Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0184 - Writing About Music

In this course, students will read and try their hand at different types of music writing with a focus on African-American and Anglo-American genres. We will focus on music journalism, academic writing, fiction, memoir, and literary non-fiction, and, as a class, workshop our projects. We will learn basic music terminology and concepts in order to strengthen how we communicate about music; we will also do "deep listening" with respect to the music itself -- its structure, style, performance, and lyrics. There will be regular reading and listening assignments that cover a range of music, including rock/pop, rap, R&B, jazz, folk/traditional music, and others. Students will write several short pieces, a short music memoir, and a final academic essay on a music topic of their choice. Students will also choose a piece of music or a song, analyze it musically, structurally, and lyrically, and share their work in a short oral presentation. Keywords:Music,writing,lournslism,American Studies

Time and Narrative Students should expect to spend 8 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.