#pmpsjs19 course calendar

 About the Course Calendar (Updated 1/29/19)

Texts are to be read/watched/listened to for day they are listed. For example, Schneider is to be read for Friday, January 18. Homework in addition to texts will be presented in yellow. The schedule is subject to change; it is your responsibility to check it regularly.

Week One: Introductions & Case Studies

M 1/14: Case Study 1: Jimi Hendrix, “Star Spangled Banner” (1969)

Assignment for Wednesday, January 16
Please read through the syllabus and come to class with any questions you have.

Please watch the following videos on time signatures, music scales, and emotions:

W 1/16: Case Study 2: “Star Spangled Banner” sheet music; Community of Learning
Hand out Listening Journal Assignment

Assignment for Friday, 1/18
Please read Schneider on “Born in the U.S.A.” While reading, I’d like you to pay close attention to how Schneider is using external sources. Note when you think Schneider is using the source to illuminate a point, to disagree with something the author is claiming, and when building his own ideas on another author’s ideas.

I’d also like you to pay attention to the form / content dyad he is advocating for in the piece.

We will listen to the 1984, 1982, and 2018 versions of BITUSA in class on Friday.

F 1/18: First Listen Friday: Case Study 3: Bruce Springsteen, “Born in the U.S.A.” (1984), (original recording, 1982), (Broadway version, 2018); Schneider (2014) on BITUSA
Listening Journal 1 Due
Hand out Reading Response Assignment

Week Two: On Understanding Songs and Music

M 1/21: Class Canceled — MLK Day

Assignment for Wednesday, 1/23
Please read the Reading Response Assignment and make sure you have received an invite to a GoogleDoc that Bill sent to you by noon on Saturday. If you did not receive it, please email Bill right away — and email any questions you have.

Please read Rosenthal and Flacks’ (2011) chapter, “Aretha Franklin Sings to Charlie Manson” (see the readings page) and complete your Reading Response on the following:

Schneider and Rosenthal and Flacks consider how to most effectively approach having a nuanced understanding of a piece of music, by considering the relationships among lyrics, the delivery, the songs, the performance, the artist, the listener, among others. In your response, I’d like you to try to coalesce their discussions into a unified approach to understanding music, especially protest and socially conscious movements. What do we need to consider in order to get to as close an understanding of a song as we can?

We will discussion both articles in great detail on Wednesday.

W 1/23: Schneider; Rosenthal and Flacks, “Aretha Franklin….”; notes-schneider-rosenthal-flacks.docx
Reading Response 1 Due

Assignment for Friday, 1/25
Please read Lynskey on “Strange Fruit,” which gives background information about the song’s creation and the era in which it was written. Note that the text does include racially insensitive language when quoting people.

Added: For some context on lynching, please see the Monroe Work Today web site. Make sure you click on the link to the interactive Map in the top navigation.

There is no Reading Response due. However, please revisit your Reading Response 1 if you did not include a Reflection section in the response. As per the assignment, the Response is 30 points and the Reflection 20 (out of 50 total), so you want to be sure you have both.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

F 1/25: First Listen Friday: Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit” (1939); Lynskey on “Strange Fruit”; Strange Fruit Lyrics
Listening Journal 2 Due

Week Three: Black Song Tradition Pre-Civil Rights Movement

Assignment for Monday, 1/28
Please read Sanger (1995) Selections (Part 1) and Reed Selections (Part 1) and compose a Reading Response in response to the following:

Please discuss the complex relationship among music, identity, history, and community in the black community, including how you think “Strange Fruit” challenges that relationship. Be sure to reference/quote from both Sanger and Reed.

We will discuss both readings in detail in class on Monday.

M 1/28: Sanger on Black song traditions; selections from Reed on Civil Rights Movement; notes-sanger-reed.docx
Reading Response 2 Due

Assignment for Wednesday, 1/30
Please listen to the radio stories and the related songs under the “Slavery Spirituals for 1/30” heading on the Readings and Texts page.

There is no written prompt, but I’d like you to pay attention to your reaction to the lyrics and other sources of meaning within each song, as well as how the songs compliment and/or complicate the readings from Monday and earlier in the semester.

W 1/30: “Lift Every Voice and Sing”; Underground Railroad and Freedom Songs; freedom-songs-exercise
Hand out Listening Assignment

Assignment for Friday, 2/1
Please review the Listening Assignment and email Bill any questions you have. Your first post is due by 11:0pm pm Friday.

