Music Journalism and Public Musicology
MUSC 249
Fall 2022
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01
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As listening modes have transformed over recent decades, so too have the ways audiences read and write about music. This course will offer an introduction to music journalism as a practice of public musicology. Students will analyse and apply techniques used to write about music, learn how to pitch and develop ideas, sharpen critical skills, and complete a series of reporting assignments. We will look at the history and function of music criticism, assess different kinds of music writing, discuss changing perceptions of music as a public art-form, and the role of journalism in cultural preservation. The class will write and collaboratively edit a series of reviews, and make a short radio feature in collaboration with WESU (88.1FM). The reviews will focus on recordings, live events, and books on musical cultures. Students will have the opportunity to engage with professional music writers, which will help to prepare them for later work in music journalism, or in arts or media organizations. |
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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: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Associated Press, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STYLEBOOK 2022¿24 (Basic Books, 2022)
Daphne Carr, BEST MUSIC WRITING 2011 (Da Capo Press, 2011)
Clover Hope, THE MOTHERLODE: 100+ WOMEN WHO MADE HIP-HOP (Harry N. Abrams, 2021)
Mark Slobin, SUBCULTURAL SOUNDS: MICROMUSICS OF THE WEST (Wesleyan University Press, 2000)
Mark Slobin, MOTOR CITY MUSIC: A DETROITER LOOKS BACK (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018)
William Zinsser, ON WRITING WELL: THE CLASSIC GUIDE TO WRITING NON-FICTION (Harper Perennial, 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, each approximately 800 words, due on alternate weeks, and a 10-minute radio feature. 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. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Each week, students are expected to devote some time to reading assigned essays, for class discussion. We will look at the way that professional music writers structure their pieces, shape their approach, and argue their points. The sources will include traditional sites of public/journalistic writing (The NY and LA 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. |
| Instructor(s): Alden,Jane Times: ...W... 07:10PM-10:00PM; Location: MST301; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 10 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | 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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