Communication 4930-002
Communication and Popular Music
Summer 2004
Prof. Gil Rodman
Office Hours: by appointment
CIS 3040 // 974-3025
gbrodman@mindspring.com
T.A. Chris Carden
Office Hours: by appointment
CIS 3021 // 974-2145
ccarden@mail.usf.edu
course description and objectives
This is a course on communication and popular music, but it is not designed to be just a six-week long celebration of rock ‘n’ roll, hip hop, line dancing, and the like. Instead, our primary focus will be on the cultural politics of popular music and we will spend our time exploring a range of significant critical and analytical issues related to the production, distribution, consumption, circulation, and regulation of popular music. In particular, we will address such questions as:
- What do we mean by popular music? Is there such a thing as unpopular music?
- Of what value is popular music -- and to whom is it valuable? Is there really anything more to popular music than “just entertainment”?
- Who controls popular music, what are they doing with it, and should we be worried about this?
- Does popular music work to maintain and reinforce existing forms of (social, cultural, political) power? If so, how? And is this a problem?
- Does popular music provide a space where ordinary people can escape and/or resist existing relations of power? If so, how? And is this a good thing?
- And why should we study this popular music stuff anyway?
Bear in mind, however, that few (if any) of the questions we’ll address this semester have easy answers. How well you do in this class will depend more on your ability to think critically about the role of popular music in contemporary society and your ability to argue your position(s) well than it will on your ability to simply regurgitate the “right” answers.
WARNINGS!!!
- Do not think that because our primary focal point this semester is popular music (i.e., something commonly regarded as fun) this will be a “party” course that you can simply coast through effortlessly. While I hope the course will be interesting (and even fun), the fact that so many people can (and do) take pleasure in popular music is a large part of what makes it important enough for us to take it seriously in the first place. This course will demand a great deal of work on your part, none of which will go smoothly for you if you assume that you can simply bull your way through because it’s “only entertainment.”
- Do not be fooled into thinking that, because this is a six-week summer course, it will be significantly easier than the same course would be during the regular school year. This is still a 3 credit-hour course, and the work you’ll be expected to do in order to succeed in this class will be appropriate to that standard.
- Do not fall behind. The pace of a six-week summer session leaves little (if any) margin for error. Each one of our class meetings is equivalent to more than a full week of a regular semester course, and the brevity of the session will make it very difficult (if not impossible) to catch up if you skip class, sleep through the lectures, or take inadequate notes.
- Do not think that the lack of readings will make this course easier. You will still be responsible for all the material covered in our lectures and, without readings to fall back on, you will need to be (a) extra attentive during our class meetings, (b) extra thoughtful about how you take notes during the lectures, and (c) extra diligent about studying your notes between class meetings.
grades
Your entire grade will be based on a final examination given in class on 17 June. There is no make-up date for this exam, and there is no alternate assignment that will serve as an acceptable substitute for it.
To help ease the pressure that goes along with your entire grade being determined by one exam, there are three “grade cushion” options built into the course:
- Name That Tune quizzes
- Discussion Board community support
- Survival sheets
More details about each of these options can be found below. “Grade cushions” are completely optional, and students who ignore them will not be penalized for doing so.
Final course grades will not use the plus/minus grading system.
class sessions
Our regular class sessions will run roughly as follows:
| 12:30-12:35 |
Miscellaneous course business |
| 12:35-1:45 |
Lecture #1 |
| 1:45-2:00 |
Q&A/Discussion |
| 2:00-2:20 |
Break |
| 2:20-3:30 |
Lecture #2 |
| 3:30-3:45 |
Q&A/Discussion |
| 3:45-4:00 |
Name That Tune quiz |
Exact times may vary slightly from one class session to the next, but this is the schedule that we will aim for every time we meet.
name that tune quizzes
At the end of every class period from 13 May through 15 June, there will be a “Name That Tune” quiz. Each quiz will be based on music (a) available on the course sampler CDs and (b) played in class. Each quiz will consist of 10 song fragments, and your job will be to identify each fragment from a list of 30 possible artists/titles provided as part of the quiz.