Please read Lynskey on “We Shall Overcome,” which is available on the Readings page.

F 2/1: First Listen Friday: “We Shall Overcome”; Lynskey on “We Shall Overcome”
First Listen (Potentials) Due by 11:00pm
Hand out Podcast Assignment and Podcast Proposal

Week Four: Civil Rights Movement & “We Shall Overcome”

Assignment for Monday, 2/4
Please read Rosenthal and Flacks (2011), “from You Can’t Scare Me…” and Sanger (1995) “Selections (Part 2)” (Note: pages 49 and 50 are repeated in the PDF) and complete a reading response for the following prompt:

The readings discuss the emotional connections individuals get when a song is heard within the context of a defined movement, such as the Civil Rights Movement or the anti-apartheid movement. But, what happens when a protest or social justice song is released that isn’t part of a defined movement? For example, the Vietnam War was over in 1975, and with it the anti-war movement, but “Born in the U.S.A.” was written in 1982 and released in 1984. Or, the Civil Rights Movement has been over for decades, but “This is America” came out in 2018 and had similar themes. How are we to understand those songs? Are they still part of a movement even though the movement is over? Or, is there something else at work that allows listeners to have an emotional and perhaps transformation relationship with the song?

This is the first week where Reading Responses are not required (you have to choose 6 of the remaining responses). However, all students are expected to complete the readings and be prepared to discuss them. If it becomes clear that students who are not completing responses are not doing the readings, all response will become required. So, please complete the readings so we can have a robust, informed discussion.

Please also read very carefully the Podcast Assignment and Podcast Proposal. We’ll discuss them in class on Monday.

If you have any questions or can’t find your access information for the course blog, please email me.

M 2/4: Sanger on collective singing; Rosenthal and Flacks on social movements and song; sample-quotes.docx
Reading Response 3 Due

Assignment for Wednesday, 2/6
Please read the liner notes by Reagon (1997) and listen to all the songs on the Readings page under the heading “Civil Rights Songs for 2/6.” Make sure to read the liner notes descriptions for each song I have asked you to listen to, as well.

Using Reagon (1997), Sanger (1995), and Rosenthal & Flacks (2011) as guides, I’d like you to come to class with a list of 5 ways at least one of the songs on the list make real the authors’ descriptions of music in the Civil Rights movement. Come with another list of ways some of the songs might be doing something different than what the authors mention.

W 2/6: Songs from Voices of the Civil Rights Movement; Reagon CD insert; notes-sanger-rosenthal-flacks-reagon.docx
Podcast Proposal Due on Protest Anthems Web Site by 11:00pm
F 2/8: First Listen Friday: Woody Guthrie, “This Land is Your Land” (1940); Analyzing “This Land” Sheet Music; Circle of Fifths (pdf); Note Resolution Chart (pdf); “This Land of Your Land” lyrics (.pdf)
Second Listen (Context and Connection) Due

Week Five: Folk Movement & “This Land is Your Land”

W 2/13: Class Canceled — Snow

Assignment for Monday Wednesday, 2/11 2/13
Please read Cantrell (2018) on folk music and Garman (2000) on Woody Guthrie’s politics, and listen to Anderson’s Studio 360 on “This Land is Your Land” (see the Readings page). Review the lyrics I provided for you, as well. (Important note: Several large sections of the Cantrell and Garman pieces are covered up so you don’t need to read them. They appear as covered up when viewed online. But, if you print your readings, depending on your settings, the full text may appear. Make sure you don’t read the sections you are not asked to read.) Response to the following prompt:

When describing what functions as “political music,” Rosenthal and Flacks introduce a term “C. Writing Mills called a ‘sociological imagination’: It helps musickers to see the social roots in what might otherwise be felt as individual stories or problems. It identifies collective and structural arrangements—who has power? who does the work? who gets the payoff? who decides?—as the origin of what is usually felt to be one’s personal situation” (p. 20). They continue that “political music implies, suggests, or openly states that existing arrangements are not natural, normal, or eternal, but the result of previous human decisions and arrangements, and thus susceptible to change” (p. 20). They continue on, but I won’t repeat it all here. I encourage you to re-read pages 20 and 21 to see the full context.

For this post, then, I’d like you to consider the “sociological imagination” in “This Land is Your Land” by seeing how Guthrie’s politics make their way into the song. I’d like you to follow by considering how and why folk music is a particularly adept genre for music that engages the “sociological imagination.”

If you have any questions, please let me know.

