Calderwood Seminar in Public Writing: Music Journalism and Public Musicology
MUSC 249
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
WRCT 249 |
The internet has revolutionized how people consume music, and how they read and write about it. This course will offer an introduction to music journalism as a practice of public musicology, one that has become central to contemporary life. Students will analyse and apply techniques used to write about music for the wider public, learn how to 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: 75% - 89% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Daphne Carr, BEST MUSIC WRITING 2011 (Da Capo Press, 2011)
Mark Slobin, SUBCULTURAL SOUNDS: MICROMUSICS OF THE WEST, WITH A NEW PREFACE (Wesleyan University Press, 2000)
Mark Slobin, Motor City Music: A Detroiter Looks Back (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018)
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, and a short radio feature. You will alternate functioning as a 'Writer' and as an 'Editor'. Writers share their first drafts with Editors, revise this in response to the Editors' comments, before uploading a second draft for the rest of the class to review. In the weeks when you are an Editor, you will be expected to submit rewrites of your most recent written assignment. Pairings will change for each assignment, so that you all have an opportunity to read the work of different writers and give feedback on different writers' work, but your assignment to a particular group (A or B) will not change during the semester. The instructor will also comment on and grade the written assignments. |
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, by Mark Slobin. |
| Instructor(s): Alden,Jane Times: ...W... 07:10PM-10:00PM; Location: OLIN327B; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 10 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 1 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: X | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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