ZUR393h Popular Music as Communication

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2015
Extent and Intensity
0/2. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Charles Michael Elavsky, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Pavel Sedláček (assistant)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Jiří Pavelka, CSc.
Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Bc. Pavlína Brabcová
Supplier department: Department of Media Studies and Journalism – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Thu 11:30–13:00 AVC
Prerequisites
This course will introduce you to the study of music as a means of communication considering how it operates as both culture and commodity. In it we will examine the ways popular music intersects with the study of communication, culture, and media. We’ll consider music industries, musicians, audiences, and meanings, as well as the ways music is made and globally disseminated in light of the technological, cultural, historical, geographical, and political factors which affect what gets produced, how you hear it, and what it makes you feel and think about
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 20 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/20, only registered: 0/20, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/20
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 14 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Provide students a greater understanding of how and why music functions as it does, as well as how the media industries specifically influence our engagement with music within the cultural formation in which we live. Discern how the media industries both contribute to and are shaped by that cultural formation within which music is manifested Discern how audience proclivities both contribute to and are shaped by the media industries operating within and between given cultural formations Enhance student interpretive abilities and critical thinking skills Enhance student abilities to think through the larger ethics and implications of media practices, cultural beliefs and our individual relationships to them. Develop an understanding of our society and culture and how music operates within it involves gaining a better understanding of ourselves and the intersections of identity, experience, and representation that connect us beyond our personal ‘borders’ of definition.
Syllabus
  • Week 1: Syllabus/Introduction
  • Week 2: Music as a Cultural Industry
  • Week 3: Music and Technology
  • Week 4: Making Music, the Rock Musician and the Success Continuum;
  • Week 5: Autuers and Stars
  • Week 6: Textual Analysis and Popular Musicology; Genre, Authenticity and the Canon
  • Week 7: Marketing and Mediation: Music and Pictures; The Music Press
  • Week 8: Identity and Consumption: Audiences, Fans, and Social Networks
  • Week 9: Subcultures, Sounds and Scenes
  • Week 10: Social Change, Conscience Rock, and Identity Politics
  • Week 11: Moral Panics
  • Week 12: State Music Policy; Making Music, Making Meaning
Literature
  • Shukur, Roy. 4th ed. (2014) Understanding Popular Music Culture. All readings will be provided to you via STA
Teaching methods
The format of the course is a combination of lectures and controlled discussions of assigned readings All students are expected to have done the reading and to be prepared to participate in a robust discussion of the readings
Assessment methods
Attendance (20%) Unannounced in-class quizzes (30%) Final Exam (50%)
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2015, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2015/ZUR393h