Revised postgraduate programme specification
School of Oriental and African Studies
The following information forms the programme specification at the School of
Oriental and African Studies, University of London. It gives definitive
information relating to a programme of study and is written for a public
audience, particularly prospective and current students. It is also used for other
purposes such as initial programme approval, and is therefore produced at the
start of the programme development process. Once approved, it forms the baseline information for all statements relating to the programme and is updated as
approved amendments are made.
CORE INFORMATION
Programme title
Final award
Intermediate awards
Mode of attendance
Performance
MMus
N/A
Full time, part time (2 yrs), part time (3
yrs)
N/A
N/A
UCAS code
Professional body accreditation
Date specification created/updated
WHY CHOOSE THIS PROGRAMME?
Why study at SOAS?
SOAS is unique as the only higher
education institution in the UK
specialising in the study of Africa, Asia
and the Middle East. The School also has
the largest concentration of specialist
faculty concerned with the study of these
areas at any university in the world.
SOAS is consistently ranked among the
top higher education institutions in the
UK and the world and it also offers a
friendly, vibrant environment for students
in a diverse and close-knit community.
What is special about this programme?
This programme allows students to
develop performance to a professional
standard in a specific Asian and African
music traditions while acquiring
knowledge pertinent to performance and
the geographical or stylistic region of
their performance specialism. Optional
courses allow students to pursue
additional interests as well. The
Department of Music has been highly
rated for teaching and research in all
recent assessment exercises, and is
regularly ranked amongst the top Music
1
departments in the UK in Good
University Guides. Music students have
access to the large Main Library of the
School which holds numerous books,
journals and recordings relevant to the
study of ethnomusicology and world
music, as well as the nearby British
Library Sound Archive and other London
libraries and museums. Listening
facilities are provided in the Library, and
most CDs are available on short loan.
Among special items in the Department’s
collections are:field recordings, films and
slides; a large working collection of
musical instruments from Asia and
Africa; extensive staff collections relating
to specific research interests
Who would it suit?
Candidates should normally have an
upper second class degree in music or a
related discipline, or significant
equivalent experience. The programme is
available over one calendar year fulltime, or two or three calendar years parttime. The programme is designed to be
either an end qualification in its own right
or to prepare the student for a research
programme (MPhil or PhD)
The performance programme, in which
students choose an Asian or African
performance tradition, is examined in two
parts: the first is a straightforward
demonstration of performance skills, the
second requires evidence of practicebased research. To supplement this
practical element, students take a course
in one of the regional music courses
offered at SOAS, taught through lectures
and tutorials, a performance theory
training programme, and one of a set of
optional courses (including further
regional courses). In addition to these
formal elements, students may attend
postgraduate and public seminars and
may also participate in performance
ensemble classes and other activities.
Students are assessed through
performance examinations, unseen
examinations and aural examinations,
coursework and a dissertation.
Programme structure
Assessment summary
2
Coursework may be in the form of
essays, radio programmes, audio or
audio-visual projects, or exercises in
transcription and analysis. The
proportions of these different types of
assessment will depend on course options
chosen.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Minimum good second class honours (or equivalent)
SOAS has general minimum entrance requirements for registration for a postgraduate
taught degree and these can be viewed at
http://www.soas.ac.uk/admissions/pg/howtoapply/
PROGRAMME AIMS
This degree programme has been designed to meet the requirements of students who
wish to specialise on performance while studying for an academic degree. It satisfies
the requirements of the AHRC for students applying for funding under Competition P
and it includes a training component that may allow students to continue on to
MPhil/PhD programmes.
PROGRAMME LEARNING OUTCOMES
A. Knowledge & Understanding
1. How to perform the music (or dance) of a specific Asian or African region or style
to a professional standard.
2. How to assess data and evidence critically and theoretically about performance
from live performance, audio and audio-visual resources, manuscripts and digital
sources. Students will develop skills to solve problems of conflicting sources and
conflicting interpretations, to locate materials, to use research sources (particularly
research library catalogues and sound archives) and other relevant sources.
3. To gain a thorough grounding in the theoretical and thematic focus of performance
theory, in respect to music (or dance) and related disciplines, so as to develop
appropriate techniques that can be applied to music (or dance) performance.
