CULT3120 Music & Culture

marj.kibby@newcastle.edu.au

Learning Activities
Week 1 - ends 4th March

Introductions

Familiarise yourself with the Course Outline, Additional Information and Blackboard Site.
Ensure that you know what is expected of you in class and for the assessment items.
Resolve any queries in the face-to-face class or on the Blackboard forum.

Week 2 - ends 11th March

Music in everyday life

Levitin, Daniel J.Life Soundtracks:The uses of music in everyday life: Report prepared
for the exclusive use of Philips Consumer Electronics B.V., Eindhoven, The Netherlands
May 11, 2007 http://levitin.mcgill.ca/pdf/LifeSoundtracks.pdf

North, A. C.; Hargreaves, David J; Hargreaves, Jon J. Uses of music in everyday life.
Music Perception 22, 41-77 (2004). Full text available in ProQuest 5000

In-class exercise: What might a music diary record?

Week 3 - ends 18th March

Music, taste and aesthetics

Hennion, Antoine, Music Lovers. Taste as Performance Theory, Culture & Society 18, 5
(2001) 1-22" Full text available in SAGE Premier 2007

White, Daniel, Music and Art Aesthetics: Is there such a thing as perfect taste in music?
Skytopia Website, 2002 http://www.skytopia.com/project/rating.html

In-class debate (everyone speaks) That good music is simply a matter of taste.

Week 4 - ends 25th March

Performance, recording and authenticity

Auslander, Philip (1998) Seeing Is Believing: Live Performance and the Discourse of
Authenticity in Rock Culture. Literature and Psychology, Winter v44 i4 p1-13 Full text
available in Proquest.

Earl, Peter E. Simon's travel theorem and the demand for live music Journal of
Economic Psychology Volume 22, Issue 3, June 2001, Pages 335-358 Full text available
in Science Direct.

In-class debate (everyone speaks) That the live performance is the authentic
music experience.

Introduction to Project 1

Project 1 information.

Week 5 - ends 1st April

Music scenes, genres and subcultures

Aucouturier, Jean-Julien and Pachet, François (2003) 'Representing Musical Genre: A

State of the Art', Journal of New Music Research,32:1,83 — 93
http://dx.doi.org/10.1076/jnmr.32.1.83.16801

Hesmondhalgh, David (2005) Subcultures, Scenes or Tribes? None of the Above

Journal of Youth Studies, V 8, N 1 March, pages 21 - 40

Introduction to Project 2

Project 2 information

Weeks 6, 7, 8 - ends 29th April

Group projects

Week 9 - ends 6th May

Project 1 presentation and discussion

Week 10 - ends 13th May

Popular music analysis and criticism

Brennan, Matt The rough guide to critics: musicians discuss the role of the music press
Popular Music, Volume 25, Issue 02, May 2006, pp 221-234 Full text available in
Cambridge Journals Online.

Kaminsky, Peter M. “Revenge of the Boomers: Notes on the Analysis of Rock Music.”
Music Theory Online 6/3 (2000).
http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.00.6.3/mto.00.6.3.kaminsky.html

In-class debate (everyone speaks) That writing about music is like dancing about
architecture.
Week 11 - ends 20th May

Music, lyrics and meaning

Singletary, Michael W. Some perceptions of the lyrics of three types of recorded music:
Rock, Country and Soul Popular Music and Society, Volume 9, Issue 3, 1983, pages 51 -
63

Cubitt, Sean ‘Maybellene’: meaning and the listening subject Popular Music (1984),
4:207-224

Inskip,C., A MacFarlane, P Rafferty, Meaning, communication, music: towards a revised

communication model Journal of Documentation, V64 N5 2008 pp:687-706

In-class debate (everyone speaks) That "Are we human or are we dancer" is rock's
silliest lyric.

The Guardian Music Blog http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2008/oct/17/oasis-

beatles-silly-lyrics

Week 12 - ends 27th May

Industry, technology and DIY

Jones, Steve, Music that moves: popular music, distribution and network technologies
Cultural Studies, Volume 16, Issue 2 March 2002 pages 213 - 232

Music industry urged to embrace the Internet Tue Jan 20, 2009
http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE50J03U20090120

Williamson, John and Martin Cloonan, Rethinking the music industry Popular Music
2007, 26 : 305-322

In-class debate (everyone speaks) That a hug from the music industry is too little,
too late.

Week 13 - ends 3rd June

Review and evaluation

Project 1 information.
Music as social practice

Learning outcomes:

Through this project students will come to an understanding of the various functions of
music in society, learn how to critique the roles of music in a culture and in individuals
lives, and explore the ideological assumptions on which music culture is based.

Scenario:

The government has announced a series of local grants to support social and cultural
activities. The guidelines suggest that it was anticipated that the grants would go to
support ‘high culture’ activities; however there is nothing in the rules to prevent a wider
range of groups applying.

