Course Syllabus
Instructor: Eduardo Navas,
navase@newschool.edu
School of Media Studies, Department of
Communication
The New School University
Online
Summer 2014
Course Description
This course is a
theoretical and historical survey of popular music influenced by or part of the
remix tradition in hip-hop and electronica. Emphasis is placed on the shaping
of culture by media and vice-versa. Remixes are compositions that reconfigure a
pre-existing music recording, often to make it more danceable. As simple as the
definition sounds, it carries a complex set of cultural variables that include
issues of class, gender, and ethnicity. Listening exercises and analysis of
recorded music is complemented by readings that provide understanding of the
historical context and theoretical underpinning of remix practices. Our survey
begins with popular music in the United States in the early 1950s, including
Blues, R&B, Rock n' Roll, and early funk. In the 1960s, this music was
appropriated in the Caribbean and gave birth to new styles, Calypso, Ska,
Reggae, and Dub. Then it came full circle back to the United States with the
development of hip-hop music. The rise of the international styles called trip-hop,
drum 'n' bass, and dubstep and the parallel history of techno and house music
and styles in-between are then considered, in order to arrive at a theoretical
understanding of the complexity of contemporary music and the extent to which
it has been defined by the principles of sampling and remix.
At the beginning of
each week—on Mondays, an introductory lecture will be posted along with
questions on the readings and the music selection, which will be available
online for listening. Each weekly discussion, except for the first week and the
last week, will be led by students. Students leading a discussion must be ready
to discuss the questions and share their views and analysis of the discography
for the respective week.
The students leading
the discussion for their respective week will arrange a time for a video
conference with the instructor to discuss the material they summarized. All
students part of the class are strongly encouraged to participate in all weeklyt
conferences, but this is not an
essential requirement. They only need to attend the meeting with the professor.
All students, however, are expected to post responses and comment as explained below.
The video conference can take place on Monday or Tuesday, at a time that is
most convenient for both the students who are summarizing for the week and the
professor— but it cannot take place on Thursday because this is the last
day to post comments to the corresponding class forum. The conference will be
archived and available for the entire class to review. The issues raised in the
conference should help enhance the discussion taking place on the online forums
from week to week.
Participants will be
expected to post at least two responses and comments each week demonstrating
that they have read the assigned texts and listened to the assigned music
selection. Notes and questions by
the instructor should be considered starting points for a fruitful
conversation. It¹s important to
keep up with all readings and activities in class because they will inform the
final paper due at the end of the term.
By Thursday night of
each week every participant should have at least two posts, at which point the
class will officially come to the end of the discussion. This is done in order
to give participants enough time to focus on the next set of readings and media
works. If somebody posts on the discussion thread after Thursday, it will not
be considered late, but it is in the students¹ best interest to focus on the
current readings for each week according to the schedule. Posting late comments after the
discussion is officially over may prove to be overwhelming when trying to keep
up with overall class activity, therefore students should try to keep up and
focus on the current weekly activities as much as possible. There will be
discussions every week except for the last week of class, when students will
have time to write the final essay.
As noted above, students¹ evaluation will be based on their
general participation in weekly discussions, as well as leading a discussion on
one of the assigned readings—this inlcudes a video conference with the
instructor. A final essay is due at the end of the class. Rambling about a subject with no
specific reference to the texts or music selections will not count as
participation. Each post should
demonstrate some understanding of the subject, and use of specific terms. There is no word limit but a strong post
is one that shows clear engagement with the subject matter. If students do not understand something,
a question should be posted for discussion. However, such question should demonstrate
that the participant has read the material and listened to the music
selections. See details on distributed percentage for each of the three items
below under grading.
Learning Outcomes:
A Note on Plagiarism
Plagiarism
will not be tolerated. A student who commits plagiarism will be reported to the
office of the Media Studies. The student¹s behavior will be taken very
seriously and dealt with according to the guidelines provided by The
New School. To avoid
plagiarism, please cite your sources when appropriate.
THE NEW SCHOOL ACADEMIC HONESTY AND
INTEGRITY POLICY (excerpt)
The
New School views ³academic honesty and integrity² as the duty of every member
of an academic community to claim authorship for his or her own work and only
for that work, and to recognize the contributions of others accurately and
completely. This obligation is fundamental to the integrity of intellectual
debate, and creative and academic pursuits. Academic honesty and integrity
includes accurate use of quotations, as well as appropriate and explicit
citation of sources in instances of paraphrasing and describing ideas, or
reporting on research findings or any aspect of the work of others (including
that of faculty members and other students). Academic dishonesty results from
infractions of this ³accurate use². The standards of academic honesty and
integrity, and citation of sources, apply to all forms of academic work,
including submissions of drafts of final papers or projects. All members of the
University community are expected to conduct themselves in accord with the
standards of academic honesty and integrity.