Each quiz is worth a maximum of 1 “cushion point,” and you can earn a maximum of 5 total “cushion points” from quizzes.
discussion board
The Discussion Board feature of the course’s Blackboard site (see separate handout for basic details on how to access and use this site) is configured to allow you the opportunity to ask follow-up questions about the lectures and the issues raised therein. Chris and I will not answer lecture-based questions until at least 3 different students (not counting the original question-asker) have made serious efforts to answer the original question.
Students who offer accurate, helpful answers to such questions will be awarded “cushion points” based on the quality and quantity of their answers. Roughly speaking, the applicable formula here will be 1 “cushion point” for every 100 “on topic” words of answer, though I will adjust the actual points awarded (up or down) based on the overall quality of the response. You can earn up a maximum of 5 total “cushion points” from your Discussion Board answers.
survival sheets
The only outside notes that you will be allowed to consult during the exam are formally approved “survival sheets,” which work as follows. At the review session on 15 June, you can turn in one page of whatever notes you feel will be helpful to you during the exam. The following rules apply to all survival sheets:
- Survival sheets must be ordinary 8.5”x11” pieces of paper (either ordinary white sheets or lined white notebook paper). They can be printed or handwritten (or both), at your discretion.
- Survival sheets must include (1) your name and (2) your full social security number. This information must be printed/written clearly and visibly enough to be easily legible when we review the sheets prior to the actual exam.
Survival sheets will not be graded, but I will read and evaluate them to insure compliance with the rules outlined above. Only sheets that adhere to all these rules will be given back to you for your use during the exam (and, at the risk of stating the obvious, you are only permitted to use your own survival sheets during each exam). On exam day, I will give you your approved survival sheet at the start of each section of the exam, and you must turn your sheet back in at the completion of each section of the exam.
final exam
The final exam will take place during our regularly scheduled class period on 17 June. It will consist of two separate sections: a “short answer” section and an “essay” section.
On exam day, our classroom will be cleared prior to the start of the exam, and the front portion of the room will be blocked off. As soon as you enter the room, you will be given (a) your copy of Section 1 of the exam and (b) your formally approved “survival sheet.” You will not be allowed to consult any other outside materials once inside.
For reasons of exam security, leaving the room for any reason (including bathroom breaks) during the exam means that you are officially done with that section of the exam: i.e., your exam paper and survival sheet will be collected and you will not be allowed to re-enter the room during that part of the exam.
No one will be admitted to the room for either section of the exam once the first person to complete that section of the exam has left the room. To be fair to the inevitable latecomers, no one will be allowed to leave the room until 12:45 pm (which shouldn’t be a major problem, since you probably won’t be able to complete section 1 of the exam in such a short span of time and still pass). Latecomers running more than 15 minutes late will simply have to take their chances that they can arrive before anyone else finishes.
When you finish Section 1, you will turn in that portion of your exam. At that point, you have two choices:
- Leave the room, take a break to use the bathroom, grab a cigarette, get a soda, make a phone call, whatever. Come back when you’re ready to start Section 2.
- Start Section 2 right away.
People who start Section 2 while others are still working on Section 1 get to sit in the blocked-off rows at the front of the room until those fill up.
Anyone who arrives after the first person working on Section 1 has actually left the room will not get to start Section 1. They will be allowed to start Section 2. Once you’ve started Section 2, you will not be allowed to leave the room again until you’re done, so anyone who’s worried about sitting in one place for the full exam period should take a short break when they finish Section 1.
There will be no make-up exams. Students with genuine emergencies (e.g., unexpected hospitalizations, arrests, auto accidents, deaths in the family, etc.) who provide formal documentation for the emergency in question are the only potential exceptions to this rule.
The exam will be consist of items totaling 100 points and it will be graded on a straight curve (e.g., scores between 90-100 earn a grade of A, 80-89 earn a B, etc.). Any “cushion points” that you earn over the course of the semester will simply be added onto your “raw” exam score.
academic integrity
I assume that the vast majority of students are honest -- and so, presumably, what follows won’t be an issue for most (all?) of you. For the record, however, and to avoid potentially disastrous misunderstandings, the following is a partial list of major examples of academic dishonesty:
- Copying another student’s work on survival sheets, quizzes, or exams.
- Having someone else complete survival sheets and/or take quizzes or exams for you.
- Attempting to consult notes, books, or other outside sources of information (except for formally approved survival sheets) during quizzes and/or exams. [And, for the record, “other outside sources” includes cell phones, pagers, palm pilots, headphones, and other electronic devices.]