Your organization Music for the Populace is preparing a submission, requesting a

considerable sum of money to support popular music as a significant social and cultural
activity in Newcastle. Your submission will clearly define what you mean by ‘popular
music’; argue its social and cultural value; provide details of the activities that will be
supported; and draw on published research to support your assertions, and to justify the
activities.

Task:

As a group (either face-to-face or online) prepare your submission giving the required
information, presented in an appropriate format. It is anticipated that this project will
involve:

researching
making decisions
solving problems
strategising
analyzing
planning
presenting

Clarify terms and define issues

Individually:

• Read the scenario and clarify any terms.

• Highlight key points – ‘triggers’ that will guide your research.
• Define the issues raised in the scenario.
• Identify the core question that is to be answered by your research.
• Clarify the final product that will be produced by your group

Then as a group come to an agreement on each of these.

Brainstorm

Individually, use concept mapping software, mind maps or topic webs to record ideas, for
example Mindomo.

As a group, brainstorm to provide as many explanations, alternatives and/or hypotheses

as possible.

Arrive at a decision on a possible outcome.

Identify, Discuss and Assign

Identify areas where you require additional information.

Some of these will be critical topics that everyone should research, others
will be specific areas that individuals can research and report back. Discuss
how this research will be done.

Assign topics to group members. Set a deadline for everyone to report back
on whether the original solution is effective or problematic, and on areas
where more research is required.

Refine your plan of action.

Build Solutions

As you research, share information and opinions with your group members. If you are in
a face-to-face tutorial some of this exchange will happen in class. Use your group forum
to keep in touch between class sessions. In you are in an online tutorial, all of your
discussion will take place in the group forum.

Keep your posts to the group forum fairly brief, dealing with one point at a time. Use
quotes to support your opinions, or direct your group to readings – but keep them very
brief. See your posts as initiating or contributing to a discussion, not as providing the
answer. (See the information on Online Communication and Groupwork)

Use chat to come to an agreement on a point. All group members will need to be logged
on at the same time, but it facilitates reaching an agreement. Or use your face-to-face
time productively for those things that require synchronous conversation.

If you have longer position statements that you want the group to consider, then share
them as a file.

Assess your progress. Is additional research required? Are you headed towards
agreement? Can you summarise the ideas that have been presented so far?
 When all of the information and opinions of individual group members have been
considered, the group will need to arrive at a conclusion for the set task.

Report
Journal Template rtf format (61.755 Kb)

Report to the class in Week 9 Present in the F2F class or post a file and discuss in the
online class.

Submit your journal for assessment by 12:00 midday Wednesday 6th May.

Evaluate
How effective was the process you used?

Project 2 information

Set up your group blog in Blogger

Blogger https://www.blogger.com/start

Take a quick tour

Watch a video tutorial
Discover more features
Read Blogger Buzz

1. One person in the group sign in to your Google account, or create a new one.
2. One person in the group create a a blog and name your Blog What to listen for in 'music
genre that you've chosen' For Example What to listen for in Rock
3. Select a template design (you can change this later).
4. Under 'Settings' and 'Permissions' add the email addresses of the rest of your group to
invite them to be authors.
5. Under 'Settings' and 'Basic' add a description of your Blog
6. View the other settings options, but leave as the default unless you have a reason to
change them.
7. Under 'Layout' and 'Page Elements' edit the 'About me' section to describe your group.
8. Click 'View Blog' and copy and paste the URL of your Blog to the Blackboard discussion
forum.
Assignments
My Music
My Music assessment rubric - pdf file (55.592 Kb)

Due: 12:00 midday Wednesday 25th March

Length: 1,000 words plus appendix
Marks: 25%

Keep a detailed diary of all of your music related activities for a twenty-four hour period.

On the basis of this diary, analyse the role that music plays in your life. Use academic references to
support the opinions you express and the conclusions you draw. Submit your paper, with your diary
as a appendix, for assessment using the View/Complete link above.

The assessment rubric gives the assessment criteria and grading standards - it specifies what we
will be looking for in grading your assignment. Use it to self-assess your draft paper.

Project 1 Journal
Learning journal template (61.755 Kb)
Journal assessment rubric.pdf (54.599 Kb)

Due: 12:00 midday Wednesday 6th May

Length: 1,000 words approximately
Marks: 25%

Submit your journal for assessment using the View/Complete link above.

Use the template provided, and complete all of the sections.

Music Blog Posts

Blog outline example (10.44 Kb)

Suggested plan due: 12:00 midday Wednesday 8th April

Final blog post deadline: 12:00 midday Wednesday 3rd June
Length: equivalent to 2,000 word essay
Marks: 50%

Complete your own map of what the Blog might look like and upload using the View/Complete link
above. For guidance, see the example attached.

Share individual outlines as a group and agree on a unified plan. As a group set up a Blog entitled
"How to listen to ...." Contribute individual posts in the agreed categories, making sure that you are
identified as the author of your own posts. You should post a minimum of ten posts during the
semester.