Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Course Overview

Welcome to The History of Rock Music class blog.  

You do not have to be musically talented to take this course. This course seeks to balance understanding the development and significance of Rock and Roll in its historical and social environment with maintaining a focus on listening to the music as the main mode of understanding. Through listening, analysis, discussion, music, and film students will explore the music and the culture and society of the day.

Class assignments will be organized around song analysis, small group discussions, and in-class activities. The course begins with an overview of ancestors and influences: blues, boogie-woogie, jazz, swing, country & western, gospel and popular music, and the crossover success of rhythm & blues acts that marked the true birth of rock & roll.

We will study the musical and social trends of the 1960s, including the influence of the British Invasion, which really signaled the arrival of rock’s second generation, the rock explosion and social upheaval of the late 1960′s, and the changes in Rock & Roll music during the seventies, eighties, and nineties. The course will culminate in an exploration of today’s current musical trends and icons including rap/hip hop.

Students in this class are expected to enjoy learning about this material and to try and get an appreciation about this type of music, which is such an important part of your lives.


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