Introduction to Popular Music

4 credits · Undergraduate credit

This course offers a broad survey of 20th-century popular music, exploring a diverse set of genres and musical artists from the Tin Pan Alley era to the present. The course places the musical conventions, key performers, and aesthetic shifts that mark the history of popular music in social, cultural, technological, and musical context. Designed to develop listening and analytical skills, the course aims to help students to understand, describe, interpret, and write about popular music.