Module overview
The structures that later formed the formal British Empire started to emerge around 1600 and have persisted even in the years since the return of Britain’s last major possession, Hong Kong, to China in 1997. This module engages with the question of how the British Empire sounded, and more particularly with how Britain’s often violent global projection of political and economic power impacted musical practices of all kinds, both in areas of British imperial domination and at home in Britain. It will focus on a series of historical case studies, starting with musical practices and encounters in the era of the East India Company, continuing through the major colonial expansions of the eighteenth century and then proceeding through the zenith of formal Empire in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries right up through the era of decolonisation to the present day. We will examine a wide variety of music found in cultures across areas of British influence including folk song, opera, and sacred, ceremonial and popular forms. We will also listen for the Empire’s echoes in historical and present genres back in Britain, such as symphonic music, chamber music, jazz, pop (including the music of migrants from the Empire to Britain) and film music.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Subject Specific Practical Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Discuss how the British Empire might “live on” in today’s music and musical practices
- Identify and discuss critically a variety of ways in which the historical experience of the British Empire has impacted music and musical practices
- Discuss how music affects our current understanding of the history of the British Empire
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Assemble case studies under a thematic umbrella and apply a unified theoretical approach
- Transfer knowledge from one area of study to another
- Gather information independently from a cross-section of interdisciplinary resources
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- Relevant theoretical approaches to the study global music history, imperial history and postcolonial studies
- The ways in which the music histories of Britain and much of the rest of the world are interconnected through the common historical experience of Empire
- Documents and interpretations of how the British Empire shaped and continues to shape music and musical practices around the world
Syllabus
No technical knowledge of music is required to take this module. The module will consist of a series of case studies, for example (but not limited to):
- Music on East India Company ships
- The music of the American Revolution
- The slave trade and the music of the Black Atlantic
- The sound of Imperial diplomacy
- Anglo-Indian Musical Encounters
- The birth of ethnomusicology in colonial and imperial encounters
- The Empire in the Victorian music hall
- Music and Christian mission in the British Empire
- Edward Elgar’s Imperial music
- Jazz and Empire
- Film music and the British Empire
- Echoes of Empire in global pop music (Afropop, Hip-Hop, Rap, Grime etc.)
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include:
- Lectures
- Discussion
- Sharing of ideas and materials via Blackboard and other electronic resources
Learning activities include:
- A wide range of reading (certain books and articles will be required reading)
- Study of selected audio and video recordings
- Individual research
- Use of online resources
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 24 |
| Lecture | 24 |
| Wider reading or practice | 42 |
| Revision | 60 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
General Resources
Irvine, Thomas. Listening to China: Sound and the Sino-Western Encounter, 1770-1839. Manuscript.
Textbooks
Radano, Ronald and Tejumola Olaniyan (2016). Audible Empire: Music, Global Politics, Critique. Durham: Duke University Press.
Beckles Willson, Rachel (2013). Orientalism and Musical Mission: Palestine and the West. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Gilroy, Paul (1995). The Black Atlantic. Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press.
Woodfield, Ian (2000). Music of the Raj: A Social and Economic History of Music in Late Eighteenth Century Anglo-Indian Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Woodfield, Ian (1995). English Music in the Age of Exploration. New York: Pendragon Press.
Radano, Ronald M. and Philip V. Bohlman (2000). Music and the Racial Imagination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Atkins, E. Taylor (2003). Jazz Planet. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press.
Said, Edward (1993). Culture and Imperialism. New York: Vintage.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Essay | 40% |
| Essay | 60% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Resubmit assessments | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External