W 2/13: Cantrell on folk music; Garman on Guthrie; Studio 360 on “This Land”; notes-guthrie.docx

  1. Woody Guthrie, “Plane Crash at Los Gatos” (1948) (Springsteen version, 2000)
  2. Woody Guthrie, “Slip Knot”
  3. Woody Guthrie, “Do Re Mi” (1940)
  4. Woody Guthrie, “Hard Travelin‘” (1944)
  5. Woody Guthrie, “So Long Its Been Good to Know Ya” (1940)

Reading Response 4 Due

Assignment for Wednesday Friday, 2/13 2/15
In class on Wednesday, we’re going to be looking closely at vinyl folk records and chatting a bit about records as a medium. Please watch these two videos about how records are made:

F 2/15: First Listen Friday: Folk songs and education; vinyl materiality
F 2/15: First Listen Friday: Lomax Prison Recordings
Third Listen (Genre) Due

Week Six: Folk Movement: Recording the Songs of Black Southern Blues Singers

Assignment for Monday, 2/18
Please read in the following order: Lomax (1993), Stone (2015), and then listen to/read Paul (2015). Lomax is a short casual read and Paul is a radio story, though I’d like you to watch the video at the end of it, as well. Stone’s article is more complex and involved. Please listen to each of the recordings embedded in the article. Then, spend some time watching the videos and listening to the songs under the “Lomax and Prison Recordings for 2/18.”

If you choose to complete Reading Response 5, please enter into the conversation about the ethics of the Lomax’s activities when recording the songs of the prisoners. Take into consideration not only their practices but their motivations, as well. Reference Stone, Lomax, and Paul.

M 2/18: Stone on Lomax; Lomax on Lomax; Paul on Lomax
Reading Response 5 Due

Assignment for Wednesday, 2/20
On Wednesday we’re going to take a brief break from the music so we can discuss the podcast project some more, particularly in terms of background research. In preparation for that, I’d like you to (re)listen to the following radio stories:

When listening to the stories, I’d like you to pay attention to and note the musical, oral, and textual sources being used. I’d also like you to think about how the story moves from one place to the next. And think about how the music itself is being used. We’ll discuss these and other things in class.

W 2/20: School closed — 3 inches of soft fluffy snow
F 2/22: Talking about background research
Fourth Listen (Social Criticism) Due

Week Seven: Civil Rights and Blacklisting

Assignment for Monday, 2/25
Because of the snow day, we’re going to have to squeeze a bunch in this weekend, unfortunately.

These readings are going to transition us from Civil Rights into Vietnam, mostly through the lens of Pete Seeger. Please first watch from 42:00 – 1:10:00 of Brown’s documentary, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song (you’re welcome to watch the whole thing, of course, but are only required to watch the portion). Then, Jarnow’s few pages on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and Lithwick’s post, “When Pete Seeger Faced Down the House Un-American Activities Committee.” The post contains the complete transcript of Seeger’s testimony, which you don’t need to read in full, but I encourage you to read at least a part of. (If you’re interested, you can also watch Harry Belafonte’s speech inducting Pete Seeger into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame as a way to see what one civil rights icon thinks of Pete’s impact; it also connects back to the HUAC activities.) Then read Rodnitzsky on Vietnam. You’re welcome to stop on page 119 when he starts discussing using music in the classroom.

If you choose to complete Reading Response 6, there is no official prompt. Compose a thoughtful, engaging, and critical response in which you focus on something you found particularly interesting in movie and readings.

M 2/25: Jarnow on blacklisting; Seeger documentary and HUAC testimony; Rodnitzsky on Vietnam
First Listen Friday on a Monday: Pete Seeger, “If I Had a Hammer” (1962); Sam Cooke, “A Change is Gonna Come” (1964)
Discuss Background Research Assignment
Reading Response 6 Due

Assignment for Wednesday, 2/27
Please read Lynskey on Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young’s “Ohio.” It’s a rather fast read. And please listen to the songs under the “Vietnam Protest Songs” heading on the Readings Page. No response is due.

Please also read through the Background Research Assignment. We’ll discuss it in class.

W 2/27: Vietnam protest songs
Discuss Podcast Transcript
F 3/1: Class Canceled – Bill at a conference

Week Eight: Modern Folk: The Ghost of Tom Joad album as Social Statement

Assignment for Monday, 3/4
This week we are moving to consider our first album instead of just one song.  We’ll be listening to and reading essays that help us understand The Ghost of Tom Joad released by Bruce Springsteen in 1995. Tom Joad is the main character in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Springsteen knew the book, had watched John Ford’s movie adaptation of the book, and knew Woody Guthrie’s song, “Tom Joad.”

