Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0246 - American Strings: Old Time and Bluegrass

This course focuses on American southern old-time string band music, bluegrass, and early country song. We draw on cultural theory to explore the development of these musics throughout the 20th/21st centuries as well as the influences of African-American musical expression, class, gender, and music revivalism. We will consider old time and bluegrass both from a historical perspective and ethnographically as vital forms of folk expression in communities today. The course will include weekly reading/listening assignments, film screenings, short written assignments based on the reading, and other writing assignments. This course includes an optional performance component: interested students will learn to play old time music by ear and develop a repertoire of traditional dance music. Prior experience with old time music is not necessary, but a willingness to sing and/or a working knowledge of an acoustic stringed instrument is helpful (violin, guitar, mandolin, bass, cello, banjo, others). Keywords: music, ethnomusicology, American studies, performance, race, class, gender.

Time and Narrative Students in this course should expect to spend 5 to 7 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time. The content of this course deals with issues of Race and Power.