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Your search for courses · tagged with AMMU Soundtracks America · returned 17 results
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AFST 225 Black Music, Resistance, and Liberation 6 credits
For every defining moment in black history, there is a song. Every genre of black music makes a statement not only about the specific historical epoch it was created but also about the people’s dreams. For black people, songs are a means of resistance to oppression and an expression of the will to live. Through the analysis of black music, this course will expose students to black people’s struggles, hopes, and aspirations, and also American history, race relations, and much more. The class will read insightful texts, listen to songs, watch films, and engage in animated discussions.
- Fall 2024
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One course that applies toward the Humanistic Inquiry requirement with a grade of C- or better.
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AMST 269 Woodstock Nation 6 credits
“If you remember the Sixties, you weren’t there.” We will test the truth of that popular adage by exploring the American youth counterculture of the 1960s, particularly the turbulent period of the late sixties. Using examples from literature, music, and film, we will examine the hope and idealism, the violence, confusion, wacky creativity, and social mores of this seminal decade in American culture. Topics explored will include the Beat Generation, the Vietnam War, Civil Rights, LSD, and the rise of environmentalism, feminism, and Black Power.
Extra time
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MUSC 111 Music and Storytelling 6 credits
Western music, especially classical music, is often called a “dead” genre. Part of this has to do with its associations with wealth, its aging audience base, and its seeming loftiness. But is this music really dead? In this class we will explore the history of Western music, with classical music as a starting point, but will examine the numerous ways music functions throughout cultures to tell different kinds of stories. We work from the assumption that no music (or art in general) is apolitical; because of this it behooves us to examine the ways the music of the past is deployed in service of social and political values today, whether it is to convince us to buy pizza or to incite revolution.
Not offered in 2024-25
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MUSC 115 Listening to the Movies 6 credits
We all watch movies, whether it’s in a theater, on television, a computer, or a smartphone. But we rarely listen to movies. This class is an introduction to film music and sound. The course begins with a module on how film music generally works within a narrative. With this foundation, the course then concentrates on the role film music and sound play in shaping our understanding of the film’ stories. Over the course of the term, students will study a variety of films and learn about theories of film music and sound. Class assignments include a terminology quiz, cue chart, and a short comparative essay. The course will culminate in a final project that may take the form of a term paper or creative project.
Extra Time
Not offered in 2024-25
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MUSC 123 The American Film Musical 6 credits
A survey of film musicals from their beginnings in the 1920s to the present. The course will cover the definition and attributes of film musicals, how a film musical differs from a film with music, and then continue with a historical survey of various eras of musicals, such as early sound film musicals, the film musical at its zenith, the adaptation of Broadway musicals to the screen, and current postmodern musicals and animated musicals by Disney and Pixar. The course will also discuss how musicals convey evolving cultural attitudes of gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, as well as good vs. evil.
Extra Time
Not offered in 2024-25
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MUSC 131 The Blues From the Delta to Chicago 6 credits
A history of the Delta blues and its influence on later blues and popular music styles, tracing its movement from the Mississippi Delta in the 1920s to Chess Records and the Chicago Blues of the 1940s and 50s (especially Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters). Music and musicians discussed will include the classic blues singers of the 1920s, early country music (Jimmie Rodgers), and the legacy of Robert Johnson. Issues of authenticity and “ownership” of both the music and its cultural legacy will also be discussed. The course involves readings, listening assignments, and some transcriptions of early recorded blues. No prerequisite, although the ability to read music is helpful.
Not offered in 2024-25
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MUSC 136 History of Rock 6 credits
This course is an introduction to the history of rock music, emphasizing primarily the period between 1954 and the present. Mixing historical and cultural readings with intense listening, we will cover the vast repertoire of rock music and many other associated styles. We will focus on the sounds of the music, learning to distinguish a wide variety of genres, while also tracing the development and transformation of rock and pop styles. The lectures will use a wide variety of multimedia, including commercial audio and video, unpublished audio and video sources, print materials, and technological devices. Knowledge of a technical musical vocabulary and an ability to read music are not required for this course.
Not offered in 2024-25
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MUSC 140 Ethnomusicology and the World’s Music 6 credits
This course introduces the discipline of ethnomusicology and its history, theory, methods, and contemporary critiques. Centering the social and cultural analysis of music, the course explores case studies of global popular, vernacular, and classical musics. We will expand our skills as listeners while also considering key issues, such as the “world music” market; ethnographic methods; gesture, dance, and embodiment; copyright and repatriation; the role of media forms and AI technologies; and the politics of representation. No musical experience necessary.
