50133 Music and Popular Culture

UTS: Communication: Cultural Studies
Credit points: 8 cp
Result Type: Grade, no marks

Requisite(s): 50108 Contemporary Cultures OR 50229 Contemporary Cultures
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses. See access conditions.

Handbook description

This subject covers a wide range of popular music from blues and jazz to dance, techno and electronica as well as the politics of the popular music industry, globally and in Australia. The particular focus of the subject is on the relationship of popular music to identity, locality, cultural geography and globalisation. Subject areas covered include methodological approaches to popular music and writing about music, world music, music, race and indigenisation, music and gender, rap and hip hop, film music, sampling, the Australian music industry, dance culture, bootlegging and French and Chinese popular music. The overall focus is on the social and cultural production and reception of popular music, rather than a musicological approach, and emphasis is placed on issues of ethnicity, authenticity, hybridity, syncretism, appropriation and the representation of social formations.

Subject objectives/outcomes

At the completion of this subject, students are expected to be able to:

understand the social and cultural production and reception of popular music, rather than a musicological approach
identify and comment on issues of locality, ethnicity, authenticity, hybridity, syncretism, appropriation and the musical representation of social formations
explain the notion of genre and the principal ethical, aesthetic, social and political issues relating to each genre.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject enables students to:

have a broad range of skills and knowledge, making for creative and critically informed communications professionals
have a critical knowledge of Australian cultural traditions, industries and institutions
have a critical knowledge of cultural and aesthetic debates, and their implications for cultural policy developments
be able to think critically and creatively about future developments in cultural industries
have a strong awareness of the needs of specific communities and the ability to evaluate a range of strategies for dealing with cultural and social problems, and be able to function within groups and be sensitive to the multiple dimensions of social and cultural difference.

Teaching and learning strategies

Lectures, tutorials, seminar discussions, individual research. Video extracts from films on relevant topics will also be shown. One lecture per week followed by a tutorial. Weekly readings dealing with the main issues relating to each topic/genre will be discussed. Each student is required to give a discussion-leading tutorial presentation based on one of the readings, write a review of a musical event or activity taking place during semester in Sydney, and complete a final assignment on a topic relating to the subject.

Content

Talking and Writing about Music: Approaches to Popular Music Studies (Introduction)
Music, Identity and Locality
World Music: Globalisation and Local Musics
Rap, Indigeneity and the Hip Hop Nation outside the USA
Punk rock
Music, Record Collecting and Connoisseurship
The Australian Music Industry
Dance Music and 12 Inch Singles
Popular Music in France
Music, Taste and Value
Film Music
Zoomusicology
Chinese Rock and Cantopop.

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Seminar Class Presentation

Objective(s):	a, b
Weighting:	25%
Task:	Students are required to attend seminars on a regular basis, participate in discussion and deliver one tutorial presentation, either individually or as a member of a group. The seminar presentation may overlap with their essay topic provided the essay topic goes into considerably more depth of research.
Assessment criteria:	Demonstrated ability to: recognise and apply critical concepts relevant to the interpretation of popular music introduced in lecture, seminar or subject readings. identify and critically evaluate genres and stylistic elements in different examples of popular music participate effectively in a variety of seminar exercises, including group discussion, seminar presentation, critical interrogation of subject readings, and analysis of musical examples.

Assessment item 2: Review

Objective(s):	a, b, c
Weighting:	20%
Task:	Select a musical event and produce a critical analysis of it. The critical analysis can be in the form of a review.
Assessment criteria:	Demonstrated ability to: demonstrate a knowledge of critical scholarship related to a musical event analyse the event's formal and stylistic aspects in terms of cultural studies approaches to the study of popular music.

Assessment item 3: 3,000 Word Essay or project of comparative length/substance

Objective(s):	a, b, c
Weighting:	55%
Length:	3000 words
Task:	Students will devise their own topic on an aspect of popular music they are interested in in consultation with their tutor. Projects can comprise text and audio-visual materials (images, video clips, mpegs, sound recordings etc.) in different combinations and be delivered in different formats. A two-page commentary-description is required for non text-based assignments. A bibliography/filmography must be incorporated in the project materials.
Assessment criteria:	Demonstrated ability to: identify and effectively apply relevant concepts and themes on a particular topic in this field. demonstrate knowledge of a substantial amount of critical scholarship related to the topic. develop a clear and well-supported (by scholarly references and examples from films where relevant) argument in response to the chosen project. present the assignment in a coherently written and grammatically and typographically correct form with consistent scholarly referencing of sources or, in the case of a nonessay-based project, present the work in an intelligible and coherently accessible manner with consistent scholarly referencing of sources.

Minimum requirements

Students are expected to read the subject outline to ensure they are familiar with the subject requirements. Since class discussion and participation in activities form an integral part of this subject, you are expected to attend, arrive punctually and actively participate in classes. If you experience difficulties meeting this requirement, please contact your lecturer. Students who have a reason for extended absence (e.g. illness) may be required to complete additional work to ensure they achieve the subject objectives.

Attendance is particularly important in this subject because it is based on a collaborative approach which involves essential workshopping and interchange of ideas. Students who attend fewer than ten classes are advised that their final work will not be assessed and that they are likely to fail the subject.

Indicative references

Jacques Attali, Noise, University Minnesota Press, 1985

Andy Bennett, Popular Music and Youth Culture: Music, identity and Place, London, Macmillan 2000.

Andy Bennett, Cultures of Popular Music, Buckingham, Open University Press, 2001.

