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Level
2000 courses
All courses carry 6 credits unless otherwise specified
MUSI2009 Topics in Asian music history
Selected topics in the history of Asian musical cultures
will be examined.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2010 Music of China
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course presents the essential features of the music of
China, its role in Chinese culture and history, and its position
in world music. Subjects will include the qin and
other musical instruments, theatrical genres such as kunqu,
Peking opera and Cantonese opera, narrative songs such as
Peking drum song, Suzhou tanci, and Cantonese nanyin,
folk songs, and music in Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist rituals.
The course aims not only to introduce students to traditional
Chinese music, but also to explore the nature of Chinese culture
through its musical practices. Important works of Chinese
music will be introduced, as well as issues such as change/stasis,
politics/aesthetics, theory/practice, literati/masses, professional/amateur,
ritual/entertainment, home-grown/foreign-influenced, and Han/Minority.
The course is offered in alternate years with MUSI2029 Chinese music history.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2013 Computer and electronic music
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course provides students with a general knowledge of music acoustics, MIDI, synthesizers, sound design, sound editing, sampling, sound recording, mixing, digital audio, interactive music making, and audio-visual synchronization. The concept of electro-acoustic musical composition is also introduced. The course comprises lectures, workshops, and individual studio exercises. Students are expected to demonstrate their technical skills and knowledge by producing various practical, creative projects using the studio equipment and computer programs throughout the course.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2015 Popular music: from Cantopop to techno
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course covers a wide variety of popular musics ranging
from the latest trends in the global market to locally produced
music such as Hong Kong's Cantopop. The course surveys the
development of key genres of popular music, in particular,
those from the United States, such as blues, country, rock
and roll, Motown, soul, hard rock, disco, hardcore, heavy
metal, grunge, techno, and rap. In addition, the course examines
themes and concepts that can be applied to the serious study
of popular musics beyond those discussed. These themes and
concepts concern the ways in which popular music is defined,
produced, disseminated, and consumed across the world. Students
will learn the basic critical tools to examine popular music
from a scholarly perspective. Lectures are augmented with
videos, film slides, and recordings.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2016 Music of contemporary Hong Kong
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course aims to promote an understanding of the various styles of music in contemporary Hong Kong, and through such a study to understand music and ourselves better. Topics to be discussed may include technical analysis of selected musical works, procedure of musical production, compilation of radio programmes, recording industry, musicals, film music, high-art music, New Age music, jazz, alternative music, Chinese instrumental music, popular concerts by classical orchestras, karaoke, music on the Internet and other media, pop/serious artists, and musical promoters.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2026 Fundamentals of music composition
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course seeks to provide understanding of various musical techniques through writing music. It covers topics in notation, instrumentation, melodic writing, harmonization, timbral control, expansion and refinement of raw materials, and structural design. The course comprises lectures, tutorials, individual supervision, and composer/performer workshops. Students are required to attend some concerts specified by the lecturer and to participate in the performance of their own works. Students are expected to submit their composition scores (sometimes parts as well) in professional presentation (i.e., using the appropriate paper size, photocopy formatting, binding, programme notes, performance instructions, page-turning considerations, good visibility, and legibility).
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2027 Composing for the concert world
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course encourages students to write music using 20th-century
techniques. It introduces students to organising and manipulating
various musical parameters such as pitch, rhythm, meter, texture,
colour, form, etc. It also helps students to experiment with
the incorporation of extra-musical inspiration and alternative
aesthetics.The course is offered in alternate years with MUSI2030 Composing for the commercial world.
Prerequisite: MUSI2026.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2029 Chinese music history
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course introduces the history of China through an examination
of selective source material including bells from the bronze
period, the Book of Music attributed to Confucian philosophy,
the earliest known musical notation of a composition from
the 6th-century A.D., major encyclopaedic compilations of
musical sources from the Song dynasty, and Mao Zedong's Talks
at the Yan'an Conference on Literature and Art in 1942.The course is offered in alternate years with MUSI2010 Music of China.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2030 Composing for the commercial world
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course helps students to write music that works for a given practical application such as film music, theatre music, multimedia performances, radio/television commercials, web pages, New Age music, and popular songs. Students are required to work on topics that vary from year to year. The course is offered in alternate years with MUSI2027 Composing for the concert world.
