MU5802 Sacred Music Repertoires from Past and Present (Distance Learning)

Academic year

2025 to 2026 Semester 1

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 11

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Available only to students enrolled on distance learning/online posgraduate programmes in Sacred Music

Planned timetable

TBC

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr T A Wilkinson

Dr T A Wilkinson
This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Tom Wilkinson, Dr Michael Ferguson, Dr Jane Pettegree, Dr Michael Downes

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module invites students to explore how an informed understanding of different sacred music repertoires can shape musical practice, active ministry, and/or scholarly research today. Students explore a range of repertoires stemming from different contexts and confessional traditions. By engaging critically with these, students are encouraged to reflect on how different sacred music repertoires, many of which are rooted in the past, might shape present-day practice. In doing so, students have the opportunity to reflect on how a critical understanding of different repertoires can underpin their own approaches to issues such as style, authenticity, originality, function, tradition and innovation — which arguably all sacred music practitioners, broadly defined, must grapple with in their work.

Assessment pattern

Coursework = 100%

Re-assessment

Coursework = 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

There are no fixed weekly contact hours, but students are expected to engage with 22 hours of pre-recorded content per topic/over the course of the module. Students will be offered a single hour-long supervision with a member of staff, which will be compulsory.

Scheduled learning hours

23

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

275

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • Understand sacred music repertoires in such a way as to inform their musical practice and/or scholarly research
  • Demonstrate awareness of how sacred music-making has both shaped, and been shaped by, the practice of Christian worship at different times.
  • Understand the relationship between sacred music-making and the wider social, cultural and political life of the eras and contexts that have shaped particular repertoires.
  • Reflect upon how insights and knowledge gained on the module can directly inform their work as performers, music directors, ministers, and/or researchers.