LFU:online

The intended learning outcome is that students will gain some familiarity with the literature of popular studies, with an interdisciplinary focus on the construction of meaning in the pop music repertory. 

The content of the course will include readings and discussion concerning the philosophical/ideological and methodological problems relating to the study of popular music; and the examination of selected case studies, with a focus on how to approach popular music as “text” through basic elements of pop/rock songs (lyrics, melody, harmony, rhythm, lyrics) and through selected socio-cultural issues (identity, gender and sexuality, race). 

The course will be taught as a lecture, with students expected to prepare for each class through assigned readings and listening.  Students will have the opportunity to participate in classroom discussion and debate.   

Assessment will comprise a final written examination    

Adorno, Theodor. „On Popular Music“ Studies in Philosophy and Social Science (New York: Institute of Social Research, 1941), IX, 17-48. http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/SWA/On_popular_music_1.shtml

Griffiths, Dai. „From Lyric to Anti-Lyric: Analysing the Words in Pop Songs“ in Analyzing Popular Music, ed. Alan Moore (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003). 

Machin, David. „Semiotic Resources in Sound: Pitch, Melody, Phrasing“ in Analysing Popular Music: Image, Sound, Text (Los Angeles: Sage, 2010).

Machin, David.  „Analysing Lyrics: Values, Participants, Agency“  in Analysing Popular Music: Image, Sound, Text (Los Angeles: Sage, 2010). 

Middleton, Richard. „Popular Music Analysis and Musicology: Bridging the Gap“ Popular Music 12/2 (1993), 177-190.

Stratton, Jon.  „Popular Music, Race, and Identity“ in Sage Handbook of Popular Music, ed. Andy Bennett and Steve Waksman (London: Sage, 2015).

Whiteley, Shelia.  „Blurred Lines, Gender, and Popular Music“ in