpture, media art, conceptual art), cinema, theatre and dance, as well as the intersection of experimental music with the politics of race, sexuality and gender. Teaching on the module will be delivered through lectures, seminars, in class performances, and other ‘experiments’.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate a sophisticated and nuanced grasp of a variety of experimental music traditions, including the figures associated with them and the changing relations between music and other art forms; Critically evaluate unconventional works, and analyse these works using appropriate methodologies; Contextualise experimental music historically.
Assessment	37029-01 : 8 x short written responses : Coursework (20%) 37029-02 : Practical Project : Practical (30%) 37029-03 : Research Project : Coursework (50%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: Research Project : Coursework (50%, 2500 words); Practical Project (submitted as video and either played in class or over an online platform) : Practical (30%, 8-10 mins presented in class inclusive of short presentation); Short Written Responses : Coursework (20%, 8 weekly assignments, 1000 words in total). Reassessment: No resits are permitted in final year. If students miss the assessed task owing to extenuating circumstances, the failed task would be rescheduled at a later date.
Other
Reading List