Definitions and Examples of Academic
Dishonesty
Academic
dishonesty includes, but is not limited to:
Please
download the complete document, available on Blackboard along with this
syllabus.
Brewster,
Bill and Frank Broughton. Last Night a DJ
Saved My Life.
New York: Grover Press, 2000.
Farrugia,
Rebekah. Beyond The Dancefloor: Female
DJs, Technology and Electronic
Dance Music Culture. Bristol & Chicago: Intellect,
2012.
Rose,
Tricia. Black Noise. Connecticut:
Wesleyan University Press, 1994.
Sterne,
Jonathan. The Sound Studies Reader.
New York: Routledge, 2012.
Course Requirements
Please
note that final grades are dependent upon consistent performance in all course
requirements.
Grading
Total
100%
Grade Scale
Letter
grade assignments are as follows:
Attendance
Office hours: Contact via e-mail
Semester Schedule
June 2, - 6, 2014
Introduction to class
Focus: Pre-history/Critical Context
1900 –1960s
View and listen to multimedia material online and discuss on
Blackboard
Evaluate chapters in books to decide on a week to lead a
discussion. All students must lead a weekly discussion during the term.
June 9 – 13, 2014
Focus:
Dub Music/Hip-Hop
Jacquest
Attali, ³Noise: The Political Economy of Music,² in The Sound Studies Reader, pp. 29-39
Michael
Veal, ³Starship Africa,² in The Sound Studies Reader, pp. 454-467.
Brewster
(Last Night a DJ), Chapters 1
– 3
View
and listen to multimedia material online and discuss on Blackboard
Weekly
discussion leaders announced.
June
16 – 20, 2014
Focus:
Dub/Disco/Hip-Hop
Tricia
Rose (Black Noise), Chapters 1
– 2
Brewster
(Last Night a DJ) chapters 4 – 6
Louise
Meintjes, ³The Recording Studio as Fetish,² In The Sound Studies Reader, pp. 265-283
View
and listen to multimedia material online and discuss on Blackboard
June
23 – 27, 2014
Focus:
Hip-Hop/House Music
Rose (Black Noise),
chapters 3 – 4
Brewster (Last Night A
DJ) chapters 7, 10 – 11
View and listen to multimedia material online and discuss on
Blackboard
June
30 – July 4, 2014
Focus: Techno /Trip-Hop/Downtempo
Rose (Black Noise),
chapter 5
Brewster (Last Night A
DJ) chapter 12
Rebekah Farrugia, Beyond
the Dancefloor, chapters 1 & 2
Friedrich Kittler, ³Gramaphone,² in The Sound Studies Reader, pp. 234-248
View and listen to multimedia material online and discuss on
Blackboard
July
7 – 11, 2014
Focus: Trip-Hop/Downtempo/Drum n¹ Bass
Excerpts from Simon Reynold¹s Energy Flash, ³Jungle and Drum n¹ Bass,² (PDF)
View and listen to multimedia material online and discuss on
Blackboard
Rebekah Farrugia, Beyond the Dancefloor, Chapters 3 & 4
John Mowitt, ³The Sound of Music in the Era of Its
Electronic Reproducibility,² in The Sound
Studies Reader, pp. 213-224.
July 14 – 18, 2014
Focus: Dubstep
Excerpts from Simon Reynold¹s Energy Flash, ³UK Garage and 2Step², (PDF)
View and listen to multimedia material online and discuss on
Blackboard
Emily
Thompson, ³Sound Modernity and History,² in The
Sound Studies Reader, pp. 117-129.
Michele
Martin, ³Gender and Early Telephone Culture,² in The Sound Studies Reader, pp. 336-350
Lisa
Gitelman, ³The phonograph¹s New Media Publics,² in The Sound Studies Reader, pp. 283-303
Focus: International Horizon
July 21 – 25,
2014
Shuhei Hosokawa, ³The
Walkman Effect,² in The Sound Studies
Reader, pp. 104 – 116
Jody Berland, ³Contradicting
Media: Toward a Political Phenomenology of Listening,² in The Sound Studies Reader, pp. 40 - 48
Michele Chion, ³The
Three Listening Modes,² in The Sound
Studies Reader, pp. 48 – 53
Eduardo Navas, ³Regressive and Reflexive Mashups in Sampling
Culture,² (PDF):
http://remixtheory.net/?p=444
Week 9
July 28 –
August 1, 2014
Final Text due on
July 31 at 12 noon.