CURRICULUM

MUSIC IN SOCIETY comprises a total of 120 ECTS credits. Of these, 100 ECTS are in the scientific component and 20 ECTS in the artistic component.

The program is divided into six study areas:

1. Theoretical foundations
2. Research and methodological competencies
3. Artistic competencies
4. Musical practices in social contexts
5. Electives
6. Master's thesis

 

1. Theoretical foundations

Students will become familiar with the theoretical foundations of the sociology of music and art, as well as cultural institutions studies, music business and gender studies. They gain a basic understanding of the ways of thinking and working within social and cultural studies, including aspects of diversity and social inequality.
 

Course Title	Type	Students	Class Hours per week	ECTS Credits	Recommended Semester (in ECTS Credits)
					I	II	III	IV
Music Sociology	VO	50	2	4	4
Music Business	VO	50	2	4	4
Music and Artistic-Creative Work in Neoliberalism	SE	20	2	4		4
Gender and Diversity in Music Industries 1	SE	20	2	4		4
Sum			8	16	8	8	0	0

 

2. Research and methodological competencies

Students will be able to meaningfully structure a social science research project in the field of music or the performing arts, design it thematically, plan and implement it independently, interpret the data collected and write a research report. They will be able to draw scholarly conclusions from their research and present them to a specialist audience.
 

Course Title	Type	Students	Class Hours per week	ECTS Credits	Recommended Semester (in ECTS Credits)
					I	II	III	IV
Project Management	UE	20	2	2	2
Social Science and Cultural Studies Research Methods	SE	20	2	4	4
Research Practicum 1	SE	20	2	6		6
Research Practicum 2	SE	20	2	6			6
Sum			8	18	6	6	6	0

 

3. Artistic competencies

Students must choose one of 3 artistic modules: Popular Music (3.a), Music Making in Social Contexts (3.b) or Traditional Musics (3.c), each module comprising 20 ECTS. In these modules, students will acquire the ability to express themselves musically at an appropriately high level and to approach music in an exploratory way. To do this, they will gain knowledge about specific musical practices and their social contexts.

3.a Popular Music

Course Title	Type	Students	Class Hours per week	ECTS Credits	Recommended Semester (in ECTS Credits)
					I	II	III	IV
Collective Music/Art Production	KG	20	2	2	2
Popular Music Ensemble 1	KG	3-8	2	2	2
Popular Music Ensemble 2	KG	3-8	2	2		2
Studio Practicum 1	PR	12	2	2		2
Performance	UE	12	2	1		1
Rhythm Training 1	UE	15	1	1		1
Additionally 4 ECTS Credits:							4
For students WITHOUT good music reading skills
Applied Ear Training 1	UE		2	2			x
Applied Ear Training 2	UE		2	2			x
Or:
For students WITH good music reading skills
Pop and Jazz Harmony 1	SU	12	2	2			x
Popular Music Arranging	UE	15	2	2			x
Electives from mdw's artistic courses	div.	div.		4	2			2
Preparation of the Artistic Final Project	UE	12	2	2				2
Sum			19	20	6	6	4	4

3.b Music Making in Social Contexts

Course Title	Type	Students	Class Hours per Week	ECTS Credits	Recommended Semester (in ECTS Credits)
					I	II	III	IV
Collective Music/Art Production	KG	20	2	2	2
Guided Projects 1 (or 2 or 3)	SU	8	2	3	3
Formats of Music Mediation	SE	16	2	3			3
Elementary Music Making for Professional Musicians	KG	6	2	2		2
Improvisation in Elementary Music Education 1	KG	12	2	2		2
Additionally 2 ECTS Credits:			2	2		2
Artistic Creation in an Inclusive, Interdisciplinary Context (Ohrenklang - Music & Composition)	PR	4	2	2		x
Designing Spaces for Music Making and Experience 1	SU	4	2	2		x
Stage Presence - Music Making as Mediation	KG	8	2	2		x
Classical Ensemble for Inclusive Music Making	PR	6	2	2		x
Electives from mdw's artistic courses	div.	div.		4	1		1	2
Preparation of the Artistic Final Project	UE	12	2	2				2
Sum			19	20	6	6	4	4