Please complete the following, in order:

  1. Listen to the whole album of The Ghost of Tom Joad, paying attention to the lyrics and the music.
  2. Watch this scene from John Ford’s version of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath, which contains Tom Joad’s famous “I’ll be there” speech.
  3. Read the selections from Maharidge and Williamson’s Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass. The first page of the reading (after the cover) is an Introduction by Bruce Springsteen. The reading is long, but most of the pages are / have Williamson’s photographs on them. When reading, try to find connections to the songs that are on the album.
  4. Read Fosl’s article on storytelling.

If you choose to complete this reading response, I’d like you to consider and write about Springsteen’s use of storytelling on Ghost of Tom Joad, connecting to Maharidge’s depiction of the new underclass and Fosl’s discussion of empowerment.

In class, we’ll discuss that question and consider how you think an album like this, disconnected from a movement, can have an impact.

M 3/4: Bruce Springsteen, The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995); Fosl; selections from Maharidge, Journey to Nowhere; notes-for-ghost-of-tom-joad
Reading Response 7 Due

Assignment for Wednesday, 3/6
Please read three short pieces for Wednesday. First, read two Los Angeles Times articles that inspired part of the album, one by Arax and Gordon (1995) and one by Rotella (1993). Then read, Springsteen’s (1998) short descriptions of each of the songs on GOTJ from his Songs book.

If you have questions about who Tom Joad is, please see the Wikipedia page for the book, Grapes of Wrath. This will give you a quick overview. You might also look at the one for Dust Bowl.

In class, we’ll talk about the questions we answered yesterday and more about the record.

W 3/6: more Ghost of Tom Joad; GM shuts 5 plants including Lordstown, Ohio

Assignment for Friday, 3/8
We’re going to focus on the podcasts again on Friday. In preparation, I’d like you to read the graphic-novel essay, Radio: An Illustrated Guide, by Abel and Glass (the host of This American Life).

We’re going to talk about the text in relation to the podcasts we listened to for 2/20, so if you need a refresher, take a listen to them again.

Your Background Research is due by 11:00pm on Friday. Remember that I’m primarily interested in the quality of the sources you choose, so please don’t just choose the first thing that appear. Be deliberate and discerning in your selections.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

F 3/8: Abel and Glass on Radio Storytelling and podcast; notes-for-radio-stories.pdf
Podcast Background Research Due by 11:00pm

Spring Break — March 11 – March 15

Week Nine: Punk, Riot Grrrl to Pussy Riot

M 3/18: First Listen Friday (on a Monday): The Damned, “Help” (1976); The Sex Pistols; The Clash; Bikini Kill, “Rebel Girl” (1993) and others (Meet the Beatles cover; “Help” [1965]); punk-lyrics.pdf

Assignment for Wednesday, 3/20
Please read Darms and Fateman along with the Riot Grrrl Examples (note: 70+ pages—scroll down until you see that heading). You might try to keep the zine examples open as you read so you can move back and forth between examples and articles. Darms’ essay serves as the introduction to the important Riot Grrrl Collection book and Fateman’s is a short memoir-type piece about her experience with the riot grrrl movement that also appears at the front of the book.

If you choose to complete this response, I’d like you to consider the Riot Grrrl examples and the authors’ discussions by looking at them in terms the “sociological imagination,” which we have written and talked about before. As a reminder, Rosenthal and Flacks introduce a term “C. Writing Mills called a ‘sociological imagination’: It helps musickers to see the social roots in what might otherwise be felt as individual stories or problems. It identifies collective and structural arrangements—who has power? who does the work? who gets the payoff? who decides?—as the origin of what is usually felt to be one’s personal situation” (p. 20). See the full passage for a complete definition.

Screenshot and include at least 2 examples from the zine examples in your discussion.

W 3/20: Darms; Fateman; and Riot Grrrl zine examples; notes-for-riot-grrrl.docx
Reading Response 8 Due

Assignment for Friday, 3/22
Please read Zolandz (2012), watch PBS’s “How Pussy Riot’s Punk Prayers Became a Movement,” and watch the videos under the Pussy Riot Videos for 3/22 heading on the Readings page. We’ll discuss these in class on Friday.