The minimum penalty for violation of these rules is a score of zero (0) for the quiz or section of the exam in question. Depending on the severity of the violation, I reserve the right to assign you a grade of FF for the course -- which, by University rules, is not subject to grade forgiveness and shows up on your official transcript with an annotation explaining that you failed the class for academic dishonesty.
When in doubt, play it safe. During quizzes/exams, do not allow your gaze to wander in ways that might make me wonder if you’ve got crib notes stashed somewhere or if you’re “borrowing” answers from a neighbor.
miscellaneous
- If you wish to, you may audiotape our class lectures and/or discussions, provided you can do so without disrupting the ordinary flow of the class. The purchase and/or sale of either written notes or audio recordings of our class meetings is strictly prohibited.
- Cell phones, beepers, pagers, etc. are to be turned off or set to vibrate silently before you come to class. This is especially important during quizzes and exams, and students caught checking their phone/pager/etc. for messages during quizzes or exams will receive a grade of zero for the quiz/exam in question (see “academic integrity” above).
- In keeping with the University Policy on Religious Observances, students who anticipate being absent from class due to a major religious observance must provide notice to me in writing by 13 May explaining which class period(s) you expect to miss and why.
- The discussion portion of our class sessions may occasionally involve topics that provoke strong differences of opinion within the group. While I do not expect us to walk away from all (any?) of our class meetings in perfect and total agreement about the issues under discussion, I do expect all of our conversations to be characterized by mutual respect and collegiality. Impassioned arguments and strongly expressed opinions are perfectly acceptable in this class; verbal bullying and personal attacks, on the other hand, will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
11 May
Lecture #1 -- Issues: popular music and cultural politics
13 May
listen through 1951
Lecture #1 -- History: blues, jazz, gospel, folk, country
Lecture #2 -- Issues: culture and aesthetics
18 May
listen through 1960
Lecture #1 -- History: rhythm ‘n’ blues
Lecture #2 -- Issues: music and affect
20 May
listen through 1963
Lecture #1 -- History: rock ‘n’ roll
Lecture #2 -- Issues: industry and economics
25 May
listen through 1971
Lecture #1 -- History: rock
Lecture #2 -- Issues: audiences and fans
27 May
listen through 1974
Lecture #1 -- History: soul and funk
Lecture #2 -- Issues: technology
1 June
listen through 1982
Lecture #1 -- History: disco, punk, and rap
Lecture #2 -- Issues: race
3 June
listen through 1985
Lecture #1 -- History: music video
Lecture #2 -- Issues: gender
8 June
listen through 1991
Lecture #1 -- History: grunge, hip-hop, and alt-_____
Lecture #2 -- Issues: youth
10 June
listen through 1994
Lecture #1 -- Issues: censorship
Lecture #2 -- Issues: downloading
15 June
listen through 2004
exam review
17 June
final exam
TEN TIPS ON HOW TO DO WELL IN THIS COURSE
- Read your syllabus. This document contains the basic ground rules by which this course works. Under exceptional circumstances (e.g., life and death emergencies), I may be willing to bend some of the rules listed here, ignorance of those rules on your part is not such a circumstance.
- Show up on time, pay attention in class, and stay until the end of the period. In a course that has no assigned reading, what happens in the classroom becomes absolutely indispensable. If you miss large parts of class (either through absence or inattention), you will almost certainly struggle to do well.
- Think about the lectures and discussions. While the final exam will include some straightforward factual questions, you will not do well on it if you simply try to memorize a bunch of names and dates, or to regurgitate some key phrases from the lectures. Similarly, you shouldn’t assume that the lectures are “just entertainment” -- and thus something you can absorb passively.
- Take careful, intelligent notes. As an extension of the previous point, you would be wise to take thoughtful notes on the major arguments, issues, and topics raised by the lectures. This does not mean that you should simply try and write down everything that I say verbatim: that makes you into an unthinking parrot, rather than an actively engaged student. Instead, you should listen for -- and focus on -- the core arguments of the lectures.
- Ask thoughtful questions. If you don’t understand a major point from one of the lectures, ask about it -- if not in class, then online. This means more than simply asking me to say something a second (or third) time so that you can write it down word for word And it means more than simply saying “I don’t get it” and hoping that I can rephrase the entire original idea in words that make more sense.
