Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Music Journalism and Public Musicology
MUSC 249
Spring 2019
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01
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The internet has revolutionized how people consume music, along with the ways people read and write about it. This upper-level course will offer an introduction to music journalism and the relationship of public musicology to contemporary life. It looks at the history and function of music criticism, different kinds of writing about music, changing perceptions of music as a public art-form, and the role of cultural policy in the creation and maintenance of public musical institutions. In addition to reviewing recordings, live events, and books on music, students will have the opportunity to engage with professional music journalists, and produce a short radio feature in collaboration with WESU (88.1). |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA MUSC |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (MUSC) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Daphne Carr, BEST MUSIC WRITING 2011 (Da Capo Press, 2011)
Nicholas Cook, BEYOND THE SCORE: MUSIC AS PERFORMANCE (Oxford University Press, 2013)
Lawrence Kramer, CRITICAL MUSICOLOGY AND THE RESPONSIBILITY OF RESPONSE: SELECTED ESSAYS (Ashgate, 2006)
Tim Page, TIM PAGE ON MUSIC: VIEWS AND REVIEWS (Amadeus Press, 2002)
Alan Rich, SO I'VE HEARD: NOTES OF A MIGRATORY MUSIC CRITIC (Amadeus, 2006)
Alex Ross, THE REST IS NOISE: LISTENING TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (Fourth Estate, 2008)
Mark Slobin, SUBCULTURAL SOUNDS: MICROMUSICS OF THE WEST, WITH A NEW PREFACE (Wesleyan University Press, 2000)
David Toop, INTO THE MAELSTROM: MUSIC, IMPROVISATION AND THE DREAM OF FREEDOM (Bloomsbury, 2016)
Richard Taruskin, THE DANGER OF MUSIC AND OTHER ANTI-UTOPIAN ESSAYS (University of California Press 2009)
Virgil Thomson; Tim Page, THE STATE OF MUSIC & OTHER WRITINGS (The Library of America, 2016)
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Examinations and Assignments:
The classroom will be a workshop, to facilitate team writing and editing exercises. There will be six written assignments over the course of the semester, each approximately 800 words, due roughly every other week. You will alternate functioning as a "Reporter" and as an "Editor." Working in teams, Writers and Editors will submit their first drafts to each other a couple days before they are due, and they will have the benefit of their Editors' comments in polishing their drafts. The instructor will also comment on and grade the written assignments individually, and final grading will be based on these exercises, as well as on participation in the process of writing, editing, and on class discussion.
A portfolio of the six writing exercises will be due at the end of Reading Period. In addition, one ten-minute radio feature is to be given in the final week of the semester. You will also be asked to keep a weekly journal/portfolio of personal critical writing compiled over the course of the semester. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Each week, we will read short articles, mostly from journalistic sources. These will be organized around themes and genres. We will focus first on traditional sites of public/journalistic writing (The NY Times, New Yorker, New York Review of Books, etc.), then move on to other online and alterative journalistic sources. The readings will be brief, but we will consider them very closely. We will look at the way that professional music writers structure their articles, shape their approach, and argue their points. There will be one book to obtain, for the book report assignment: Mark Slobin's Subcultural Sounds. |
| Instructor(s): Alden,Jane Times: ...W... 07:10PM-10:00PM; Location: MST301; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 12 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 2 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: X | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 1 |
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