4. To obtain a solid knowledge of the music of a specific culture or region in Asia or
Africa.
5. To acquire additional relevant knowledge and experience pertaining to the music
industry, composition, and transcription and analysis.
B. Intellectual (thinking) Skills
1. Students should become precise and cautious in their assessment of evidence, and
to understand through practice what audio and audio-visual recordings, live
performance events, transcriptions, notations and written documents (including
internet resources) can and cannot tell us.
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2. Students should question interpretations, however authoritative, and reassess
evidence for themselves.
3. Students should acquire sensitivity towards the perspectives of Asian and African
musicians and music scholars, and become aware of and think through the problems
involved in matching European performance and academic frameworks with Asian
and African understandings and practice. They should at all times be cognisant of
ethical dimensions in their work, maintaining best practice as defined both by UK
universities and the relevant international authorities.
4. Students should develop intellectual understandings of music, and of the music of a
specific cultural or regional tradition, that supplement and inform their performance,
including understandings based on analysis, transcription, and fieldwork.
C. Practical Skills
The programme aims to help students with the following practical skills:
1. Performance skills in a specific Asian or African music (or dance) to a professional
standard.
2. Communication of performance skills through an awareness of presentation and
other aspects of performance theory.
3. Effective communication in writing, demonstrating the ability to retrieve, sift and
select information from a variety of sources. Verbal presentation, through seminar
papers and in introducing performance practice. Discussion and listening skills to
explore ideas introduced during seminars.
4. Practice research techniques applied to performance in a variety of contexts,
including, as relevant, inter-cultural and cross-cultural collaborations, and specialized
research libraries and institutes.
5. Develop, as appropriate, other skills relevant to music, such as fieldwork skills,
audio and audio-visual recording skills, transcription and analysis skills, and skills in
the preparation of radio programmes.
D Transferable Skills
The programme will encourage students to:
1. Prepare and perform well-structured, balanced, and effective performance events.
2. Develop critical performance theory skills.
3. Write good review and essays.
4. Structure and communicate ideas effectively in performance contexts and both
orally and in writing.
5. Understand unconventional ideas.
6. Study a variety of performance, archived, written and digital materials, in libraries,
archives, and other research institutes of a kind they will not have used as
undergraduates or as performance specialists.
7. Present (non-assessed) material orally.
8. Develop, as appropriate, skills relevant to music, such as performance skills,
fieldwork skills, audio and audio-visual recording skills, transcription and analysis
skills, and skills in the preparation of radio programmes.
PROGRAMME STRUCTURE AND REQUIREMENTS FOR GAINING AN
AWARD
Structure, duration and requirements for gaining an award
4
SOAS has standard requirements relating to the structure and duration of taught
postgraduate programmes and for the award and classification of these programmes.
Details can be found at
http://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/degreeregulations/file60379.pdf
Programme structure diagram
Below is a structure diagram for this programme.
Level
7
7
7
Year of
study
1
Course code Course title
Credit
Status
15PMUH00
2
22.5
Core
1 or 2 if
part
time
1 or 2/3
if parttime
15PMUC002 Performance
45
Core
15PMUC008 Performance as
Research
45
Core
Performance
Theory
Notes
COURSES TO THE VALUE OF 67.5 CREDITS FROM LISTS A, B AND/OR C, INCLUDING
AT LEAST ONE COURSE FROM LIST A.
