Popular Music and Culture

(2.5-7.5 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This unit introduces students to the study of popular musics, focusing upon the contribution ethnomusicology can make to this area of research. Topics include definitions of 'the popular', theories of mass culture, youth and subcultures, ethnographies of popular music-making, and popular music in comparative perspective. Students gain (1) an increased understanding of popular music and the role it plays within contemporary society; (2) an understanding of the 'politics' of popular music; (3) an understanding of feminist critiques in popular music; and (4) an understanding of concepts such as subcultures, style, and world music. Perth: This unit introduces students to the study of popular music. More specifically, it aims to promote an understanding of popular music from a global perspective through the analysis of texts, technologies and audiences. Various musical case studies, western and non-western, from Rock to Hip Hop, Flamenco to Bollywood, are used to exemplify the discussions. This unit is a compulsory unit in the Music Studies major in the Bachelor of Arts degree. It is also open to students enrolled in other majors and degree pathways who have an interest in music. No prior musical experience is necessary for the unit. AS - St. Andrews, Scotland This module combines literary and cultural studies approaches in surveying American and British popular music in the post-war era, but especially in the period 1960-1990. We propose to study songs as texts and as cultural artefacts which open up questions about the status of popular music as art, about the politics of popular music, about authenticity and appropriation, and about the relations between and among music, technology, and capital.