Various topics are offered. These courses introduce students to the critical study of popular and non-Western music. Students will learn to locate musical genres and styles in relation to the historical, social, and cultural context that engender them, while learning new approaches to formal analysis. Each fulfills the College-wide Second-Stage Writing Requirement
Topic for Spring 2025: Music and Gender
This course will address the ways in which gender is expressed through music and sound, and relatedly, will examine music’s capacity to shape gender discourse. Through a mapping across genres of popular music, such as hyperpop, riot grrrl, rap, and neoperreo, we will explore the role of gender embedded in the relationships between performers and listeners, specifically by highlighting the intersectional identities and power dynamics at play in musical practice.