Module manager: Prof Martin Iddon
Email: m.iddon@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
This module is not approved as a discovery module
The module introduces positions within the history of aesthetic thought—one potential sequence might run from Plato and Aristotle, through Kant, Hegel, and Nietzsche, to Japanese, Yorùbá, or Islamic positions—considering how music (and art more generally) is figured in these approaches. Students will encounter these through an engagement with original texts, through guided musical case studies, and through the development of their own critical aesthetic voice in creating reviews of live music. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
The module seeks to develop in students an understanding of a range of positions within the history of aesthetics and in light of the ways in which music specifically figures in these histories. The module, too, aims to help students recognise the ways in which aesthetic modes of thought recur within contemporary media, through examinations of press sources, films and literature in which music takes a central role, and recent musicology. Finally, the module gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their understandings in a practical sense, through the writing of regular concert reviews in light of particular aesthetic theories, which form the basis of their assessed work.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Situate music with respect to a range of aesthetic contexts and critical perspectives.
2. Analyse connections between (aesthetic) theory and practice, and between music and other disciplines.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
3. Reflect analytically on your own learning, achievement, and personal/professional development.
4. Communicate ideas in clear and structured ways.
Details of the syllabus will be provided on the Minerva organisation (or equivalent) for the module.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independent online learning hours | 20 | ||
| Private study hours | 160 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 0 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 180 | ||
Students submit weekly concert reviews (utilising the aesthetic thought studied that week), with group feedback provided by tutors: students select the most successful three of their reviews for assessment, with an accompanying commentary explaining how they have deployed particular modes of aesthetic thought in writing their reviews.
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 14/04/2026
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