- Take advantage of the “grade cushion” options. I’ve put these in the course precisely to help y’all out -- but they’ll do you no good if you don’t actually use them. If you take all of these seriously, they can quite literally be worth the equivalent of a couple of letter grades.
- Write and submit thoughtful survival sheets. While survival sheets are ungraded (and therefore optional), if done properly, they will serve as helpful memory aids during the exam. The process of creating your own survival sheet should also be a very useful study aid.
- Argue your points . . . and argue them well. When it comes to the essay portion of the final exam, you will be expected to produce prose that is persuasive, not merely factually correct. For example, simply saying that you think that Eminem is a no-talent hack whose music should be banned is far less convincing (and receives far less credit) than explaining why you think so.
- Take advantage of our office hours. While the compressed nature of the summer session means that Chris and I won’t have formal office hours scheduled on a regular basis, we really are happy to set up appointments to meet with students to talk about the course. Please feel free to contact us so that we can meet at a mutually agreeable time.
- Think ahead. Bear in mind that the work required of you this semester takes time -- and that, during a short summer session, time isn’t available in great abundance. This is not a course where simply memorizing a long list of names and dates in the last week of the session will earn you an acceptable grade. The semester will go by much faster than you think, so plan accordingly.
Do you . . .
(a) . . . need this course to graduate?
(b) . . . have a job offer for after this semester is over?
(c) . . . need to get a certain grade to get off academic probation?
(d) . . . have a spot on an athletic team that depends on your grades?
(e) . . . have a scholarship that requires you to maintain a certain g.p.a.?
If you answered “yes” to any of those questions (or to similar ones), then you should pay particularly close attention to the information below. (And it wouldn’t hurt the rest of y’all to do so either.)
- Your grade in this course will be based on your performance, not your effort. Trying hard is a good thing (it’s certainly better than not trying at all), but it’s not the same thing as succeeding. Hard work may improve your grade, but it does not guarantee that you’ll earn the grade you want.
- You have to earn your grade in this course; I don’t simply give it to you. I will not give you a passing grade simply because you’ve paid your tuition, because you’re graduating, because you’re on the tennis team, because you’ve never gotten a bad grade before, etc. If you need a particular grade to graduate, keep your scholarship, stay in school, etc., you need to do the work that will earn you that grade.
- The semester lasts six weeks -- and they all count. If you don’t put serious effort into the course all semester long, you will probably not do well on the final exam. Don’t assume that you can sleepwalk through the first four weeks of the session and then play “catch up” in June.
- The time to worry about your grade for this course is now. Coming to me after the semester is over to plead for a better grade will not work -- especially if you seem to be working harder to persuade me to change your grade than you worked to earn it in the first place.
- Your chance to earn your grade ends when the semester does. The only exceptions to this rule involve the sort of major life emergencies (e.g., extended hospitalization, death in the immediate family, etc.) that cause you to miss significant portions of the semester. In such cases, I will require independent verification of the emergency in question, and you will receive a final grade of “I” pending the completion of the work that you’ve missed.
- There is no “extra paper” option to boost your grade. The syllabus spells out what work is required for this course, and I will not deviate from that to meet the “needs” of individual students. Do not come to me -- during or after the semester -- asking if you can do extra work to bring your D up to a C (or your C up to a B, etc.): the answer will be “No.” Guaranteed.
- Don’t overburden yourself. You may be someone who thrives on pressure, or someone who doesn’t feel challenged by taking three six-week college courses while also holding down a full-time job and being a single parent. If so, that’s a true gift -- and you should use it wisely. Mere mortals, however, should either respect their own limitations (and not try to take on too much at once) or they should recognize (and accept) that trying to juggle too many time- and energy-consuming tasks will generally cause their performance in at least one (and often more than one) of those to suffer.
- Your life outside this class is your responsibility, not mine. Your wedding anniversary, your mother’s birthday, your workplace’s annual employee softball tournament -- all of these things and more may distract you from your work for this course. If you decide that your position at the Oracle (for instance) matters more to you than this course, that’s your prerogative -- but you need to recognize that your coursework (and thus your grade) will suffer if you put this class too low on your list of priorities. The ultimate responsibility for juggling the demands made on your time is yours.