| source Northwestern (X) |
level |
department MUS_HIST Music (X) |
This course examines the history of rock 'n' roll as both a musical and cultural form. It explores rock's origins; the music's birth in the 1950s; its development in the 1960s; and its elaborations from the 1970s to the present. As the course proceeds, close attention is paid to crucial themes such as rock's economic underpinnings; its strange mutations as a genre; its racial, gender, and class dimensions; its relationship to youth culture; the stories of particular songs; the careers of exemplary performers; the question of rock's reception among various audiences; the politics of rock music; and what rock music reveals about the history of American - and even global - society in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Through multimedia lectures, class discussion, listening assignments, viewing assignments, online listening journals, a midterm, and a final exam, students pursue a deeper, more nuanced appreciation of rock 'n' roll music and its historical context. Formal musical training is not required for this course, but students work with basic musical concepts such as song structure and instrumentation.
Score: 14.749282 Details | Listing | Web page