Prerequisite: MUSI2026.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2031 American music
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course will examine the history, genres, styles, innovations,
and cultural contexts of music in America. Following an overview
of its European and African roots and the development of American
music up to World War I, intensive consideration will be given
to jazz, rock, blues, musicals, classical, and avant-garde
musics.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2033 Music and culture in Bali: an overseas
fieldtrip
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course focuses on the study of gamelan music
and its cultural context during a two-week field trip in
Bali. Students will spend one week in intensive workshops
at the Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia (STSI), the principal
institution for the Indonesian performing arts in Bali, and
another week participating in and observing gamelan performance
in a traditional Balinese community. Students will be required
to produce a fieldtrip report.
Prerequisite: MUSI2068.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2037 Directed study 1 (for students
in their second year of study)
In this course, the student works on a one-to-one basis with a supervisor throughout the year. The project may be an extended historical or analytical paper or a composition portfolio. Students planning to take this course must demonstrate their competence in the particular area in which they wish to work. Entry to this course is at the discretion of the Head of the School of Humanities on the recommendation of the Department's Undergraduate Coordinator.
Assessment: 100% thesis.
MUSI2043 Orchestration
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course provides students with a comprehensive knowledge
of orchestration. The characteristics of standard orchestral
instruments will be studied, as well as the techniques of
combining these instruments when writing for small and large
orchestral forces. Aspects of psycho-acoustics will also be studied. Teaching materials will be derived from examples of classical and contemporary music, as well as film scores.
Prerequisite: MUSI2070.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2044 Film music
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
What does music contribute to a fiction film? When is it used?
And why is it there in the first place? Directors use music
with an effect in mind and it is music's force in the "here
and now" of the movie-going experience that we will try
to describe. To do so, we will study films from various cinematic
traditions through the various ways in which music functions
within them as a powerful meaning-making element. Under the
assumption that film is an audio-visual medium,
we will examine individual works representative of different
genres––musicals, horrors, dramas, comedies, and cartoons.
Consideration will be given to the relationship between music
and image as well as music and sound as they emerge from close
readings of individual scenes. We will also look at how music
is represented in the story world of the film, whether a character
performs, listens to, or ignores it.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2047 Advanced music performance 2 (for
students in their second year of study)
(This course is also offered to second year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
Students prepare a recital of 30-40 minutes under the supervision
of a vocal or instrumental teacher approved by the Department.
At least one piece must be performed on a period instrument,
or must use either period or advanced twentieth-century
techniques, as appropriate. Places in this course are limited
and admission is by audition. Advanced music performance
1 is not a prerequisite.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2052 Advanced tonal chromaticism and analysis
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course is a continuation of MUSI2070 Fundamentals of
tonal music, with emphases on chromatic harmonies, larger
forms such as rondo and sonata, and contrapuntal genres
such as canon and fugue. The basic concepts of Schenkerian
theory will also be introduced. Students are required to
complete a number of harmonic exercises and analytical projects.
Prerequisite: MUSI2070.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2053 Post-Tonal techniques and advanced
analysis
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course will focus on the modern and post-tonal techniques
such as modality, atonality, serialism, minimalism, aleatoric
music, collage, neo-tonality, jazz harmony, etc. Analytic
techniques of pitch-class set theory, transformational theory,
and timbral analysis will also be introduced. Students are
required to complete various analytical and technical projects.