Andy Bennett & Richard A. Peterson (eds) Music Scenes:Local, Translocal, and Virtual, Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004.

Harris M. Berger and Michael Thomas Carroll (ed.) Global Pop, Local Language, Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2003.

Georgina Born and David Hesmondhalgh (eds) Western Music and its Others: Difference, Representation and Appropriation in Music, London: University of California Press, 2000.

Phillip Brophy, 100 Modern Soundtracks, London BFI Screen Guide, 2004.

Royal S. Brown, Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1994

Ian Buchanan & Marcel Swiboda (eds) Deleuze and Music, Edinburgh University Press, 2004.

Rebecca Coyle (ed) Screen Scores: Studies in Contemporary Australian Film Music, Sydney, AFTRS, 1998.

Hugh Dauncey and Steve Cannon (eds) Popular Music in France from Chanson to Techno, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003.

Peter Dunbar-Hall and Chris Gibson, Deadly Sounds, Deadly Places : Contemporary Aboriginal Music in Australia, Sydney : UNSW Press, 2004.

Simon Frith (ed) Facing the Music: Essays on Pop, Rock and Culture, Mandarin, 1990

Simon Frith and Andrew Goodwin (eds) On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word, London:Routledge, 1990.

Simon Frith et al (eds) Sound and Vision: The Music Video Reader, Routledge, 1993

Simon Frith, Performing Rites, Oxford University Press, 1996

Reebee Garofalo (ed), Rockin' the Boat: Mass Music & Mass Movements, Boston, South End Press, 1992

Jeremy Gilbert and Ewan Pearson, Discographies: dance music, culture, and the politics of sound, New York: Routledge, 1999.

Claudia Gorbman, Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music, London, BFI Publishing, 1987.

Philip Hayward (ed), From Pop to Punk to Postmodernism, Allen & Unwin, 1992

Philip Hayward (ed), Widening the Horizon: Exoticism in Post-War Popular Music, Sydney, John Libbey, 1999.

Philip Hayward (ed), Sound Alliances: Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Politics and Popular Music in the Pacific, London, Cassell, 1998.

Philip Hayward, Music at the Borders: Not Drowning Waving's Engagement with Papua-New Guinea, Sydney, John Libbey, 1999.

Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style, Methuen, 1979.

David Hesmondhalgh and Keith Negus (eds) Popular Muisc Studies, London: Arnold, 2002.

Shane Homan, The Mayor's A Square: Live Music and Law and Order in Sydney, Sydney:Local Consumption Press, 2003.

Shane Homan and Tony Mitchell (eds) Sounds of Then, Sounds of Now: Popular Music in Australia' Hobart: Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, 2008.

Rehan Hyder, Brimful of Asia: Negotiating Authenticity on the UK Music Scene, BurlingtonVT:Ashgate:2003.

Phil Jackson, Inside Clubbing: Sensual Experiments in the Art of Being Human, Oxford: Berg, 2004.

LeRoi Jones , Blues People, N.Y. Morrow, 1963.

Steve Jones (ed.) Popular Music and the Press, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2002.

Charles Keil & Steven Feld, Music Grooves, University of Chicago Press, 1994

George Lipsitz, Dangerous Crossroads, London, Verso, 1994.

Joseph Lanza, Elevator Music, Serpent's Tail, 1995

Susan McClary, Feminine Endings: Music, Gender and Sexuality, University of Minnesota Press, 1991

Tony Mitchell, Popular Music and Local Identity: Rock, Pop and Rap in Europe and Oceania, University of Leicester Press, 1996

Tony Mitchell and Peter Doyle (eds) Changing Sounds: New Directions and Configurations in Popular Music, UTS 2000.

Tony Mitchell (ed.) Global Noise: Rap and Hip hop outside the USA, Hanover: Wesleyan university Press, 2001.

Patrick Neate, Where You're At:Notes from the Frontline of a Hip Hop Planet, London: Bloomsbury 2003.

Steve Redhead (ed) The Clubcultures Reader: Readings in Popular Cultural Studies, Manchester University Presses, 1997.

Simon Reynolds & Joy Press, The Sex Revolts, Serpents Tail, 1995

Simon Reynolds, Energy Flash: A Journey through Rave Music and Dance Culture, London, Picador, 1998.

Simon Reynolds, Rip It Up and Start Again: Post-Punk 1978-1984, London: Faber & Faber 2005.

Tricia Rose, Black Noise, Wesleyan University Press, 1994.

Andrew Ross & Tricia Rose (eds) Microphone Fiends, Routledge, 1994.

Timothy Taylor, Global Pop: World Music, World Markets, New York, Routledge, 1997.

Sarah Thornton, Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital, Cambridge, Polity, 1998

David Toop, Exotica, London, Serpent's Tail, 1999

David Toop, Ocean of Sound, London, Serpent's Tail, 1995

David Toop, The Rap Attack II, London, Serpents Tail, 1991

Robert Walser, Running with the Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music, Wesleyan University Press, 1993

Rob White (ed) Australian Youth Subcultures: On the Margins and in the Mainstream, Hobart, Australian Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, 1999.

Sheila Whitely (ed) Sexing the Groove: Popular Music and Gender, London, Routledge, 1998.

Sheila Whiteley, Women and Popular Music: Sexuality, Identity and Subjectivity, London, Routledge, 2000.

Sheila Whiteley, Andy Bennett and Stan Hawkins (eds) Music, Space and Place, London; Palgrave, 2003.

Nabeel Zuberi, Sounds English: Transnational Popular Music, Illinois University Press, 2001.

Also monthly magazine The Wire, and issues of Perfect Beat.

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