As I mentioned in class, the videos are often sexually explicit and emotionally charged. If any of them makes you uncomfortable for any reason, please don’t hesitate to stop watching, fast forward, and/or move on to another. For the videos in Russian, watch with the Captions On.

F 3/22: Readings on and music by Pussy Riot
Fifth Listen (Connection and Lineage) Due

Week Ten: On Podcast Transcripts

Assignment for Monday, 3/25
I’d like you to compose and record the first :30 – :45 of your podcast. Do not incorporate any music or external audio, even if you plan on starting with some audio. This should be what you will be saying first.

Record yourself on your phone and have that with you in class to possibly play for your peers. Please bring headphones/earbuds.

If you are having trouble figuring out how to start, listen to the start of the podcasts that we listened to for 2/20. Note that there is an official intro to the story and then the podcast actually begins.

Bring 1 print copy of your written transcript, and, in addition on that page, a rough outline of where you think the podcast will go over the next 3 minutes.

M 3/25: First 30 seconds written and recorded; “Quiet” Anthem
Fifth Listen (Connection and Lineage) Due
W 3/27: First 5 minutes written
F 3/28: Podcast Qs, Audacity, etc. How Alan Lomax Segregated Music; Student Podcast Qs.pdf
Podcast Transcripts and Timeline due by 11:00pm

Week Eleven: Fear of a Black Planet

Assignment for Monday, 4/1
This week we begin the looking at rap and hip-hop, which will take us all the way through the rest of the semester. We begin with Public Enemy’s second album, Fear of a Black Planet (1990). Please complete in the following order:

  1. Listen to the whole Fear of a Black Planet album, paying attention to the music and the lyrics, noting the number of samples and alternate sources.
  2. Read Rolling Stone‘s and Melody Maker‘s original review of the album from 1990. The Melody Maker  review has been transcribed onto a blog.
  3. Read Lynskey on “Fight the Power.”
  4. Read Bonnette on the cultural foundation of black politics

If you choose to complete a reading response, I’d like to you to consider the following. In the Melody Maker review, Simon Reynolds writes that  the angry questions that seethe in [Public Enemy’s] music, in the very fabric of their sound; the bewilderment and rage that, in this case, have made for one hell of a strong, scary album.” What questions are Public Enemy asking and how to they connect to the ideas that Lynskey and Bonnette raise about the time period and black politics?

M 4/1: Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet; Bonnette; Lynskey on Public Enemy; notes-for-public-enemy.docx
Reading Response 9 Due

Assignment for Wednesday, 4/3
Please read Vaidhyanathan (2001) and McLead and DiCola (2011) on sampling, and spend some time looking at the songs that were sampled on and that sampled Fear of a Black Planet. 

We’ll continue the discussion on Monday and build on it by talking about sampling.

W 4/3: The Politics of Sampling; notes-for-sampling.docx
F 4/5:  First Listen Friday: “Fight the Power”

Week Twelve: Lemonade and Album as Multimodal Social Statement

Assignment for Monday, April 8
Please watch in full the movie that accompanied the release of Beyonce’s Lemonade. When watching, I’d like you to start making a list of all the social justice-related themes that invoked, overtly or subtly, by the film. Take a screenshot of one such instance and have it with you in class on Monday, ready to talk about what that scene is evokes.

If you choose to complete the response, please paste in your screenshot and discuss what your image and discuss what social justice issue(s) that scene invokes, while looking to at least one of our prior texts to discuss it as a form of protest and/or social commentary.

There are no additional readings this week. Rather, continue to work on your podcast transcript.

M 4/8: Lemonade; TBD readings
Reading Response 10 Due

Assignment for 4/10
Please watch the “Sorry” and “Formation” sequences of the movie, as well as Beyonce’s “Formation” SuperBowl performance. We’ll continue our conversation from Monday and focus on these videos, as well.

W 4/10: Lemonade; Institutional Autobiography
F 4/12: TBD

Week Thirteen: Conference Week

M 4/15: Class Canceled for Podcast Conferences
Podcast Drafts Due before conference time
W 4/17:  Class Canceled for Podcast Conferences
F 4/19: No Class — Easter Break

Week Fourteen: Lemonade and Album as Multimodal Social Statement

Podcasts Due

M 4/22:No Class — Easter Break
T 4/23:Lemonade; TBD readings
Reading Response 10 Due
W 4/24: TBD
F 4/26: TBD; course evaluations

Week Fifteen: TBD

M 4/29: TBD
W 5/1: Last day of the semester; TBD

TBD: Final Reflections Due

 

Comments are closed.