Critical Approaches to Popular Music
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Engl 334-001, Fall 2008


Course Information

Required Texts

  • Andersen, Mark, and Mark Jenkins. Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital. Akashic Press, 2003.

  • Bennett, Andy, Barry Shank, and Jason Toynbee, eds. The Popular Music Studies Reader. New York: Routledge, 2006.

  • Negus, Keith. Popular Music in Theory: An Introduction. Hanover, NH: Wesleyan U P, 1996.

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Course Goals

  • To understand and apply theoretical approaches to writing about music.

  • To deepen your knowledge of the music you consume and/or produce.

  • To develop an extended research process that enhances your ability to write and argue.

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Workshops

Some of the assignments in this course take a “multimodal” approach (see assignments). This means that you’ll have the option to do academic writing, media projects, or creative nonfiction. I assume that students who choose to do media projects will have some technological background, so there will be no time spent in class on technology. If necessary, you should take advantage of the workshops and labs available on campus. Topics, dates, and times for these sessions can be found from the workshop schedules below. The Star Labs have many of the software programs you’ll want to work with but also have walk-in peer tutoring. Bring in your materials and they can help you with your projects, questions, or problems.

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Fall for the Book

Each year the English department co-sponsors Fall for the Book, a week-long literary festival that brings in a wide array of authors to multiple venues around Northern Virginia. Of interest to us is Mark Anderson, who co-wrote Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital with Mark Jenkins. Anderson will read from the book at George Mason on September 25 from 3:00-4:00 and a band with a connection to the book will play from 4:00-5:00 following the reading. Since this is during class, we will all attend.

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Attendance

Each class we will discuss the readings, give presentations, and do short assignments. Consequently, attendance is extremely important and will count towards participation grades. If you stop coming to class, it will be your responsibility to drop. Failure to do so will result in an ‘F’.

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Office Hours

I will have office hours in Sci-Tech I 105 on T and R from 4:30-6:00. If you need to speak to me and cannot make these times, then ask me to schedule a time that is convenient for both of us. I check my e-mail several times daily, so this will be the best way to contact me in a hurry if you have a question or problem. The only other option is to call and leave a phone message, but I will not receive it immediately.

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Grades

Students in English 334 receive a final grade of A+ (4.0), A (4.0), A- (3.67), B+ (3.33), B (3.0), B- (2.67), C+ (2.33), C (2.0), C- (1.67), D (1.0), or F (0.0). The bulk of your grade (80%) will come at the end of the semester with the blogging, research, and final projects (see assignments). This means that you may have a hard time sensing where you stand in the class as it progresses. Best advice is to identify a research topic early; keep up with blog entries, ongoing research, and class attendance; and make sure that you do a good job on the mid-term. I will not field “how am I doing in this class” questions: only you know whether or not you are keeping up with the work. If you are concerned about your grade over the semester, comments on the class blog will count as extra credit.

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Rewrite and Late Policy

Responses to readings need to be posted to the blog before each class (entries are time stamped). Any other blog assignments should be done in class or by the next class period. Since the mid-term is the only primary grade during the semester, I will give you the option to rewrite based on my comments after I return grades. If you are concerned about your overall grade, I recommend this revision. The final paper will be developed over the last few weeks of class, so there should be plenty of time for feedback and revision even though there will be no time to rewrite. The rest of the work will be ongoing with no options for rewrites. Best advice is to not put things off until the end of the semester. You won’t be able to get it all done at the last minute. Since the mid-term includes a class presentation, and most of the other main assignments are due at the end of the semester, late papers really won’t apply. You’ll either do them on time or you won’t.

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