Musicology (B.A.) (two subjects)

Music is not just something people listen to or do: it is also something people study. Musicology is the science of music: it is about finding out what music actually is, how it works, and what it means to people. And it is about fundamentally thinking about what we can learn about people, their cultures, their history(s) and their webs of relationships through music.

Musicology views music as a human practice that has a wide variety of forms and meanings through the diversity of the world's cultures and historical change. At the Göttingen Department of Musicology, we are convinced that there is not one music, but many musics. Music can be studied in many manifestations: as a communicative expression, as a system of knowledge, as part of cultural action and cultural identity. Music can be analysed as a work of art or as a function of a social network within a society. Music can be used as a medium for feelings, ideas and self-understandings, or as an instrument of (powerlessness) power.

This plurality is also reflected in the means of researching music. The focus here is on thinking about music as well as thinking through music and sound, for which we have the following repertoires of methods at our disposal:

• Historical research (evaluation of written, sound and visual sources)
• field research (participant observation of music practices)
• Hearing analysis, musical text analysis
• Analysis of sound as a mode of knowledge
• Computer-assisted analysis (e.g. spectral or frequency analysis)
• Digital and material research on musical instruments/sound objects

Cultural Musicology
Cultural musicology sees itself as an orientation of musicology inspired by cultural studies and cultural anthropology, which has emerged from critical reflection on the colonial-influenced subject history of musicology. It breaks with the classical division of musicology into independent sub-disciplines in order to develop new critical perspectives for research on music in the past and present. In doing so, it works towards the ideal of a de-colonised methodology that can devote itself to the music of the world on an equal footing. Cultural musicology in Göttingen is represented by the professorship of Prof. Dr. Birgit Abels. Her regional research focuses on the Pacific Islands, North India and Southeast Asia.

Historical Musicology
Understanding the music of the past and classifying it as part of historical contexts and development processes is the goal of historical musicology. In Göttingen, we understand the history of music not as a history of works of art, but as a history of cultural and social practices, beliefs and knowledge systems that are intertwined with music. In Göttingen, the field of historical musicology is represented by Prof. Dr. Andreas Waczkat. His particular foci in teaching and research are music in the cultural history of the 16th to 18th centuries, the music of the Baltic states, music theory and music in post-totalitarian contexts.

The choice of a second subject depends on the student's main interests. Combination with one of the subjects listed below can be recommended:

• Egyptology and Coptic Studies,
• General Linguistics,
• Ancient Oriental Studies,
• North American Studies,
• Arabic Studies/Islamic Studies,
• Archaeology of the Greek, Roman and Byzantine World,
• German Studies,
• Digital Humanities
• English: Language, Literatures and Cultures,
• Ethnology,
• Finno-Ugrian Philology,
• French and Francophone Studies/French,
• History,
• Gender Studies,
• Greek Philology,
• Indology,
• Iranian Studies,
• Italien Studies/Italian,
• Cultural Anthropology / European Ethnology,
• Art History,
• Latin Philology,
• Latin Philology of the Middle Ages and the Modern Era,
• Philosophy,
• Portuguese and Brazilian Studies/Portuguese,
• Law,
• Religious Studies,
• Scandinavian Studies,
• Slavic Philology,
• Sociology,
• Spanish and Hispanic American Studies/Spanish,
• Turkology/Turkish Studies,
• Prehistory and Early Archaeology,
• Economics,
• Economic and Social History.

As an alternative to the dual-subject Bachelor's degree programme offered by the Faculty of Philosophy, Musicology can also be studied as a 42C modular package within the Bachelor's degree programme of Ethnology (major/minor B.A.) in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Completion of a Bachelor's degree in Musicology will qualify you for a great variety of occupations in culture management and politics, in the area of the media and public relations, at theatres, in the library sector and related areas. The Bachelor's degree in the subject of Musicology can serve, in particular, as the basis for a Master's degree programme in Musicology or a related subject.

You should have sufficient basic knowledge of music (musical terminology, notation) and musical theory (intervals, keys, chords). Basic skills in playing instruments or singing will be of advantage. You should also be experienced in listening to a wide range of different styles of music.

A prerequisite is the command of written German. Moreover, a good knowledge of English is strongly recommended. In-depth knowledge of at least one additional foreign language will also be of advantage.

A good knowledge of history and geography will be of advantage.

Seven compulsory modules totalling 60 C must be successfully completed

• Basic course in musicology
  What are the central questions, theories and methods of the subject of musicology? The course deals with basic terms and concepts relevant to the subject, as well as the development of the subject and its relationship to other disciplines in the cultural sciences. In addition, general methods and techniques of (music-)scientific work are learned.
• Musics of the World
  The module provides insights into selected examples of different musics of the world: written down as well as orally handed down, present as well as past.
• Structure, Cognition and Analysis
  The focus is on the goal of making well-founded qualitative statements about basic parameters, structures and structuring rules of music from different cultural and historical contexts on the basis of imparted theoretical knowledge.
• Popular music
  A basic understanding of historical, social and spatial dimensions of popular music is conveyed on the basis of a wide variety of music that has been and is being negotiated as popular music in the past and present in a wide variety of places and in diverse cultural contexts.
• Fundamentals of organology
  The holdings of the musicology department's musical instrument collection are repositories of knowledge. In this module, students learn the basics of cultural studies research on musical instruments and how to handle objects in public collections.
• Music in its cultural environment
  In this module, musical processes are located and analysed in their historical-spatial as well as social contexts and preconditions, because music arises and works in a wide variety of social and cultural-historical dynamics.
• Sound Studies
  Music is formed to a significant extent in the medium of sound: sound can store and order knowledge. On the one hand, this module deals with sound(lity) as a mode of knowledge in concrete musical practices of the world; on the other hand, knowledge is acquired about the European cultural history of sound and hearing.

One module from the following five offerings of the compulsory elective area "Musical Practice" must be successfully completed during the course of study.

• Orchestral music-making with a musicological foundation
  Making music with an orchestral instrument in the University Orchestra Göttingen, combined with reflection on the musicological background of the respective repertoire. Under certain conditions, it is possible to receive credit for active participation in other orchestras.
• Choir singing with a musicological foundation
  Singing in the University Choir Göttingen, combined with reflection on the musicological background of the respective repertoire. Under certain conditions, it is possible to receive credit for active participation in other choirs
• Aural training
  In ear training, the listening approach to music is specifically trained: the grasping and re-singing of intervals within an octave, simple melody and rhythm dictations, listening structuring of simple musical forms.
• Historical theory of movement
  Elementary rules of counterpoint (modes, melody formation, voice leading) and harmony (chord formation, main functions, cadences, modulation) are taught
• Portsmouth Sinfonia Revisited
  Taking up the idea of the Portsmouth Sinfonia, founded in 1970, students in this module learn an instrument or repertoire previously unknown to them through active music-making. The module teaches the basics of aural training and ensemble playing, as well as the musicological background of various types of music.

In the study profile Subject-specific specialisation, the professionalisation area of the B.A. can be taken with musicological modules. In addition to the core curriculum and compulsory elective area, three further in-depth modules are taken:

• Cultural Musicology
  Selected objects of Cultural Musicology provide the occasion to question and examine them in detail
• Historical Musicology
  Selected objects of Historical Musicology give the occasion to interrogate and examine them in detail.
• Digital and Material Musicology
  Selected topics in digital and material musicology provide an opportunity to examine and explore them in detail.

• Area of professionalisation - general information (in German)