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`Spring Semester 2016

MUSI 1003: Popular Music and Diversity in American Society


Tuesday & Thursday 5.00-5.50, Information Technology Engineering Room C-80
Instructor
Dr Alain Frogley: MLIB 203, tel. 486-4783, alain.frogley@uconn.edu
office hours: Tu 2-4, Th 3-4
Teaching assistants & discussion section times (office hours tba); all meet in DRMU 219B
Dr Heather de Savage: Avery
heather.desavage@uconn.edu

Point

Tu

4.00;

DRMU

152,

tel.

486-3971,

Nathaniel Gworek: Tu 12.30, W 11.15; DRMU 150, tel. 486-5454


nathaniel.gworek@uconn.edu
Tiffany Jackson: M 2.30, M 3.35; DRMU 150, tel. 486-5454
tiffany.jackson@uconn.edu
[Dr Frogley teaches the Honors section, Th 2.00]
Course Description
MUSI 1003 falls within both Content Area 1 (Arts and Humanities) and Content Area 4
(Diversity and Multiculturalism) of the General Education curriculum (more
information on the goals of these content areas is provided below). It will encourage
you to think critically and creatively about popular music and its social and historical
meanings and contexts, particularly in relation to issues of diversity. The focus is on
American popular music of the last one hundred years or so, and particularly the last
fifty. We will study significant styles of American popular music in chronological order,
and will explore several recurring themes throughout the course:
the role of popular music as a symbol of identity (race, class, gender, generation)
the interaction of European American, African American, and Latin American
traditions
the influence of mass media and technology (printing, recording, radio, video, internet)
Goals and outcomes

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The course is intended to enhance your enjoyment and understanding of the music you
already know, as well as introduce you to less familiar styles and genres to enable you
to become more informed consumers of popular music.
More specifically, upon completion of the course, students should have:
1) acquired knowledge about the rich variety of popular musics in the United States
from cultural, historical, and structural/stylistic perspectives
2) gained understanding of the ways in which these musics have expressed and
continue to express the responses of diverse groups to their position and status in
regional and national culture, including resistance to hegemonic interpretation and
appropriation
3) become sensitive to a variety of ways in which music may encode and actualize
social power relationships, and to how this is reflected in music to which they choose to
listen or to which they are exposed in advertising, shopping malls, movies etc.
In order to assess your progress toward these intended outcomes, we will be asking you
at various point to reflect upon your experience in the course.
Learning Methods
Classroom lectures and smaller discussion groups
Critical reading of a textbook survey and primary sources representing diverse
experiences
Critical listening to audio and video recordings, and live performances
Required textbook purchases
1. Larry Starr and Christopher Waterman, American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to
MP3, 4th edition, Oxford University Press, 2014
2. David Brackett, ed., The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader: Histories and Debates, 3rd
edition, Oxford University Press, 2014
NB: Oxford University Press has provided these two books as a bundled pair for the
UConn Coop, which offers you a substantial discount in relation to trying to buy them
separately elsewhere.

Bring your Starr and Waterman textbook to every class.


Schedule and reading assignments from Starr-Waterman (for details of listenings
assignments see below; Brackett readings will be assigned through your TA )

Wk 1 (1/19&21)

Introduction: Music, identity, and diversity


The elements of music
19C and early 20C roots (Starr & Waterman Chaps. 1-3)

2 (1/26&28)

Popular song genres c. 1920-1945 (Starr & Waterman Chap. 4)


Blues and hillbilly music in the 1920s (Starr & Waterman Chap. 5)

3 (2/2&4)

Racial politics and the rise of jazz (Starr & Waterman Chap. 6)
The post-war decade 1946-1955 ((Starr-Waterman Chap. 7)

4 (2/9&11)

The rock n roll explosion 1954-1959 (Starr-Waterman Chap. 8)


Test 1: practice test, Thursday February 11 (all material up to this
point in course)

5 (2/16&18)

American Pop & the British Invasion (Starr & Waterman Chap. 9)

6 (2/23&25)

Country, Soul, and Folk in the 1960s


(Starr & Waterman Chap. 10)

7 (3/1&3)

Country, Soul, and Folk in the 1960s, cont.


Test 2: midterm exam, Thursday March 3

8 (3/8&10)

Rock and Disco c. 1967-1978 (Starr & Waterman Chaps. 10-11)

9 (3/15&17)

[no classes: Spring Break Cancun!!!]

