The course will be a series of historical case studies looking at the development of genres of popular music in the United States between about 1947 and about 1967, with occasional chronological deviations, in specific places at specific times. Examples will include Post war Rhythm and Blues; The Music of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-65; The Early 1960s, including Brill Building Pop, Motown and Stax Soul, and the Greenwich Village Folk Scene; 1965-1967: Folk Rock, Psychedelic Rock, the countercultural scenes in LA and San Francisco. Many of the issues and ideas we will entertain are still directly relevant today, and you will have opportunities to extend them to more recent development if you wish.
Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.
Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.
This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:
- How do I interpret the human experience through creative, linguistic and philosophical works?
Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcome:
- Students will effectively analyze and interpret the meaning, cultural significance and ethical implications of literary/philosophical texts in English or other languages, or of works in the visual/performing arts.
Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:
- Ethical Reasoning
- Information Literacy
- Intercultural Competence