Aims

This course introduces students to all aspects of musicology research, including terminology, methods and heuristic principles, bibliographic references, describing and analyzing musicological documents, writing, illustrating and presenting a piece of scientific musicological research. This introduction is contextualised within the framework of the evolution of musicology from the past to the present day.

Main themes

Students will be taught the vocabulary and techniques of Musicology. They will learn how to carry out heuristic research and draw up a bibliography for a given subject. They will be introduced to methodologies for studying musicological documents and musical works. They will also study the major stages in the development of Musicology and current musicological issues, a background which should enable them to take a critical view of their own research.

Content and teaching methods

This course teaches students the history of and current issues in Musicology. It also teaches them about heuristic research methods and musicology research tools. It describes the major reference works on which all research is based and the vast national and international archives. Students are shown how a critical approach can be applied to a number of representative works. They are introduced to musicological work through seminars, library visits and practical work.