Course syllabus

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                                         Well-Being Always Comes First

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SEMESTER 2, 2019

15 points

Course Director:       Associate Professor Nabeel Zuberi n.zuberi@auckland.ac.nz

Lecture:                     Fridays 12-2 pm in 201N-352 (not recorded; slides available)

Tutorials:                   Thursdays 1-2 pm, 2-3 pm in 201E-902

Tutor/GTA:                Lucia Rive lriv715@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Office hours:             Fridays 10-11 am, 201E-528

Tuākana Mentor:      Kaitiaki Rodger krdo200@aucklanduni.ac.nz

 

This course explores the relationships between

(i) the sounds and cultures of music

(ii) the formats in which media industries and musicians have produced and distributed recorded music e.g. vinyl records, radio, cassettes, CDs, downloadable MP3s and streaming platforms such as Spotify, and

(iii) the ways in which people have listened to recorded music.

Students are not expected to have prior specialist or technical knowledge of music, sound recording or media technologies. We consider music and media in their wider contexts, and relate them to debates about culture and aesthetics, technology and political economy.

We will listen to a wide range of music styles and genres from the past and present and from around the world. Students will have the opportunity to research and write about music and media that interest them.

The course will enhance your understanding of issues and debates in the interdisciplinary scholarship on music in media and communication studies, popular music studies, sound studies, cultural studies and technology studies.

In terms of the Graduate Profile, you will develop capabilities in disciplinary knowledge and practice, critical thinking, communication and engagement with others, and social and environmental responsibilities.

The assessment consists of the following:

  •  Tutorial preparation, exercises and discussion       10 points
  • 3 quizzes on the required reading (weeks 4, 8,12)       30 points
  • Autoethnography of listening to recorded music (1000 words/equivalent audio/video)      25 points
  • Research essay (2000 words)      35 points

There is NO EXAM and NO PLUSSAGE in this course.

Students are expected to complete all required reading (available on Canvas) by the lecture on that topic. Tutorials involve group exercises, discussion of reading, lecture material, research ideas and workshops on assignments in progress.

Presentation of coursework

Written assignments should be typed in 12 pt. font, double-spaced with 1-inch left and right margin, and numbered pages. The word count includes all notes and list of works cited. Keep copies of your assignments as backup.

 

Referencing correctly and plagiarism

Reference all sources from which you have taken ideas, arguments and/or quotations using MLA 8 style. Please consult: https://www.cite.auckland.ac.nz/index.html

Cite relevant page numbers, full titles and publication details and acknowledge directly quoted material. The University of Auckland regards plagiarism as academic misconduct: http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/honesty/.

 

Submission of coursework

All written assignments must be submitted by their deadlines to Canvas only. Details of how to submit audio, video or other online content will be explained for the relevant assignment.

 

Deadlines, late penalties and extensions

Meeting deadlines for coursework is essential. Late assignments are penalised 1 point per day. Requests for extensions before the deadline will be considered and approved based on the seriousness of circumstances. Communicate with your teacher(s) for help and support.

 

Academic support and services

The University of Auckland provides a range of resources to support students towards achieving their academic potential. To access information about the range of academic and learning support services at the University, please visit: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/on-campus/student-support/personal-support/academic-learning-support.html

 

COURSE TIMELINE

 

 WEEK 1 (26 July)                   Recorded Music and Media Formats

McCourt, Tom. “Recorded Music.” Communication and Technology, edited by Lorenzo Cantoni and James A. Danowski, De Gruyter Mouton, 2015, pp. 79-101.

 

WEEK 2 (2 August)                 Listening to Music    

Quiñones, Marta García. “On the Modern Listener.” Sound as Popular Culture: A Research Companion, edited by Jens Gerrit Papenburg and Holger Schulze, MIT Press, 2016 pp. 91-100.

Baym, Nancy K. “Audiences.” Playing to the Crowd: Musicians, Audiences, and the Intimate Work of Connection, NYU Press, 2018, pp. 55-72.

 

WEEK 3 (9 August)                 Shellac Records and Phonographic Cultures

Denning, Michael. “Phonograph Culture: The Remaking of Vernacular Musicking.” Noise Uprising: The Audiopolitics of a World Musical Revolution, Verso, 2015, pp. 109-13.

Kenney, William Howland. “The Gendered Phonograph: Women and Recorded Sound 1890-1930.” Recorded Music in American Life: The Phonograph and Popular Memory, 1890-1945, Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 88-108.

Hoar, Peter. “Moving Sounds.” The World’s Din: Listening to Records, Radio and Films in New Zealand, 1880-1940, Otago University Press, 2018, pp. 67-64.                       

