Bachelor of Arts Honours in Music

Evidence generated through assessment tasks shows that the learner can:

• Demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the general field of inquiry and of creative endeavor and grasp the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of this field.
• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of specific areas of inquiry or of creative endeavor and an understanding of the interrelationship amongst various areas within the field and between the field of music and other fields.
• Summarize, compare, and evaluate a substantial body of knowledge.
• Construct a sustained argument and formulate questions and work towards solutions.
• Command the conceptual discourse concerning music and the arts.
• Solve both theoretical and practical problems.
• Apply appropriate knowledge and skills to music processes and products and have a society-aware commitment to participation in these processes and to the production of these products.
• Demonstrate a command of academic English at an appropriate level.
• Demonstrate a familiarity with the information technology at an appropriate level.
• Demonstrate a capacity for individual study.
• Present findings at an appropriate level, both orally and in writing.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the polysemic nature of music and the arts and of current critical debates.
• Critically analyze and express opinions about his/her own and others' work.
• Analyze musical works within their cultural contexts, including the ability to identify issues, factors, and structures relevant to the creation, performance, and interpretation of music.
• Demonstrate the social, affective, and interactive skills necessary for producing and critically analyzing music and the performance of music.
• Show an understanding of the role of music and culture in social interaction and social and political behavior patterns within complex social, cultural, and historical contexts.
• Understand the processes of cultural change and the social construction of culture, as well as knowledge of specific diverse cultures, with an emphasis on the role and significance of music to these cultures and familiarity with this music.
• Understand the need and the means of preserving musical heritages.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the history of the areas of the discipline in which he/she is working as well as its current state and its possible future.
• Demonstrate knowledge of and ability to critically analyze various forms of communication, including mass media, as they relate to communication through and about music and an understanding of the impact of globalization on music and cultural expression.
• Be innovative and productive in the use of resources in relation to music activities and have an awareness of career opportunities, including ones requiring entrepreneurial skills.
• Demonstrate a knowledge of and recognition of the worth of the music and art forms of marginalized sectors of the South African population, an understanding of the political, economic, and other social factors that create and sustain marginalization, and a commitment to implementing constructive changes in this regard.

Integrated Assessment: Assessment will employ a range of methods drawn from the following: portfolios, work-place assessments, class work, class tests (including continuous-assessment exam-equivalent tests), assigned work (including essays, music compositions, music theory assignments and assigned practical work in aural perception and in performance), and written and practical examinations. Meetings of the qualification staff to discuss each semester's work enable the staff to form a cross-modular, integrated assessment of students and to identify students who would benefit from additional feedback concerning their work. For the higher levels of study, assigned projects, research reports, public recitals, composition portfolios, portfolios of music arrangements, dissertations, or theses require that students integrate what they have learned throughout the work for a particular qualification and thus provide the opportunity for an integrated assessment.