3.c Traditional Musics

Course Title	Type	Students	Class Hours per week	ECTS Credits	Recommended Semester (in ECTS Credits)
					I	II	III	IV
Collective Music/Art Production	KG	20	2	2	2
Traditional Music Practicum 1	KG	2-14	1	2	2
Traditional Music Practicum 2	KG	2-14	1	2		2
Traditional Music Practicum 3	KG	2-14	1	2			2
Traditional Music Practicum 4	KG	2-14	1	2				2
Traditional Music Ensemble 1	KG	10-70	2	2	2
Traditional Music Ensemble 2	KG	10-70	2	2		2
Electives from mdw's artistic courses				4		2	2
Preparation of the Artistic Final Project	UE	12	2	2				2
Sum			10	20	6	6	4	4

 

4. Musical practices in social contexts

Students come to know the social, historical, cultural, economic, political and legal frameworks for artistic activities in the field of music. They will be able to integrate this knowledge into scientific and artistic research and use it to design and evaluate work processes in music-related fields.
 

Course Title	Type	Students	Class Hours per Week	ECTS Credits	Recommended Semester (in ECTS Credits)
					I	II	III	IV
Institutions of Musical Life	SE	20	2	4	4
Music / Art: Participation and the Public Sphere	SE	20	2	4			4
Gender and Diversity in Music Industries 2	SE	20	2	4			4
Music / Art Publics in History and the Present	SE	20	2	4		4
Globalization and Cultural Politics	SE	20	2	4		4
Sum			10	20	4	8	8	0

 

5. Electives

Students will supplement and expand their knowledge and skills through freely chosen scientific courses.
 

Course Title	Type	Students	Class Hours per Week	ECTS Credits	Recommended Semester (in ECTS Credits)
					I	II	III	IV
Electives from mdw's scientific courses				12	6	2	4	0

 

6. Master's thesis

Students are able to reflect critically on the current state of research. They can formulate research questions and apply appropriate methods to answer them, drawing on relevant theories. They are able to work independently on scholarly questions. They have gained a critical understanding of issues of social inequality and diversity. They possess competencies in scientific communication.
 

LV-Titel	Type	Students	Class Hours per Week	ECTS Credits	Recommended Semester (in ECTS Credits)
					I	II	III	IV
Master's Thesis Seminar	SE	12	2	4			4
Master's Thesis				26			4	22
Alternatively:
Master's Thesis Research				11				x
Master's Thesis				15			x	x
Master's examination				4				4
Sum			2	34	0	0	8	26

 

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Questions about the study areas? Request a personal consultation? Please send an email to: musicinsociety@mdw.ac.at

 

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COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

Guided Projects
Content: At the beginning of the seminar, the music projects currently being offered at the mdw in various fields (including Musikvermittlung/Music Mediation, Community Music, Inclusive Music Making and projects in cooperation with general education schools) are presented. Subsequently, the students decide to participate in one of the presented projects, in which they will be actively involved throughout the semester and which they will help to shape.
Objective: Students gain practical experience in planning and implementing projects in the field of music education/community music

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Applied Ear Training 1
Content: Development and application of basic music theory principles at the piano, with or without the use of musical notation: keys, simple cadences, time signatures and rhythmic subdivisions. Realization of simple pieces by ear and use of jazz/pop chord symbols.
Objective: Students will demonstrate rudimentary piano technique (correct hand and body posture, articulation, practice methodology) and knowledge of music theory (intervals up to one octave, triads, simple cadences, simple time signatures, note values). They will be able to perform simple pieces on the piano by ear.

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Applied Ear Training 2
Content: An extension of the skills acquired in the Applied Ear Training 1 course to include extended cadences, odd meters and accompaniment figures in 1/8 and 1/16 subdivisions, the arrangement of simple pieces on the piano taking into account the respective styles, with or without the use of musical notation, and the extended use of jazz/pop chord symbols.
Objective: Students will acquire sufficient piano technique to compose and accompany pop and folk songs. They will be able to form their own ideas into completed works with the aid of the piano and arrange them in stylistically varied ways.

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Popular Music Arranging
Content: This course encompasses the acquisition of knowledge in four areas: 1) popular music theory: chord sheets, lead sheets and scores, special forms of notation in jazz, pop and rock; 2) instrumentation: playing techniques, notation and tonal range of the pop instrumentarium with an emphasis on drums, electric bass, electric guitar and keyboards; 3) structural analysis: meaning and function of the arrangement in popular music; 4) stylistics, typical formal sequences, making a transcription.
Objective: Students will acquire skills in the creation of popular music arrangements with respect to music instruction. For students in the Music in Society master’s program, additional immersion at the master’s level will be sought.