 

WEEK 4 (16 August)               Vinyl Records

Keightley, Keir. “Long Play: Adult-Oriented Popular Music and the Temporal Logics of the Post-War Sound Recording Industry in the USA.” Media, Culture & Society, vol. 26, no. 3, 2004, pp. 375-391.

Magoun, Alexander B. “The Origins of the 45-RPM Record at RCA Victor, 1939-1948.” Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century, edited by Hans-Joachim Braun, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, pp. 148-157.   

Palm, Michael. “Keeping it Real? Vinyl Records and the Future of Independent Culture.” Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, Mar. 2019, pp. 1-14.

Quiz 1 (weeks 1-3) available 3 pm, Thursday 15 August to end of Monday 19 August     

                                                                                   

WEEK 5 (23 August)               Radio Formats

Baade, Christine. “Radio.” The Routledge Reader in the Sociology of Music, edited by John Shepherd and Kyle Devine, Routledge, 2015, pp. 309-317.

Krogh, Mads. “Formats, Genres, and Abstraction: On Musico-Generic Assemblages in the Context of Radio Format Production.” Music Radio: Building Communities, Mediating Genres, edited by Morten Michelson et al., Bloomsbury, 2018, pp. 211-229.

 

Music Listening Autoethnoethnography is due by Thursday 29 August in Week 6

 

WEEK 6 (30 August)               The Cassette and Tape Cultures

Produce, A. “A Short History of the Cassette.” The Cassette Mythos, edited by Robin James, Autonomedia, 1992, pp. 4-5.

Drew, Rob. “The Space Between: Mix Taping as a Ritual of Distance.” Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, vol. 14, no. 3, 2016, pp. 146-155.

Tuhus-Dubrow, Rebecca. “Norm.” Personal Stereo, Bloomsbury, 2018, pp. 49-87.     

                            

                                                Mid-Semester Break

 

Week 7 (20 September)         The Compact Disc

Straw, Will. “The Music CD and its Ends.” Design and Culture, vol. 1, no. 1, 2009, pp. 79-91.

Rothenbuhler, Eric. “The Compact Disc and its Culture: Notes on Melancholia.” Cultural Technologies: The Shaping of Modern Culture in Media and Society, edited by Gorin Bolin, Routledge, 2012, pp. 36-50.

           

Week 8 (27 September)         No lecture / Climate Strike

 Quiz 2 (weeks 5-7) available 3 pm Thursday 26 September to Monday 30 September

         

Week 9 (4 October)               The MP3

Sterne, Jonathan. “How the MP3 Became Ubiquitous,” Handbook of Mobile Music Vol. 1, edited by Sumanth Gopinath and Jason Stanyek, Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. 37-55.

Powers, Devon. “Lost in the Shuffle: Technology, History, and the Idea of Musical Randomness.” Critical Studies in Media Communication, vol. 31, no. 3, Aug 2014, pp. 244-264.

        

Week 10 (11 October)                        Streaming Platforms and Algorithmic Listening

Pelly, Liz. “The Problem with Muzak: Spotify’s Bid to Remodel an Industry.” The Baffler, December 2017, https://thebaffler.com/salvos/the-problem-with-muzak-pelly

Prey, Robert. “Nothing Personal: Algorithmic Individuation in Music Streaming Services.” Media, Culture & Society, vol. 40, no. 2, 2018, pp. 1086-1100.

Siles, Ignacio, et al. “Genres as Social Affect: Cultivating Moods and Emotions through Playlists on Spotify.” Social Media + Society, vol. 5, no. 2, Apr. 2019, pp. 1-11.

                                   

Week 11 (18 October)                        Platforms, Musicians and Materials

Negus, Keith. “From Creator to Data: the Post-Record Music Industry and the Digital Conglomerates.” Media, Culture & Society, vol. 41, no. 3, Apr. 2019, pp. 367-384.

Hesmondhalgh, David, et al. “SoundCloud and Bandcamp as Alternative Music Platforms.” Social Media + Society, forthcoming 2019, pp. 1-23.      

Devine, Kyle. “Decomposed: A Political Ecology of Music.” Popular Music, vol. 34, no. 3, 2015, pp. 367-389

                                                           

Week 12 (25 October)                        Summary of the course

Quiz is available from 3 pm on Thursday 24 October to end of Friday 25 October  

 Research paper is due by end of Tuesday 29 October

 

Workload and deadlines for submission of coursework:           

The University of Auckland's expectation is that students spend 10 hours per week on a 15-point course, including time in class and personal study. Students should manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Deadlines for coursework are set by course convenors and will be advertised in course material. You should submit your work on time. In extreme circumstances, such as illness, you may seek an extension but you may be required to provide supporting information before the assignment is due. Late assignments without a pre-approved extension may be penalised by loss of marks – check course information for details.

Course summary:

Date Details Due