Prerequisite: MUSI2052.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2054 The piano
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA
students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
The course is open to all students with either some experience
with, or interest in, the piano. It offers an overview of
the history of the piano through a montage of lectures that
focus on the personalities that were involved with it, the
repertories they either composed for or performed on it, and
the social and cultural milieus that provided the context
for its extraordinary rise as arguably the most important
instrument in the history of Western classical music. Students
will be given the opportunity to study the piano as a medium
of musical exploration and expression, the occasion for the
display of virtuosity, a staple of the 19th-century bourgeois
home, and an object of almost maniacal veneration. The course
will end with an overview of the dissemination of the piano
in East Asia, with particular reference to the piano culture
of Hong Kong.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2055 Chinese opera
(This course is also offered to second and third year
non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course starts with an exploration of the structural and
theoretical aspects of Chinese Opera, including the classification
of tune types, text setting, and performance practice. While
examples are mostly drawn from kunqu, Peking opera, and Cantonese
opera, other regional derivatives will also be introduced
for comparison and analysis. The second half of this course
comprises a series of reading and examination of representative
operas and their performances, through which the interplay
between Chinese opera and its religious, social, cultural,
and political contexts is investigated.The course is offered in alternate years with MUSI2060 Red is the colour: music and politics in post-1949 China.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2059 Music and the mind: introduction to the psychology of
music
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course considers music as a phenomenon of human behaviour and the human psyche, and examines issues concerning the relationship between music and the mind. We begin with an introduction to the psychoacoustical groundwork and auditory/musical perception, and move to issues in the cognitive psychology of music, such as how we represent the musical structure in the mind, and what roles expectation and memory play during the process of listening to music. Particular focus will be placed upon the psychological accounts of music-theoretical phenomena, such as consonance and dissonance, rhythm and meter, tonality, harmony, and voice-leading. Moreover, the significance of social and cultural contexts will be underlined, and ecological psychology of music and cross-cultural approaches to music perception will be introduced. The course will also touch upon more recent developments in the field of music psychology, including music and emotion, music performance, the social psychology of music, as well as neuro-scientific research.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2060 Red is the colour: music and politics in post-1949 China
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course examines the relationship between music and politics in post-1949 China. It aims to provide students with a critical perspective on the complex role that politics has played in shaping contemporary Chinese musical culture. Major issues explored include music and national identity in modern China, the conflict between Western-style conservatories and Chinese traditional genres, music as propaganda under the Maoist regime, music of the Red Guards and Jiang Qing’s model works during the Cultural Revolution, music in post-Mao China, and the politics of globalization since the 1990s. The course is offered in alternate years with MUSI2055 Chinese opera.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2063 The opera
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course will chart the history of opera in the Western
world in both its relationship to social and political history and that
of other major musical and theatrical genres. Through the close reading
of the genre, students will learn about opera as the art of singing,
poetry, and stagecraft, and make their acquaintance with some of the
remarkable protagonists of its history, be they singers or composers,
poets or designers, impresarios or monarchs. Attention will also be placed
on the strength and resilience of local, as opposed to national or continental,
traditions, such as the ones that flourished in Rome and London in the
17th century, Naples in the 18th, or St. Petersburg in the
19th, to name a few. The course will also provide students with
an appealing and vivid demonstration of the diversity of musical and
literary traditions in Europe during the period between ca. 1600 and
1900. The course will end with a reflection on the current state of Western
opera as performed and consumed in East Asia, with particular reference
to China.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2064 Music and science: conjunctions in Western history
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course investigates the link between music and science in Western history. Music has been frequently associated with science, but the way the two realms have been interconnected with each other varies throughout history. The following are some instances of the connection between music and science: Pythagorean mathematics and the study of musical scales, tuning, and temperament; the medieval quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music; the bond between music and magic in neo-platonic philosophy; the rise of acoustics and the sounding body (corp
sonore) as the basis for the theory of harmony; psycho-acoustical explanation of consonance/dissonance; music as information; composing with numbers; and the 21st-century scientific findings on music and the brain. In exploring each case of scientific thoughts on music in history, students are expected to obtain a contextual understanding of music and science as socio-cultural products and to gain insight into the interdisciplinary nature of the study of music.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2066 Performance study 2 (for students in their second year of study)
(This course is also offered to second year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
Students taking this course have to enrol in two performance ensembles or workshops offered by the Music Department over two semesters. Ensembles include University Choir, University Gamelan, HKU Early Music Ensemble, HKU Percussion Ensemble, and Union Philharmonic Orchestra. Performance workshops offered vary from year to year and may include classes in voice, percussion, Chinese instruments, and choral conducting. Please check with the Music Department for details. Performance study 1 is not a prerequisite.
Assessment: 100% practical examination (and instructor/conductor assessment).
MUSI2067 Introduction to electroacoustic music
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course is a hands-on introduction to the use of music technology and the creation of electroacoustic music. Topics to cover include sound recording, digital audio mixing, music acoustics, synthesizer techniques, MIDI, MAX/MSP, interactive music making, score printing, and music database. Students are required to do laboratory projects as well as attending lectures.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2068 University gamelan
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course, which is open to all second and third year students, focuses on performance in the Balinese gong-chime orchestra called the gamelan gong kebyar. Students will participate in weekly workshops on the gamelan over two semesters and may also have the opportunity to participate in public performances.
