1 MUS 503 Social Issues in Popular Music Instructor: Dr. Gillian Turnbull RYERSON UNIVERSITY Department of Philosophy and Music COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will examine the relationship between contemporary popular music and social issues. The ways in which popular music addresses, interacts with, and intersects identity formation, political movements, technological change, class structures, and geography will be among the topics covered. Examples from 20 th and 21 st century North American and global popular music will be included to illustrate both developments in musical style and music s connection to social change. GOALS OF THE COURSE: 1) The course will introduce students to theoretical concepts that endeavour to explain the construction and maintenance of social identities. 2) Students will learn to critique social and political structures through the lens of the popular music studies literature. 3) Students will develop proficiency in basic musical terminology and aural cognition skills. 4) Students will enrich their understanding of the fields of cultural production, and will develop critical thinking, oral and written communication, research skills, and active participation in the social, political, and cultural environments of the 20 th and 21 st century. COURSE EVALUATION: Listening Quizzes (2 x 5%) 10% Weeks 6 and 13 Test 1 15% Week 6 Essay 35% Week 8 Podcast Assignment 10% Week 5, 7, or 10 Participation/Reading Quizzes 10% Ongoing Final Exam 20% Exam period Please notify the professor in writing of any accommodations requested during the term for religious observances or disability, by the second class as per university policy. Any alterations in assignments, tests or deadlines will be discussed in class prior to implementation. This course is lecture-based, with student participation through guided listening activities and group discussion.
2 MUS 503 CLASS SCHEDULE (subject to revision): Week Dates Topics Assessment Week 1 Class introduction 1. Monbiot Week 2 Materials of music; Identity and popular music 2. Negus, p. 1-6 1. Negus, Chapter 4 Week 3 Week 4 Materials of music; Authenticity and pop music Class structure in popular music 1. Moore 1. Duchan Week 5 Work and labour 1. Baker Week 6 Written Test 1 Reading Week Week 6 Listening Test 1 cont. Week 7 Sex, gender, and popular music: rock 1. Schilt Week 8 Popular music in advertising 1. Taylor Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Popular music and racial identities Protest, Violence, and Combat Politics, censorship, and popular music Technology, globalization, and the popular music industry Technology, globalization, and the popular music industry 1. Stewart 1. Pieslak 1. Jones 1. Bull 1. Bull
3 Readings Week 1: What is popular music? Introduction to key concepts. Negus, Keith. 1996. Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction, 1-6. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press. Monbiot, George. 2016. Neoliberalism The Ideology at the Roots of All Our Problems. The Guardian April 15. For Reference Shuker, Roy. 2005. Popular Music: The Key Concepts, 2 nd Edition. London: Routledge.. 2001. Understanding Popular Music, 2 nd Edition, 1-30. London: Routledge. Week 2: Materials of Music; Identity and Popular Music. Negus, Keith. 1996. Identities. Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction, 99-135. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press. Week 3: Materials of Music; Authenticity in pop. Moore, Allan. 2002. Authenticity as Authentication. Popular Music 21/2: 209-223. Week 4: Articulating class structure in popular music. Duchan, Joshua. 2016. Depicting the Working Class in the Music of Billy Joel. The Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter, ed. Katherine Williams and Justin A. Williams, 137-43. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Optional Bradby, Barbara. 2014. Too Posh to Rock? The Exposure of Social Class in Popular Music. In Popular Music Matters, ed. Lee Marshall and Dave Laing, 11-30. Surrey: Ashgate. McDonald, Chris. 2009. Rush, Rock Music, and the Middle Class: Dreaming in Middletown, 62-100. Bloomington:Indiana University Press. in library for consultation Week 5: Work and labour. Baker, Sarah. 2014. Nobody Expects to be Paid Nobody Asks, What is the Fee? : Making a Living from Music in a Time of Economic Crisis The Icelandic Experience. In Popular Music Matters, ed. Lee Marshall and Dave Laing, 31-44. Surrey: Ashgate.
4 http://ebookcentral.proquest.com.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca/lib/ryerson/detail.action? docid=1774195 Week 6: Listening Test 1 / Midterm Test. Week 7: Sex, gender, and popular music. Schilt, Kristen. 2003. A Little Too Ironic : The Appropriation and Packaging of Riot Grrrl Politics by Mainstream Female Musicians. Popular Music and Society 26/1: 5-16. Week 8: Popular music and advertising. Taylor, Timothy D. 2012. Conquering (the) Culture: The Changing Shape of the Cultural Industries in the 1990s and After. In The Sounds of Capitalism: Advertising, Music, and The Conquest of Culture, 205-229. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Week 9: Popular music and racial identities. Stewart, James. 2005. Music in the Message: Political Commentary in Black Popular Music from Rhythm and Blues to Early Hip Hop. The Journal of African American History 90/3: 196-225. Week 10: Protest, violence, and combat. Pieslak, Jonathan. 2009. Music as Inspiration for Combat. In Sound Targets: American Soldiers and Music in the Iraq War, 46-57. Urbana: Indiana University Press. Week 11: Politics, censorship, and popular music. Jones, Steve. 1991. Ban(ned) in the USA: Popular Music and Censorship. Journal of Communication Inquiry 15/1: 73-87. Week 12: Technology, globalization, and the popular music industry cont. Bull, Michael. 2007. Sound Moves: ipod Culture and Urban Experience. The Audio- Visual ipod. Sound Moves: ipod Culture and Urban Experience, 1-11 and 38-49. New York: Routledge.
5 LISTENING QUIZZES You will be asked to identify musical examples (major performer/composer, piece title, genre or style) from the accompanying CDs and analyze tracks using the musical terminology learned in class. The necessary listening skills will be taught in depth throughout the lectures, and assume no prior musical knowledge to successfully complete this course. Several pieces will be chosen on each quiz from the list of recordings you listen to and study along with your readings. You will hear each example twice from the beginning in the quiz. TESTS Tests will consist of terminology identification, multiple choice, short, and longer answer questions based on lecture and reading materials. A terminology list from which you will be tested will be given to aid you in your studying. ESSAY Students will be given a choice of topics for the essay. Students are expected to use reference materials in the library (books, journals, encyclopedias, recordings). Authors must therefore be cited in all websites used, and proper bibliographic format used. Students should use a minimum of four peer-reviewed written sources in addition to recordings, and must cite all directly or indirectly quoted and paraphrased material, including the prof s notes or lectures. The course readings and class notes will not be counted as one of the four required written research sources. PODCASTS Students will present a 5-8-minute solo or duo response podcast in which they engage in discussion on one podcast, chosen from the provided list. Podcasts will be recorded and edited on your choice of recording device/software, so that the final recording is smooth and uninterrupted. Podcasts longer than the allotted time will lose marks quality, not verbosity, will be rewarded. Podcasts must be submitted on D2L to the assignment folder, and can be submitted anytime throughout the term before the due date you have signed up for. PARTICIPATION/READING QUIZZES Grades will be determined through completion of reading quizzes and participation in in-class discussions and group work. Students are expected to complete the assigned readings before each lecture and be prepared to discuss them in class. Quizzes pertaining to the readings will be posted on Brightspace; students are expected to complete these questions and eight of the reading quizzes must be completed throughout the term for full marks.