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Stage Presence - Music Making as Mediation
Content: Ideas and exercises on, among other things, posture and body language when making music, playing from memory and relaxation techniques, as well as effective communication with the audience.
Objective: Students will acquire skills for effective, confident and convincing performances in various concert and workshop settings.

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Social Science and Cultural Studies Research Methods
Content: This course offers an overview of social science research methods with a focus on qualitative and quantitative methods for the empirical research of topics in the sociology of music and art. Using examples from the music-cultural fields, concrete approaches for collection and evaluation are presented and tested. The chosen methods and the social situation of the empirical research projects will be critically reflected upon.
Objective: Students will gain a fundamental understanding of objectives and applications, planning and procedure, collection and evaluation, as well as of the usefulness of various research methods for investigating issues in the sociology of music and art.

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Elementary Music Making for Professional Musicians
Content: Elementary music making, as a cooperative artistic process based on different impulses (pictures, poems, pieces of music, etc.), is stimulated, experienced and reflected upon.
Objective: Students will deepen their own experiences of making music through the use of their voice, their main instruments and other instruments, in conjunction with other forms of artistic expression such as movement, dance, performative play and forms of visualization.

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Popular Music Ensemble
Content: Practical development of a program for an ensemble with the goal of becoming familiar with the basic repertoire of a style of popular music.
Objective: Students gain music performance experience in a popular music ensemble. For Music in Society, additional immersion at the master’s level will be sought.

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Traditional Music Ensemble 1 and 2
Content: This course enables students to become acquainted with selected regionally specific forms of traditional music (vocal, instrumental, dance) while at the same time acquiring practical musical skills (singing, playing instruments, dancing) and a knowledge of musical styles. The focus is on performing in a vocal, instrumental or dance ensemble, as well as typical music-making and mediation practices (oral mediation, improvisation, spontaneous reaction, etc.). The teachers are the course instructors as well as facilitators and mediators from various musical cultures and students from the Ensemble Project and Ensemble Direction courses.
Objective: Students will acquire basic practical music skills in selected region-specific traditional music forms and expand their knowledge of the respective music traditions and their (social) contexts. They will be able to assume various functions in vocal, instrumental or dance ensembles.

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Formats of Music Mediation
Content: This course offers an overview of the diverse formats of music mediation (Musikvermittlung). A special focus is on presentation formats at the interface of art and cultural education, which are aimed at different audiences.
Objective: Students will acquire knowledge about the variety of formats of music mediation (before and after the concert, during the concert, outside the concert hall) and competencies for the substantive planning and implementation of their own mediation formats.

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Research Practicum
Content: Design and implementation of a research project using social science methods: Determination of the topic and research question(s), identification of the appropriate research method(s), development of a research design, implementation of the research project and writing of a final report. The research project will form the basis for the final scientific thesis.
Objective: Students will be able to conduct a social science research project in a substantive and methodologically sound manner and write a research report with theoretical embedding. They will be able to reflect on the research design and process with reference to their own social positioning.

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Gender and Diversity in the Music Industries 1
Content: In collective reading and discussion units, the students gain insights into the field of gender studies with a special focus on the connection between music and society and between aesthetic forms and specific modes of socialization.
Objective: Students will acquire knowledge for a well-founded discussion of theoretical texts and methodological approaches in the field of music- and art-related gender studies and will be able to reflect on their own positionality and the social situatedness of their own research with regard to gender and inequality relations. For Music in Society, additional immersion at the master’s level will be sought.

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Gender and Diversity in the Music Industries 2
Content: An in-depth theoretical and empirical study of the social inequalities in the music and art business from feminist, queer and post-/decolonial perspectives.
Objective: Students will be able to recognize mechanisms for the reproduction of social inequalities in the music and art business, classify them and embed them in broader social discourses. They will also acquire knowledge about feminist, queer and anti-racist movements and activisms in music cultural and artistic fields and become familiar with the tools for breaking down barriers to access to those fields.

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Collective Music/Art Production
Content: This course encourages students to engage with different art forms and to explore artistic spaces of experience and creation together. At the center of this learning process is the development and performance of a collective art/music project.
Objective: Students will gain theoretical and practical knowledge for the development of collective art/music projects.

