Calendar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COURSE CALENDAR

 

 

Special Topic in Analysis and Composition: Popular Song

 

 

MUSIC 150P

 

 

UCSC Department of Music. Instructor: Ben Carson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TAs: Jay Arms, Ittai Rosenbaum

 

 









 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lecture/ Presentation Meetings:

 

 

Deadlines: readings/listenings on Mondays; written work on Fridays

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

M

W

F

 

 

Listening & Reading

 

Musicianship (W & F labs)

 

Analysis & Composition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 (please use landscape-formatted staff paper)

 

 

JANUARY   

6

8

10

 

 

[Due Jan 10 for Analysis I] Jump Blues, 1940s Country & Western Johnson, Maria V. 2007. “Black Women Electric Guitarists and Authenticity in the Blues.”

Santoro, Gene. 2004. “Chess Records” [Ch. 10 of Highway 61 Revisited. & pp. 140-148 of Cohodas, Nadine. 2000. “2120 South Michigan” [Ch. 10 of Spinning Blues into Gold]

Listening Week 1

 

Week 1— Blues progression I, mixolydian in A and F; sing-tap 1.

 

Analysis I: Archeology of Rock and Roll [Written submission Jan 10, Prepared discussion Jan 13]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13 

15

17

 

 

Chicago Blues; “Rock & Roll”: Peterson, Richard. 1990. “Why 1955? Explaining the Advent of Rock Music.” In Popular Music, Vol. 9, No. 1. (Jan., 1990), pp. 97-116.

 

Week 2— Blues sing-play, Blues progression II (AAB) in F, major-seventh-chord arpeggiations, F & D mixolydian & aeolian.

 

Exercise I: Treble-bass framework

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22 

24

 

 

Brill-building, Gordy, Spectre, early Lennon & McCartney

 

Week 3— Blues: progression II, Eb & G mixolydian & aeolian, Stephen Foster sing-play

 

January 24: COMPOSITION I—basic AABA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

27

29

31

 

 

Eubie Blake, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin

Listening Week 4

 

Week 4—including Boogie Bass lines

 

Analysis Project II: Tin-pan Alley.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FEBRUARY   

 3

5

7

 

 

Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter

 

Week 5—Performances of Composition I, Sequences I

 

ANALYSIS/AURAL SKILLS MID-TERM 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10

12

14

 

 

James Brown, Bob Dylan (Nashville Skyline), Stevie Wonder

 

Week 6—Sequence Review, Stop-time Blues.

 

Exercise II: chromaticism, modified cadences, Steely Dan (Ittai Rosenbaum)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19

21

 

 

Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil

 

MUSICIANSHIP MID-TERMS

 

February 21: COMPOSITION II—Tin-Pan Alley w/ Verse

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

24

26

28

 

 

Progressive Rock and Metal (Jay Arms), Bob Dylan (61 Revisited), Joni Mitchell (Blue)

 

Week 8 — 

Analysis II chords and melody

 

Exercise III: Prolongation and Sequence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARCH

 3 

5

7

 

 

Parliament/Funkadelic

 

Analysis II chords & elaborated melody, bass & chords, bass and melody

 

March 7 / Composition III Drafts: March 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10

12

14

 

 

Final Presentations Begin

 

Musicianship Final

 

Extra Credit: Analysis III: Advanced Literature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINAL EXAM

17

19

 

 

 

REVIEW

 

March 19, 4-7 pm: Final Exam

 

March 21: Final Project Due