Introduction to Popular Music Studies

3 units

This seminar offers an introduction to popular music studies from the perspective of the discipline of musicology. The course provides a background to the current state of scholarship, engages ongoing debates and methodological questions, and offers a starting point for research and teaching in this expanding area. Topics include: historiography of popular music studies, bibliography and discography, canon-making, academic and popular scholars and readers, genre definitions, interdisciplinary challenges and opportunities, approaches to institutions and technologies particular to the history of popular music (such as record labels and recording studios), and the study of mixed-media topics. The ability to read music is not required and students from across the disciplines are most welcome.