10 (3/22&24)

Outsider genres in the 1970s: outlaws & punks


(Starr & Waterman Chap. 12)

11 (3/29&31)

Salsa and the rise of Latin Music (Starr & Waterman Chap. 12)

12 (4/5&7)

Grrrl power: women and pop music from the mid-1970s

4
(Starr & Waterman Chap. 13)
13 (4/12&14)

The 1990s: Hip-hop (Starr & Waterman Chap. 14)

14 (4/19&21)

The 1990s cont.: Alternative musics (Starr & Waterman Chap. 14)

15 (4/26&28)

Who are you/we now? Music and multiple identities from the local
to the global (Starr & Waterman Chap. 15)

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[Exam week] Test 3: final exam, time TBA

Requirements and Grading


1. Homework Reading and Listening (not graded): Prepare for every class by doing the
reading and listening to be discussed ahead of time (see below for details of required
text). You should bring the Starr-Waterman book to every class.
2. Exams (70%): There will be three tests as shown. To allow for the fact that most of you
will never have taken a music exam, Test 1 will be purely a practice test, and will not
count towards your grade. The Midterm and the Final will each count for 35% of your
semester grade, and each covers approximately half of the course material (see details
on schedule above); the Final is therefore not cumulative, but the Midterm will include
material covered in the practice-only Test 1.
The tests will include the aural identification of pieces discussed in class and/or
assigned for homework listening, and multiple-choice questions on these pieces and all
other aspects of the course. More detail will be provided as the first test approaches. But
I should stress that developing the ability to listen carefully and critically, as well as to
understand the social and cultural issues discussed in the course, is an extremely
important part of this course. Avoid cramming for these exams at all costs! They will
only be easy if you prepare regularly and well. For both midterm and final, we will be
using computer-scanned exam forms; you are required to bring two No. 2 pencils, a
clipboard or other hard writing surface (NOT your music textbook or notebook!), and
your UConn ID. Make-up exams will be allowed only for medical or family
emergencies, or for bunched final exams after application to the Dean of Students, who
will determine which exam is to be rescheduled.

5
3. Preparatory assignments (submitted via Husky CT) supporting in-class discussion of
readings from Brackett anthology (15%). Your discussion section TAs will provide you
with more details when you meet with them.
4. Attendance and discussion participation (15%)
You are expected to be present for all lectures. While it is impractical in a class of this
size to take attendance in lectures, PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL NOT DO YOUR
BEST IN THIS COURSE IF YOU MISS LECTURES FREQUENTLY: YOU CANNOT GET
EVERYTHING YOU NEED FROM THE TEXTBOOK. Though notes that I display in
class will be available online, these are NOT intended as a full record of the material
covered or a substitute for attendance. You must attend lecture and take your own notes
to get the full benefit of the class.
Participation in discussion sections will be assessed according to two elements,
attendance (obviously you cannot participate if you are not present) and contribution.
Attendance will be taken every week in discussion sections; more than two unexcused
absences will lower your grade. Your contribution will be assessed in terms of your
willingness to make regular attempts to answer questions or otherwise participate in
class discussion. You will be given ample notice by your TA if you do not appear to be
making adequate attempts to contribute, or you have attendance problems. The
assumption is that every student should be able to receive an A for this portion of the
course.
5. Grading scale
Grades will be assigned as follows:
93-100% A

90-92% A-

87-89%

B+

83-86% B

80-82% B-

77-79%

C+

73-76% C

70-72% C-

67-69%

D+

63-66

60-62% D-

<60 F

Listening Assignments
In addition to the chapters in American Popular Music specified on the schedule, you
are also expected to listen to the songs discussed in detail in the text and which can be
downloaded free using the personal code in your copy of the book: please follow the

