Music: Creating Music for Video

Students will score short films using digital audio software. Emphasis is on 4-5 scoring projects, with additional background reading and written critiques. Prerequisites: MU 1770.

Prereqs enforced by the system: MU 1770 PACE students with permission and override

In this class, students will study the sounds, social politics, and influence of popular music in the United States, with particular attention on the last four decades. The primary focus will be on musical styles, with secondary emphasis on sociological, technological, political, and economic conditions which influenced the music. We will focus in particular on the transformations wrought by digital technologies, such as how we got from vinyl to cassettes to CDs to mp3s, and how we went from MTV to YouTube to TikTok. We will also explore the music through the additional lenses of business, geography, and in particular identity, understanding how gender, race, sexuality, nationality, and class shape the social politics of pop music.

• Students will evaluate canonical works from representative artists of popular music. • By listening actively, students will evaluate musical experiences in both written and oral form. • Students will understand the musical traditions of the popular music idiom and their historical development.

There will be weekly assignments and discussions at the professor’s discretion, three performance reports, a traditional midterm and final exam, and any number of other assessment methods your professor’s whimsical little heart desires (some of these may not be announced). Assignments may be comprised of listening sections, objective sections regarding musicians and time periods, and written sections. • 10% Attendance and participation, at the discretion of the instructor. • 65% Assignments/Quizzes (may include group projects or presentations) • 10% Midterm Exam/Assignment • 15% Final Exam/Assignment There may be additional exams or assignments at the professor's discretion. There are no make-ups for exams unless approved in advance by the instructor.