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Music
511: Survey of American Music T-TH
11:10-12:30 PCAC M222-223
Instructor:
Daniel Beller-McKenna 862-1667 Office:
PCAC M-116 Office
hours: M-W: 1-2 (or by appointment) |
Goals and Overview
The goal of the course is
twofold: 1) to develop critical listening and interpretive skills towards
various styles of music in the United
States United States
1. Hymns and Psalms in the Colonies and early Nation
2. The Blues
3. African American Identity in Jazz (1900-1965)
4. Folk Music: Collection, Movement, Revival (1900-1965)
5. Country Music from Appalachia to Texas
6. Roots of Rock and Roll 1950-1970
Each topic has been chosen for
its relevance to American culture and history and for how it informs our
experience of being “American.” There is a comprehensive textbook
for the course that will be complemented by reading several on-line essays (articles
and book chapters). These writings
take distinctive approaches to one or more performing artists of a particular
musical style and raise larger social/cultural issues engendered by that
musical style and those performers.
Of course, the main focus of study will be the music itself, which has
been chosen as a representative sampling of the topics to be covered. Accordingly, there is a heavy listening
component to the course and you will be expected to familiarize yourself with a
large number of weekly listening selections.
Text (Available from the
The general textbook for the
course is Richard
Crawford, America's Musical Life: A History.
Listening
Copies of CDs containing the assigned listening for the
course are on reserve in the multimedia room of Dimond Library. These include compilation CDs that I
have made as well as several commercially released CDs. Listening is assigned on a weekly basis
as indicated in the course overview on the Blackboard page for the course.
There is also a 3-CD set of recordings that match up with
the textbook version of the Crawford text.
Purchase of these CDS is not
required and I will not focus on these.
There are also two avenues for purchasing the assigned
listening for the course for use on your own computer or mp3 player:
iTunes: on the
Blackboard course website I have posted an iTunes playlist containing nearly
all the assigned listening for the course (a few items for the first week will
be posted as MP3s directly on the Blackboard site. You are welcome to purchase the
selections you wish from the list.
Rhapsody: Rhapsody is commercial streaming-audio
vendor. By paying a monthly fee ($12.99)
you can listen to complete tracks from their rather extensive library as much
as you like. A Rhapsody playlist is
also posted on the Blackboard website.
NB: Purchase iTunes tracks or a Rhapsody account is NOT REQUIRED. You may listen to the reserve CDs in the
library to complete the listening requirements for the course.
Blackboard Website
Most of the information for this course
(handouts, assignments, study-guides, etc.) will not be handed out in hard
copy, but rather will be made available through the Blackboard Website. By registering for this course you
automatically have access to this website and—if you did not already have
one through a previous course—have had a Blackboard account opened for
you. For help getting started go to
http://www.unh.edu/blackboard/gettingstarted.html.
Requirements
1.
The basic requirement for the course is to read and listen to the
assigned materials in advance for each week. Consult the Course overview on
Blackboard for weekly assignments.
2.
During the semester you will be assigned a few graded, writing
assignment. These may include
topical assignments, response papers on an assigned reading, and response
papers to attendance at suggested musical performances on campus or in
3.
There will be two exams (a mid-term and a final). There will be no individual make-up
exams given: students missing the mid-term will take a cumulative make-up exam
near the end of the semester (in addition to the final exam). Exams will include listening
identification and multiple choice questions. Please
check the exam dates below and make sure you are available to take the exam on
those dates.
4.
I will give weekly listening identification quizzes on the
assigned listening for the current week.
These may occur on Tuesday or Thursday and will not be announced ahead
of time. There will be no make-ups for any quizzes, but the lowest three
quiz grades will be dropped, so you will not be penalized for missing up to
three quizzes. Click here for a
guide to listening. Any quizzes missed beyond three will
directly affect your grade for the course: one portion of a grade per quiz
missed (i.e., if you miss four quizzes and your grade for the course should be
an A-, you will receive a B+; five quizzes missed and your grade will be a B;
etc.)
5.
Regular attendance is required. Since lectures will frequently diverge
from the readings, I expect all students to come to every class.
Grading
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Written assignments |
15% |
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Quizzes |
25% |
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Exams |
60% (30 each) |
Exam Dates
Mid term exam: Thursday,
October 12, in class
Final exam: Thursday,
December 20, 8:00-10:00