Prerequisite: MUSI1022 (exemptions may be considered on a case-by-case basis).
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2069 Jazz and contemporary writing
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course will enable students to compose/arrange in jazz and other popular contemporary musical styles for rhythm section (drums, bass, guitar, keyboards, and percussion), and a leadline (one or more instruments, or voice/s). The music will be in the styles of jazz, rock, blues, funk, reggae, pop, or Latin. The use of software for musical notation and production is encouraged but not mandatory. Finale and Acid Pro will be used for demonstration. Students will learn original techniques and practical approaches to creating and writing contemporary grooves for a rhythm section, as well as contemporary jazz voicings, with production and performance goals in mind. At the end of the course, the students will present their produced work (compositions or arrangements) in a public concert. To take this course, the student must be able to read music and be familiar with basic music theory and harmony.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2070 Fundamentals of tonal music
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course further explores tonal procedures, of which the fundamentals were introduced in MUSI1023 Materials and structures of music. It examines the tonal logic and the voice-leading principles of diatonic and basic chromatic harmonic practices. Simple formal structures such as binary, ternary, and sonata forms are explored. Students completing this course are expected to have attained a thorough understanding of tonal syntax in the context of diatonic and simple chromatic harmony and to be able to analyze music in simple forms.
Prerequisite: MUSI 1023.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2071 Topics in Western music history I
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
The course examines selected topics in musical practices, works, and aesthetic ideas representative of the 20th and 21st centuries. Various musical styles as well as conceptual ideas behind the musical practices are examined. The course emphasizes the socio-cultural context in which the music was created, performed, and consumed, as well as its relationship to the other art forms. As an "English-in-the-Discipline" course, the course is designed to enhance students’ ability to think, read, and write in English within the discipline of music, and to teach them the fundamental processes involved in music research. By promoting foundational knowledge in music history, as well as basic research and writing skills, this course prepares students for other courses in the curriculum, such as MUSI2072 and MUSI2073. The focus of course content may vary from year to year.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2072 Topics in Western music history II
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
The course examines selected topics in musical practices, works, and aesthetic ideas representative of the 18th and 19th centuries. Various musical styles as well as conceptual ideas behind the musical practices are examined. The course emphasizes the socio-cultural context in which the music was created, performed, and consumed, as well as its relationship to the other art forms. The course is designed to enhance students' ability to think, read, and write within the discipline of music, and to teach them the fundamental processes involved in music research. The focus of course content may vary from year to year.
Prerequisite: MUSI 2071.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2073 Topics in Western music history III
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
The course examines selected topics in musical practices, works, and aesthetic ideas representative of the era before 1750. Various musical styles as well as conceptual ideas behind the musical practices are examined. The course emphasizes the socio-cultural context in which the music was created, performed, and consumed, as well as its relationship to the other art forms. The course is designed to enhance students' ability to think, read, and write within the discipline of music, and to teach them the fundamental processes involved in music research. The focus of course content may vary from year to year.
Prerequisite: MUSI 2071.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2074 Contrapuntal styles and techniques
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course offers a broad overview of contrapuntal styles and techniques from the 16th century to the first half of the 20th century. Investigation of various contrapuntal skills are made through analytic and written exercises, with emphasis on writing for keyboard, voices, or instrumental combinations that can be performed in class. The course is offered in alternate years with MUSI2075 Tonal counterpoint.
Prerequisite: MUSI 2070.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
MUSI2075 Tonal counterpoint
(This course is also offered to second and third year non-BA students for inter-Faculty broadening purposes.)
This course investigates the contrapuntal styles of the eighteenth century with special reference to the works of J.S. Bach. Students are expected to develop a comprehensive understanding of the techniques and stylistic features of 18th-century counterpoint through score analysis and compositional projects. A substantial original work in 18th-century style is required as a final project. The course is offered in alternate years with MUSI2074 Contrapuntal styles and techniques.
Prerequisite: MUSI 2070.
Assessment: 100% coursework.
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