MUS 726 : Aspects of Performance Practice

Creative Arts and Industries

2025 Semester Two (1255) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Selected research for discussion and investigation from the field of Performance Practice and its documentation. The study of source materials; individual projects; performance and/or teaching and direction of music from the area studied.

Course Overview

In 2025, MUS 726 will have a specific focus: "Interpreting Mozart". This course will guide students through an in-depth exploration of the works of one of classical music's greatest geniuses - a composer whose works are universally performed and included in auditions, and yet often underestimated and misunderstood by young musicians. The aim of this course is to equip students with a fluency in Mozart's language: to allow you to interpret his music in a way that is at once original while being understood through the lens of context and a thorough familiarization with the historical style and performance practices. This course  will develop critical thinking around the questions of how we play music and why.

Major themes of seminars will include creative practice research, music editing (the philosophies, practices, and purposes of it), modes of dissemination, and the meaning of performance (interpretation, attitudes, and individuality).
The course is structured around Mozart's four major late operas: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan tutte, and Die Zauberfloete as well as his last masterpiece, the Requiem. Each work will be used as the basis for exploration over several seminars that will also tie in related instrumental works, the works of Mozart's contemporaries and rivals, and historical performance techniques such as ornamentation and improvisation, period phrasing, articulation, and rubato.

The assignments will be a combination of performance and academic projects. In each, the student is expected to think about, absorb, and apply the knowledge taught in seminars to topics that relate to their own direct musical interests. In this way, a primary aim of the course is to bridge the student's academic learning with the practical aspects of their musical study.

Course Requirements

No pre-requisites or restrictions

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: People and Place
Capability 2: Sustainability
Capability 3: Knowledge and Practice
Capability 4: Critical Thinking
Capability 5: Solution Seeking
Capability 6: Communication
Capability 7: Collaboration
Capability 8: Ethics and Professionalism

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate a detailed knowledge and understanding of aspects of performance practice (Capability 2, 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1 and 8.2)
  2. Demonstrate an ability to approach pre-20th century music and performance in a way in which current conventions are able to be questioned (Capability 1.1, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1 and 8.2)
  3. Communicate in writing and verbally, demonstrating skills that enable concepts and specific details of historically informed performance to be conveyed in a simple but authoritative manner (Capability 4.1, 5.1, 6.1 and 8.1)
  4. Conduct research tasks, utilising relevant resources and source material. (Capability 3.1, 3.2, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1 and 8.1)
  5. Critique performances, editions, musicological writing, and (if applicable) the student's own playing, in the context of H.I.P. values and concepts (Capability 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1, 8.1 and 8.2)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Five simple & short quizzes 15% Individual Coursework
Arranging Assignment 20% Individual Coursework
Essay 25% Individual Coursework
Creative Work and Document 40% Individual Coursework
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4 5
Five simple & short quizzes
Arranging Assignment
Essay
Creative Work and Document
Assignments are to be submitted, according to submission type specified on CANVAS, by the due date. If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, please complete an application for extension form at the following link
https://www.forms.auckland.ac.nz/en/student/creative-arts-and-industries/te-whare-o-ng_-pkrero-poro---school-of-music-undergraduate-exten.html
You must submit your extension application as early as possible before the assignment due date.
 Late assignments that do not have an approved extension will be penalised 10% for each day or part thereof and will be automatically deducted on CANVAS. No assignment will be accepted after that assignment has been returned to students.

Teaching & Learning Methods

The course is delivered through weekly seminars. These semiars are primarily concerned with the delivery of material that enables students to understand concepts, developing a knowledge of subject matter on the topics, as per the schedule. The course builds on the understanding of musicology and performance, established through prior learning and acquisition of knowledge through BMus courses. As identified in the AIMS above, the course provides students with knowledge and understanding that will inform their research and/or performance, as well as providing them with the tools to undertake critical discussion of pre-twentieth century music. In so doing, it also
prepares them for careers as teachers, performers, or scholars, where understanding of H.I.P is in many contexts taken as an assumed skill-set.

Exam Mode

  • There is no final exam for this course

Further information about exams can be found at https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/about-exams.html

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect 24 hours of lectures, 60 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 60 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.

Delivery Mode

Campus Experience

Attendance is required at scheduled activities including seminar lectures and for in-class assessments to receive credit for components of the course.
Lectures will be available as recordings. 
The course will not include live online events.
Attendance on campus is not required for the final project.
The activities for the course are scheduled as a standard weekly timetable.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

This is a course with a focused topic "Interpreting Mozart". This course has been designed around student feedback asking for more practical and performance-based musicology courses. Student feedback on the most recent course has been positive around creative hands-on assessments including the creative score analysis/essay and the arrangement assessment. The quizzes have also received positive feedback as an assessment method and class tool to assure students remained engaged. As an improvement for 2025, I will ask students to choose and commit to the pieces for their final project early in the semester so that they can work throughout the semester on these pieces.
Student feedback has reflected positively on the objectives of the course as stated in the overview. The 2025 course overview reflects student feedback from the 2024 SET evaluation - specifically, positive feedback around a performance-based academic course that bridges practice and scholarly research.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework, tests and examinations as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms. Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

We undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions, the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. In the event of a disruption, the University and your course coordinators will make every effort to provide you with up to date information via Canvas and the University website.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.