Sophomore Priority
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MUSC 208 Computer Music and Sound 6 credits
This course surveys computer techniques for analyzing, synthesizing, manipulating, and creating musical sounds. We’ll study the basic components of digital sound: waveforms, oscillators, envelopes, delay lines, and filters. While we’ll explore the techniques and concepts of computer music in detail, our focus will be putting them to work in our creative practice, using open source computer music languages as well as digital audio workstations, according to the strengths and limitations of each music-making environment. We’ll show how computer music composition takes shape in a wide variety of styles and aesthetics, free to choose among them or create our own.
Not offered in 2024-25
- ARP, Arts Practice
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): MUSC 108 – Introduction to Music Technology or CS 111 – Introduction to Computer Science with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the Computer Science A AP exam or equivalent.
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MUSC 211 Race, Gender, and Classical Music 6 credits
This course tackles a crucial question in the study of western classical music: why do compositions by white, dead, men still dominate the concert halls in the twenty-first century? And more importantly, how can we as music students and lovers change this? By looking at the role race and gender have historically played in the production and reception of western classical music, students will interrogate what it means to listen to it. Through a variety of assignments including listening analyses, creative responses, and a final QRE project, students will develop skills to help them succeed in their various musical endeavors.
Not offered in 2024-25
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MUSC 213 J-Pop: Listening to Music in Modern Japan 6 credits
Japanese popular music encompasses a wide variety of genres, from World War II propaganda tunes to anime soundtracks. But how does this music relate to the history of modern Japan? What is “modern” (or post-modern) about this specific music? This class will examine the creation and consumption of Japanese popular music from around 1945 to present, focusing on how popular music worked in the cultural and political milieu. Through the study of Japanese folk, jazz, rock, hip-hop, bubble gum pop, and film music, students will engage with broader historical trajectories in society. We will discuss music as it relates to issues of race, gender, and pop culture in Japan and around the world.
Not offered in 2024-25
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MUSC 215 Western Music and its Social Ecosystems, 1830-Present 6 credits
How does music shape society? What does it feel like to participate in musical life—as a creator, performer, listener, leader, fan, or critic? These questions will guide us as we study the history of Western music with an emphasis on social experience. We’ll explore music from the Romantic era to our contemporary moment, with our ears and eyes trained toward the repertoire’s civic and interpersonal meanings. Along the way, you’ll respond to current concert programming and curate playlists that speak to your communities on campus and beyond. Front of mind will be expansive themes of belonging and identity.
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MUSC 217 Opera: Stage, Screen, Recording 6 credits
Opera has something for everyone: drama, desire, politics, stagecraft, design. The medium sets life to music and reveals the music within people’s lives. In the spirit of exchange between art and reality, this course looks at the history of opera through a contemporary lens. Centering on a diverse collection of operas—and voices—from past to present, we’ll ask how modern sensibilities animate the music’s production and performance. We’ll bring concepts of relevance, risk, representation, and justice to bear on opera, with attention to media and technology. We’ll listen to recent operatic interpretations and discover how creatives are making opera new.
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MUSC 218 Improvisation: A Living History 6 credits
Jon Batiste told Forbes in 2019: “I think that you have to open your mind to really be comfortable improvising. It really starts in the mind.” We’ll embrace this mind-music connection by thinking flexibly and critically about improvisation in American music, and by improvising musically ourselves. Readings and discussion will engage Black studies, performance studies, gender studies, philosophy, and political theory. And we’ll build our creative practice with your instruments and voices. Throughout, we’ll keep alive to the ethics of improvisation and the term’s multiplicity of meanings, which call out for your interpretation. Expected preparation: participation in a music ensemble, registration in music lessons, or facility on a musical instrument (Western or non-Western) including voice
Not offered in 2024-25
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MUSC 232 Golden Age of R & B 6 credits
A survey of rhythm and blues from 1945 to 1975, focusing on performers, composers and the music industry.
Not open to students who have taken MUSC 132
- Fall 2024
- IDS, Intercultural Domestic Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis WR2 Writing Requirement 2
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Not open to students that have taken MUSC 132 – Golden Age of R & B
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MUSC 241 Music of Latin America 6 credits
This course is designed to increase your awareness of musical styles in Latin America within particular social, economic, and political contexts. We will cover topics related to popular, folkloric, classical, and indigenous musics spanning from Mexico to South America’s Southern Cone. The course will include elements of performance and dance instruction in addition to a critical examination of lived experiences across the region. No previous musical experience is necessary.
Not offered in 2024-25
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MUSC 341 Music in the American South Program: Rock Lab and Lab 6 credits
This class combines performance and academic study of rock music. In the first half of the course, we will develop simple songs in small-group coaching sessions with an in-house group performance as a midterm goal. During the second half of the course, we will make recordings of these performances. Throughout the term, we will accompany performance and recording activities with readings and discussion about aesthetics, performance practice in popular music, and mediation of recording techniques. There is a required hands-on laboratory component but no performance experience is needed. The course will accommodate students with a range of experience.
Open only to participants in Carleton Music in the American South program
Not offered in 2024-25