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Designing Spaces for Music Making and Experience
Content: Preparation, implementation and reflection on self-designed elementary music-making processes in various course groups at the Center for Elementary Music Making at the mdw and in cooperation with external educational and cultural institutions.
Objective: Students will be able to apply and develop the competencies acquired in the other artistic and scientific courses in practical mediation.

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Globalization and Cultural Politics
Content: Students receive a grounded overview of the cultural-political framework of musical life with a focus on the social transformation processes that stem from globalization. In the areas of regulatory policy and discourse politics, global interdependencies, social inequalities, exclusion mechanisms and (asymmetric) power structures are considered and reflected upon, as well as how established norms (institutions) operate in their respective policy areas.
Objective: Students will be able to identify and reflect on the cultural-political framework of musical life under globalization and develop their own positionality towards it. In this way, they will develop critical analytical skills regarding the social functions and conditions of cultural politics and become aware of the context of a respective cultural practice, its processes of inclusion and exclusion and its shaping by, among other things, sexist, heteronormative, racist and Eurocentric norms (institutions).

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Improvisation in Elementary Music Education
Content: The focus of this course is on the creative and independent exploration of various improvisational exercises, which revolve around different core musical ideas and are often inspired by extramusical themes.
Objective: Students will acquire knowledge of the music theory and fundamentals of improvisation (popular music and other styles) using voice and piano. For Music in Society, additional immersion at the master’s level will be sought.

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Institutions of Musical Life
Content: This course begins with an in-depth examination of institutions (in the sociological sense) and their realization in musical organizations, their norms, values, rules and resources, as well as their roles in musical life. In the second part of the course, excursions to institutional work environments will provide insights behind the scenes of music businesses and initiatives and allow students to experience the working and living realities of the people engaged there through conversations and discussions.
Objective: Students will be able to recognize, experience and understand how musical institutions are realized in musical life and what significance these realizations have for musical practice.

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Classical Ensemble for Inclusive Music Making
Content: This course creates an artistic environment for experiencing the lived inclusion of young people with disabilities together with students in a classical ensemble. In addition, it offers the students insights into educational discourses on inclusive teaching and learning, thinking and acting. Required music-pedagogical qualifications are examined and their theoretical and socio-political backgrounds considered.
Objective: Students will learn about various, partly adapted approaches to the use of instruments in an ensemble by making classical music together with people with disabilities. In this way, they expand their didactic competencies for their own instrumental and group lessons and experience inclusive music making as a productive contribution to personality and community building. For Music in Society, additional immersion at the master’s level will be sought.

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Artistic Creation in an Inclusive, Interdisciplinary Context („Ohrenklang“)
Content: This course on music composition ensemble playing creates artistic and interdisciplinary environments for experiencing the lived inclusion of people with disabilities while realizing a co-creative art project in cooperation between the mdw and the literature prize “Ohrenschmaus”. This prize is an initiative of the Ohrenschmaus Association, which discovers and promotes the writing talents of people with learning difficulties.
Objective: Through artistic collaboration with people with disabilities, students will acquire the ability to think about inclusion in our society and to take further inclusive steps independently in their future fields of work and activity. They will become familiar with the methodological and didactic aspects necessary for this and can develop and implement situational solutions.

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Music/Art: Participation and the Public Sphere
Content: In this seminar, theories of the relationship between music/art and the public sphere, and particularly approaches and forms of artistic participation, are developed through text readings and discussed using concrete examples.
Objective: Students will acquire knowledge about the approaches and forms of artistic participation and will be able to classify and reflect critically on the relationship between art/music and the public in a theoretically grounded way.

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Music and Creative Work in Neoliberalism
Content: This course is dedicated to theoretical approaches and empirical studies regarding music labor markets, creative work and the careers of musicians in the context of neoliberal labor relations. Special attention is given to the question of what role gender, age, ethnicity and sexual orientation play in the careers of musicians and how social inequalities are negotiated in different musical fields.
Objective: Students will be able to adopt a critical-analytical sociological perspective on creative work and the structures of music labor markets and acquire the knowledge to explore and reflect on their own career ideas on an individual and societal level with regard to their own positionality.

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Music/Art Publics in History and the Present
Content: This course deals with the publics for music and art in a changing society. The focus is on questions concerning the emergence and socio-structural composition of music/art publics in the context of social, cultural, technological and legal developments at different times.
Objective:  Students will acquire knowledge about the modes of reception of music and participation in music-cultural practices, from historically early forms to current phenomena.