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instructions with the book (NB: you can only download the tracks once). Some of the
songs discussed in the text were not available for licensing to this collection but can be
listened to either from a Spotify playlist, or downloaded for an additional fee from a
special iMix selection prepared for the book: see the books website:
www.oup.com/us/starr
I will specify certain iMix tracks that I expect you to know for the exam and that you
may therefore need to download for your own use. The tracks are typically 99c each. I
will certainly not be discussing every track in the book. In any case, you will receive
more information on this later.
At this website you can also find other resources, such as chapter summaries and
review questions, and downloadable PDF outlines of the PowerPoint slides that I will
often be using in class: click on Student Resources and the number of the chapter you
want, and then Outline. (NB: the actual PowerPoints are NOT available).
Absences from Class Due to Religious Observances and Extra-Curricular Activities
Please see statement at http://provost.uconn.edu/syllabi-references/
Students with Disabilities
Students who wish to seek accommodations should please contact the Center for
Students with Disabilities as early on in the semester as possible, and in any case well
before any exams or assignments for which arrangements need to be made. For a full
statement
of
the
university
policy
on
disabilities
see
http://policy.uconn.edu/2011/05/24/people-with-disabilities-policy-statement/
Academic Misconduct Statement
Academic misconduct in any form is in violation of the University of Connecticut
Student
Conduct
Code
(see
http://community.uconn.edu/the-student-codepreamble/) and will not be tolerated. This includes, but is not limited to, copying or
sharing answers on tests or assignments, plagiarism, and having someone else do your
academic work. Depending on a variety of factors, a student could receive an F grade
on the test/assignment, an F for the course, or could be suspended or expelled.
Policy Against
Relationships

Discrimination,

Harassment

and

Inappropriate

Romantic

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The University is committed to maintaining an environment free of discrimination or
discriminatory harassment directed toward any person or group within its community
students, employees, or visitors. Academic and professional excellence can flourish
only when each member of our community is assured an atmosphere of mutual
respect. All members of the University community are responsible for the maintenance
of an academic and work environment in which people are free to learn and work
without fear of discrimination or discriminatory harassment. In addition,
inappropriate Romantic relationships can undermine the Universitys mission when
those in positions of authority abuse or appear to abuse their authority. To that end,
and in accordance with federal and state law, the University prohibits discrimination
and discriminatory harassment, as well as inappropriate Romantic relationships, and
such behavior will be met with appropriate disciplinary action, up to and including
dismissal
from
the
University.
More
information
is
available
at
http://policy.uconn.edu/?p=2884.
Sexual Assault Reporting Policy
To protect the campus community, all non-confidential University employees (including
faculty) are required to report assaults they witness or are told about to the Office of
Diversity & Equity under the Sexual Assault Response Policy. The University takes all
reports with the utmost seriousness. Please be aware that while the information you
provide will remain private, it will not be confidential and will be shared with
University officials who can help.
More information is available at
http://sexualviolence.uconn.edu/.
AF 1/19/16
Goals for General Education courses as articulated by the General Education Oversight Committee (extracted from
GEOC website, geoc.uconn.edu)
The purpose of general education is to ensure that all University of Connecticut undergraduate students:
1. become articulate, 2. acquire intellectual breadth and versatility, 3. acquire critical judgment, 4.
acquire moral sensitivity, 5. acquire awareness of their era and society, 6. acquire consciousness of the
diversity of human culture and experience, and 7. acquire a working understanding of the processes by
which they can continue to acquire and use knowledge.
Group 1 courses (Arts and Humanities) should provide a broad vision of artistic and humanist
themes. These courses should enable students themselves to study and understand the artistic, cultural
and historical processes of humanity. They should encourage students to explore their own traditions
and their places within the larger world so that they, as informed citizens, may participate more fully in
the rich diversity of human languages and cultures. The primary modes of exploration and inquiry
within the Arts and Humanities are historical, critical, and aesthetic.

8
Group 4 courses (Diversity and Multiculturalism). In this interconnected global community,
individuals of any profession need to be able to understand, appreciate, and function in cultures other
than their own. Diversity and multiculturalism in the university curriculum contribute to this essential
aspect of education by bringing to the fore the historical truths about different cultural perspectives,
especially those of groups that traditionally have been under-represented. These groups might be
characterized by such features as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identities, political systems, or religious
traditions, or by persons with disabilities. By studying the ideas, history, values, and creative expressions
of diverse groups, students gain appreciation for differences as well as commonalities among people.
Subject matter alone cannot define multicultural education. A key element is to examine the subject from
the perspective of the group that generates the culture. The inquiry needs to be structured by the
concepts, ideas, beliefs, and/or values of the culture under study. Regardless of the approach, courses
should view the studied group(s) as authors and agents in the making of history.

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