Reviewing the Syllabus
By the end of this course we should:
Have a better understanding of the history of roots music in America, with a special emphasis on the blues and country music, but with some exposure to other styles.
Be able to discuss the historical and stylistic differences and the connections between these types of music.
Be able to informally perform (in small settings) examples of roots music (defined broadly).
Be able to share our experiences and understanding with others.
My personal assessment of how I feel I've grown or not in these areas:
-Better understanding of roots music? I suppose. Well. I was exposed to more, which leads to understanding. The text helped some, but maybe not as much as I would have expected. But as far as understanding what music was to the people who created it, why they made it, and so on, I don't think I know more than I did.
-Able to discuss historical and stylistic differences/connections? Hm. I know some, I guess.
-Informally perform an example of roots music? Heh. No. This didn't happen for more than two people, even when it was defined broadly.
-Share experiences/understanding with others? Not very much more than before, though if we had discussed more recently I think I may have done better.
We'll also explore the importance of music as a cultural artifact and statement and a way for people to express what's important to them.
-We didn't explore this much. The first Folkways Collection we listened to talked about it, and I was super pumped to talk about it in class but aaaaaagggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh jamboree.
Our goal, then is to learn more about this music, both its history and its connection to what's happening today.
-Connection to today? We listened to a few recent artists. More than half of the class' presentations were about how an artist or style influenced people later on. So kind of, but I think the goal was shooting for higher.
Two key questions that I'd like to focus on during the semester are:
What can music be?
What can music tell us about ourselves and other people?
In what ways is music both a source of people's difference and similarity?
-No.
1 comment:
Wow - very nice analysis of both the syllabus and what in fact happened on the ground. I very much appreciate your honesty.
I must agree that the performances totally didn't work out the way I'd hoped. While the performances have always been a spotty business, this year's sections were by far the least "performancy" of any year, which was frustrating. They also ended up taking up way more of the semester than in the past, but that was my fault (I changed the scheduling in ways that didn't really work as well as I'd hoped).
I also agree that Jamboree got in the way of a lot of the discussions in the second half. The discussions at the very end suggested that there was real potential there, though, and if we'd only had another two months :-). That said, there was an awful lot of dead space in the class time we did have (including Jamboree prep) where good discussion could have happened but didn't.
Some of your comments at the end reflect some weaknesses with using Pandora instead of more carefully engineered/controlled lists. In previous years everyone listened to the same 10 songs each week, and those included some more contemporary pieces that deliberately got at some of those questions. Pandora was more convenient, but (I think) less useful. I definitely think that I'll return to arranged listening lists if/when I do this course again.
Again, thanks for the thoughtful and honest comments.
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