LIST A: AREA COURSES
7
1 or 2/3
if parttime
15PMUH01
6
Musical Traditions
of East Asia
22.5
Optional
7
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
15PMUH01
4
Pop and Politics in
East Asia
22.5
Optional
15PMUH01
7
Aspects of Music
and Religion in
South East Asia
Popular and Fusion
Music in South
East Asia
22.5
Optional
22.5
Optional
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
15PMUC027 Indian Classical
Music
45
Optional
15PMUC005 Music in South
Asian Culture
(Masters) 15PMUH00 Central Asian
22.5
Optional
22.5
Optional
7
7
7
7
7
15PMUH01
8
5
7
7
7
7
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
7
1 or 2/3
if parttime
7
1 or 2/3
if parttime
8
Music
15 PMU
H010
Popular Music and
Politics in Israel -
22.5
Optional
15PMUH01
1
Klezmer Music:
Roots and Revival
22.5
Optional
45
Optional
45
Optional
45
Optional
22.5
Optional
22.5
Optional
22.5
Optional
22.5
Optional
22.5
Optional
15PMUC033 Music of the Near
and Middle East
and North Africa 15PMUC009 Atlantic Africa:
(P)Layers of
Mediation in
African Popular
Music (PG)
15PMUC006 Music in Selected
Regions of Africa:
Contexts and
Structures 15PMUH01 Music, Place and
5
Politics in Cuba -
LIST B: ADDITIONAL COURSES
7
1 or 2/3 15PMUH00 Analysing World
if part4
Music:
time
Transcription &
Analysis in
Ethnomusicology 7
1 or 2/3 15PMUH00 Composition
if part1
time
7
1 or 2/3 15PMUH00 Gender and Music
if part9
(MMus) time
7
1 or 2/3 15PMUH00 The Music
if part3
Business (Masters)
time
-
LIST C: Courses taught at King’s College. NB special assessment rules apply for
SOAS students to bring the credit rating up to 22.5 – please check with course
tutors at King’s for requirements.
7
7
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if part-
7AAMM007
7AAMM008
Issues in
22.5
Biography and
Criticism
Theories of
22.5
Modernism and the
6
Optional
Optional
7
7
7
7
7
7
time
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
1 or 2/3
if parttime
7AAMM009
7AAMM010
7AAMM013
7AAMM034
7AAMM035
7AAMM056
Avant-Garde
Issues in
Historiography and
Criticism
Performance,
Gesture and
Meaning
21st-Century Bach
22.5
Optional
22.5
Optional
22.5
Optional
Post-tonal Music
and Composition
Theory
Advanced Opera
Study
22.5
Optional
22.5
Optional
Advanced Studies
in Musical
Analysis &
Criticism:
Beethoven's Late
Works
22.5
Optional
The availability of optional/elective courses may vary in a given academic session due
to factors such as staff absence and student numbers. For an up to date list of
courses running in a given academic session please refer to the degree structures as
listed on the SOAS website for the degree programmes taught by each Department.
TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT
Teaching/Learning Methods & Strategies (with reference to learning outcomes
above)
A Knowledge & Understanding Acquisition of 1 through individual or small group
lessons with appropriate specialist performers, coupled to attendance in seminars and
classes. Students are required to attend all classes, study extensively on their own and
prepare non-assessed work regularly. Students are encouraged to take part in
additional group performance activities, both as part of ensembles and in
improvisation or composition workshops.
Acquisition of 2 and 3 through attending the core course (Performance Theory),
coupled to public and research seminars, workshops and concerts, through guided and
independent reading, and in the preparation of coursework chosen with guidance from
essays on theoretical topics, fieldwork projects. Students may train and complete
coursework in sound engineering, radio programme development and broadcast, and
transcription and analysis.
Acquisition of 4 through attending one of six regional and culture-specific courses
(Indian Classical Music/Music in the Cultures of South Asia, Popular Music and
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Politics in Israel, Klezmer music: roots and revival, Music of East Asia, Music of
Southeast Asia, Music of Africa: Contexts and Structures, Music of the Middle East),
coupled to tutorials, through guided and independent reading, and in the preparation
of coursework.
Acquisition of 5 through an optional course, the choice being approved in advance by
the course convenor to ensure an appropriate relation with other parts of the degree
programme. Three courses are offered as a minimum, concerning the music business,
composition, and transcription and analysis.
Assessment:
Through practical performance examinations, performed solo or in ensembles, each
practical element supplemented by the completion of a portfolio and programme
notes. Non-performance components are assessed through unseen examinations and
aural examinations and coursework. Coursework may be in the form of essays, radio
programmes, audio or audio-visual projects, or exercises in transcription and analysis.
B Intellectual (thinking) Skills Acquisition of 1 and 2 is fostered in all courses
offered as part of the degree programme, in that all courses introduce or, in the case of
performance courses, require (a) information that will need to be assessed critically
and (b) demonstrate how conflicting interpretations arise from the same information.
