My 20th Century American Pop History syllabus

See also a discussion of our kickoff song. The course will have two components: weekly listening, reading and discussion assignments, and an ongoing public-facing writing project. You and your classmates will assemble a public-facing annotated playlist of key songs from across the 20th century. For the midterm, you will choose a song released between 1900 and 1950. For the final, you will choose a song released between 1950 and 2000. Choose songs that you consider to be emblematic of a particular style, era, or historical turning point. Your annotations will include: A brief biography of the artist(s) A brief musicological analysis of the song A discussion of the song’s context: what influences are audible in it? What was happening in the artist’s life and in the larger world at the time? What did it mean to listeners? A discussion of the song’s impact: who did it influence and in what way? You will need to support your annotations with credible sources, using APA-formatted citations.…