ENG 315-001: Writing About Music
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Course Schedule

Writing About Music: An Introduction and Overview
W, 8.18 First class, introduction
F. 8.20 Reading: Chapter 1 in Bellman's Writing About Music, pgs 1-19; Matt Groening “Introduction” p. ix

Week Two
M. 8.23 Reading: Chapter 2 in Bellman, p. 21; Writing: Journal 1-what do you consider to be the “goals” of music writing? What are you trying to translate and to whom/for what?
W. 8.25 Last day to add or drop (without a grade) Reading: Ben Tausig, “Free Admission: Coming to Terms with Writing about Music” (http://dustedmagazine.com/features/155)
F. 8.27 Reading: Chapter 3 in Bellman; Writing: Journal 2-write an informal “impression” of a favorite piece of music and explain what you would have to do to make it a formal analysis (according to Bellman).

Week Three
M. 8.30 Reading: Chapter 4 in Bellman, p. 51
W. 9.1 Reading: Aaron Copland's “How We Listen” (reserve); Writing: Journal 3-what is the difference between hearing and listening? How can this difference help us better understand the ways we talk and write about music?
F. 9.3 Reading: Chapter 5 in Bellman, pg. 69; Writing: Begin thinking about your paper topic.

Week Four-Organizing Music: Artist, Album, and Song
M. 9.6 No Class, Labor Day
W. 9.8 Reading: Elizabeth Gilbert, “Play it Like Your Hair's on Fire” p. 89; Writing: Work on your paper draft
F. 9.10 Reading: Philip Gourevitch, “Mr. Brown” p.136; Writing: Paper #1 due

Week Five
M. 9.13 Reading: Listen to Alvin Lucier's “I am Sitting in a Room” (reserve); Writing: Journal 4-look up Lucier's piece in the library or on the web and talk about his influence as well as how people react to this work.
W. 9.15 Reading: Pinch and Trocco, “Switched on Bach” (reserve); Album on reserve
F. 9.17 Reading: Glenn Gould, “Record of the Decade” (reserve); Writing: Journal 5 (music)

Week Six
M. 9.20 Reading: from David Margolick, Strange Fruit (reserve); Writing: Journal 6-Does the difficult nature of “Strange Fruit” still exist today? Why? What other song (contemporary or not) carries such a severe message? How does it compare?
W. 9.22 Strange Fruit continued; In-class viewing of excerpt from Ken Burns' Jazz documentary; Writing: Work on your paper draft.
F. 9.24 Reading: Dai Griffiths “Three Tributaries of the River” (reserve) Writing: Paper #2 due

Week Seven-Organizing Music: Genre
M. 9.27 Reading: Roy Shuker, “Message Understood” (reserve); Writing: Journal 7-how has genre worked to define you and how you perceive yourself? Have you ever felt a particular allegiance to a specific genre of music? Why?
W. 9.29 Reading: Paul Williams, “How Rock Communicates” (reserve); Richard Meltzer, “Rock-Crit Blood 'n' Guts (Part 1)” (reserve);
F. 10.1 Lester Bangs, “In Which…”(reserve); Elvis Costello, “Rocking Around the Clock” p 277; Writing: Journal 8-construct a chronological list like Costello's and explain (in detail) why you chose each song.

Week Eight
M. 10.4 Reading: Gary Giddins, “Post-War Jazz: An Arbitrary Road Map” p. 172; Writing: Work on your draft
W. 10.6 Reading: Thom Holmes, “What is Electronic Music?” (reserve) Fall Break 10.7-10.10

Week Nine
M. 10.11 Reading: Lawrence Joseph, “The Music Is: The Deep Roots of Detroit R&B” p 74; Writing: Work on your essay draft.
W. 10.13 Reading: Greil Marcus “In the Secret Country” (242); Writing: Bring a draft of your essay to class.
F. 10.15 Writing: Essay #1 Due in front of Randall 2013 by 5pm

Week Ten-Music, Politics, Activism
M. 10.18 Reading: Nat Hentoff, “It is Rolling, Zeus?” (reserve); Writing: Journal 9-What is the role for politics in music as you see/hear it? What contemporary artists are in the lineage of Guthrie and Dylan?
W. 10.20 Reading: Woody Guthrie essay (TBA)
F. 10.22 Reading: Roy Shuker's “Pushin' Too Hard” (reserve); Writing: Journal 10 (writing)

Week Eleven
M. 10.25 Reading: Terry McDermott, “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” p. 9
W. 10.27 Yvonne Bynoe, “Hip Hop as a Political Tool” (http://www.alternet.org/story/18902); Writing: Journal 11 (music)
F. 10.29 Reading: Gary Younge, “US police put hip-hop under surveillance” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1166792,00.html); Writing: Journal 12 (writing)

Week Twelve
M. 11.1 Reading: John Helstrom, “The Harder They Fall” (pdf)
W. 11.3 Reading: Julie Burchill and Tony Parsons, “Germs”; Writing: Work on paper draft.
F. 11.5 Reading: Caroline Coon, “Rebels Against the System” (reserve); Writing: Paper #3 due

Week Thirteen
M. 11.8 Reading: Jeff Chang, “Is Protest Music Dead?” (http://www.alternet.org/story/12880) and Steve Albini's “The Problem with Music” (http://www.arancidamoeba.com/mrr/problemwithmusic.html); Writing: Journal 13-Spend some time talking about how protest music has changed, are the concerns different? Is there any hope for real change through music? How?
W. 11.10 Reading: Read “A Touch of Grey” (http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0409/soti.php); also, look through Downhill Battle's site (http:www.downhillbattle.org) and peruse the EFF (http://www.eff.org)
F. 11.12 Shell's “Suing Your Customers” (http://www.eff.org/share/suing_customers.php); “Anti-Piracy” from the RIAA website (http://www.riaa.com/issues/piracy/default.asp), spend some time exploring the site Writing: Journal 14 (music)

Week Fourteen
M. 11.15 Reading: G. Beato, “Not Bad for a White Girl” p. 220; In-class work, peer review
W. 11.17 Reading: Jay McInerny, “White Man at the Door” p. 252
F. 11.19 Reading: Chuck Klosterman, “Viva Morrissey” p. 66

Week Fifteen
M. 11.22 First Draft of Final Essay Due in Class 11.24-11.28

Thanksgiving Break: No Class

Week Sixteen
M. 11.29 Continued peer editing and discussion
W. 12.1 Final Essay due with journals; Last class and Course Evaluations