In the case of performance courses, these aspects of teaching and learning are
expected to be demonstrated in both the performance and portfolio components.
Acquisition of 3 is fostered through (a) contact at SOAS and beyond with
performers of Asian and African music and (b) through the examination of
literature and recordings produced by musicians, scholars and music producers
in Europe and America as well as in Asia and Africa and. The learning experience
is enhanced through tutorial discussions within the core course, particularly
because of the wide variety of backgrounds and wide variety of experience that
the students have, and because of the extra-curricular workshop and
performance events that are arranged by the Department of Music. Acquisition 4
is fostered by the combination of theoretical and thematic coverage in the core
course and the content of the regional or culture-specific music course chosen by
the student.
Assessment:
Through the combination required of practical presentation and portfolio in
performance courses, and in non-performance courses, through unseen examinations
and aural examinations and coursework. Coursework may be in the form of essays,
radio programmes, audio or audio-visual projects, or exercises in transcription and
analysis.
C Practical Skills Acquisition of 1 and 2 through the preparation of two performance
programmes, and the presentation of these on stage or in an appropriate concert
environment, supplemented by writing programme notes and preparing a portfolio of
relevant materials. Acquisition of 3 through library research, class presentations, use
of music archives (including the National Sound Archive) and internet resources.
Acquisition of 3 and 4 through regular seminar presentations, through discussion, and
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through the setting of clear deadlines for the submission of written work. Acquisition
of 5 through the provision of, and encouraging students to participate in formal and
informal workshops and performance activities, including collaborative cross-cultural
and inter-cultural sessions, improvisations and composition workshops. Acquisition of
6 through classes on fieldwork, transcription and analysis, and the availability of
training in audio and audio-visual recording, coupled to elective coursework in these
areas.
Assessment:
Through the combination required of practical presentation and portfolio in
performance courses, and in non-performance courses, through unseen examinations
and aural examinations and coursework. Coursework may be in the form of essays,
radio programmes, audio or audio-visual projects, or exercises in transcription and
analysis.
D Transferable Skills Acquisition of 1, 2 and 4 through the preparation of two
performance programmes, and the presentation of these on stage or in an appropriate
concert environment, supplemented by writing programme notes and preparing a
portfolio of relevant materials. Acquisition of 3, 4, 5 and 7 through class and seminar
presentations, discussions and essays. Acquisition of 6 through access to the SOAS
Library and the British Library Sound Archive, and through the provision of detailed
reading lists, including references to internet materials.
Acquisition of 8 through elective training on fieldwork, transcription and analysis,
and training in audio and audio-visual recording.
Assessment:
Through the combination required of practical presentation and portfolio in
performance courses, and in non-performance courses, through unseen examinations
and aural examinations and coursework. Coursework may be in the form of essays,
radio programmes, audio or audio-visual projects, or exercises in transcription and
analysis.
REFERENCE POINTS
The following reference points were used in designing the programme:
1. School learning and teaching strategy
2. Staff research
3. QAA framework for higher education qualifications
4. Music subject benchmark (BA only)
5. Discussions with musicians and relevant music industry professionals
6. Feedback from students collected annually.
QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ENHANCEMENT
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SOAS has internal procedures to assure the quality of provision to be offered to
students and to enhance the quality in the light of experience following delivery,
taking into account the input of external experts and students.
The procedures are set out in the School’s Quality Assurance Handbook and can be
viewed at http://www.soas.ac.uk/add/qualityassurance/quality-assurance-handbook/.
SOAS is also subject to periodic external review from bodies such as the Quality
Assurance Agency for Higher Education and relevant professional and statutory
regulatory bodies.
The procedures described in the Quality Assurance Handbook are in place to provide
a high quality student experience for those choosing to study at SOAS, and student
input and evaluation of their experiences is greatly valued. Students make an input to
the ongoing development of their programmes, and the environment in which they
operate, in a number of ways, including: Formal student evaluation as part of the
annual programme review; student representation on School committees at various
levels (through the Students’ Union) where many relevant issues are discussed.
FURTHER INFORMATION
SOAS Vision and Strategy Statement;
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Handbooks;
Departmental handbooks;
Quality Assurance Handbook;
UCAS website;
QAA website;
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