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Music Sociology: Music and Society
Content: In this course, theoretical positions on the interdependence of music and society are elaborated and discussed on the basis of concrete examples from the worlds of music and art. Starting with early sociological approaches to music, students will get an overview of interactionist, reproduction-theoretical, feminist and decolonial positions that explore the meanings of music in the everyday lives of individuals and social groups while capturing inclusion and exclusion mechanisms in music-cultural worlds in the context of globalization, digitalization and music streaming.
Objective: Students will acquire knowledge about approaches in the sociology of music and will be able to theoretically classify music-cultural phenomena in history and the present from a sociological and power-critical perspective.

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Music Business
Content: Starting with the history of the music industry, this seminar will reflect on the most important players in the music business (music creators, music publishers, labels, collecting societies, music distributors, event organizers, agents/bookers, music funding institutions, etc.) and analyze their functions as well as their interactions against the background of music industry research.
Objective: Students will acquire knowledge about the structures and functioning of the sectors of the music industry (especially music publishing, the recording industry and the music event industry) as well as the music business in general, and will be able to research these sectors independently to gain new findings. For Music in Society, additional immersion at the master’s level will be sought.

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Performance
Content: This course offers an introduction to stage presence with practical exercises on such topics as facial expressions and gestures, staging, dance/choreography, costumes/makeup, working on the speaking voice (with and without a microphone), practicing auditions and interviews, portraying authenticity, preproducing a live recording or video clip and preparing and presenting a short live act based on a studio production.
Objective: Students will acquire practical knowledge about stage presence and will be able to apply this knowledge to different contexts, from job interviews to live performances.

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Pop and Jazz Harmony 01
Content: Teaching the fundamentals of jazz harmony.
Objective: Students will be able to realize chord symbols at the piano, play a simple accompaniment from a lead sheet and write a professional piano arrangement from a lead sheet, as well as perform functional analysis. For Music in Society, additional immersion at the master’s level will be sought.

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Traditional Music Practicum 1-4
Content: Lessons take place in small groups and are devoted to diverse vocal and instrumental folk and traditional music styles. Students may choose from a variety of regional and instrument-specific courses on a semester-by-semester basis. In addition to making music with the students’ main instruments and their own voices, it is also possible to acquire skills on various traditional musical instruments. The focus is on typical music-making and mediation practices (oral mediation, improvisation, spontaneous response, etc.) in contrast to the usual “playing of notes”.
Objective: Students will gain artistic skills in the selected traditional music forms. They will expand their musical competencies to include selected musical traditions and increase their awareness of musical diversity.

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Project Management
Content: In the context of this course, students are introduced to the fundamentals of project development and project management techniques based on the development of their own project ideas, and are familiarized with the supporting tools and aids.
Objective: Students will gain competence in project development, target group and competitor analysis, financing, funding applications and an overview of the legal framework of the music business.

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Rhythm Training 01
Content: This course is a practical introduction to the rhythm theory of European, African-American and non-European musical cultures. The focus is on the organization of time, meters, timing and agogics as well as metric and ametric, binary and ternary rhythms, rhythmic superpositions and polyrhythms. In addition, practical exercises will use the body and voice for, among other things, the creation of body percussion, the phonetic shaping of rhythms using sound syllables and their implementation on different instruments.
Objective: Students will get to know the basics of rhythm theory of different music cultures and will be able to use their body, voice and instruments for the creation of rhythms according to the conventions of the respective music cultures. For Music in Society, additional immersion will be sought at the master’s level.

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Master's Thesis Seminar
Content: This seminar supports students in finding a topic, developing questions and writing their scientific master’s thesis. The students are given ample space and time to discuss, theoretically and methodologically develop and present parts of their thesis.
Objective: Students will acquire extensive knowledge for the preparation and written elaboration of their scientific master’s thesis.

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Studio Practicum 01
Content: This course is dedicated to practical work in the recording studio, including the use of studio technology, software and analogue tools in a digital working environment. Working in small groups, students learn how to translate their musical ideas into productions as independently as possible.
Objective: Students will be able to set up a small digital workstation and carry out the most important steps in instrument-specific recording practices based on their knowledge of audio engineering fundamentals. For Music in Society, additional immersion will be sought at the master’s level.

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Preparation of the Artistic Final Project
Content: Support and guidance of the students in the development, execution and reflection of a musical presentation for the artistic master’s examination.
Objective: Students will gain the ability to develop and execute a musical presentation and contextualize it by means of reflection.

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