12 Weeks
Level 2
3-Credit Tuition
$1,545Non-Credit Tuition
$1,290This course is all about exploring why we listen to music, what we use music for, and, in some sense, how music uses us. Why do we have the musical preferences that we do? Is there really such a thing as “good” music? How does music create communities? How does music create social change? How does music function in our daily lives? These are all questions we will examine in depth throughout this course.
You will become more sensitive to considering the ways that we, as individuals and communities, interact with the music we’re listening to—often without even noticing that we are. You will also become more attuned to the sometimes-covert ways in which music operates in our society, and to the ramifications that music can have in our individual and communal psyches.
Music, Self, and Society weaves together readings from music critics, sociologists, psychologists, scholars of ritual and drama, philosophers, and a number of other writers. In general, we take a big topic—such as musical taste—and evaluate it from a number of different angles, with the expectation that each angle brings a distinct, useful perspective to it.
We’ll consider music across almost every conceivable genre, from advertising jingles to jazz to pop to classical to world music. The music chosen helps bring to the fore the issues we raise, sometimes as answers to questions and sometimes as questions themselves. When we examine music and social change, for example, we’ll consider classics like “We Shall Overcome” and “Strange Fruit” while also studying more recent revolutionary acts like Pussy Riot. We will also use a number of TV and film clips to elucidate specific issues.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Describe and analyze a variety of contexts in which music, individuals, and societies intersect, including ritual, commerce, and politics
- Describe and analyze the ways in which individuals and societies understand and use different kinds of music, including classical music, popular music, and jazz
- Reflect on and evaluate your personal musical preferences and relate them to larger communal contexts
- Explain, compare, and apply different schemes of apprehending musical meaning
- Analyze and critique important musical ideas such as taste, audience, and censorship
Syllabus
Lesson 1: Who Are You? What Are We?
- What is the Use of Music?
- What is a Self?
- What is a Society?
- In the Thick of It
- Assignment 1: Thick Description
Lesson 2: What is Music?
- Does Music Exist?
- The Emergence of "The Work"
- Works and Canons
- Discussion: Who Are the “Patrons” of Today’s Music?
- Assignment 2: “The Work”
Lesson 3: How Does Music Have Meaning?
- How Does Music “Mean”?
- What is Music About?
- Bringing Things into Focus
- Discussion: Frith’s “Performing Rites”
- Assignment 3: Segmentation, Gaps, and Focalization
Lesson 4: Getting Emotional
- Does Music Have Emotion?
- Why Do We Respond the Way We Do?
- Making the Unfamiliar Familiar
- Discussion: Chance Factors
- Assignment 4: Share Playlist
Lesson 5: Getting Together
- The Problem with Feelings
- You Are What You Listen To...Or Are You?
- Fandom
- Geek Culture
- Assignment 5: Music Interpretation
Lesson 6: The Meaning of Musical Taste
- Taste and Audience
- Hume Sweet Hume
- Advanced Genius Theory
- Aesthetic Taste As an Act of Faith
- Assignment 6: “Good” and “Bad” Taste in Music
Lesson 7: Music and Ritual
- Ritual and Music Defined
- Genres of Ritual
- Rites of Passage
- Characteristics of Ritual
- Assignment 7: Analyze a Ritual
Lesson 8: Music, Ritual, and Society
- Magic, Religion, and Performative Utterances
- Durkheim’s Elementary Forms
- Social Drama
- Discussion: Music and Weddings
- Assignment 8: Create a Ritual
Lesson 9: Music and Commerce
- Music and the Retail Sector
- Music and Consumer Choice
- Art Meets Commerce: Komar and Melamid
- Discussion: Music and Commercial Space
- Assignment 9: Identify Examples of Music Intersecting with Commerce
Lesson 10: Music, Politics, and Social Change
- How Can Music Change Society?
- We Shall Overcome
- Strange Fruit
- Pussy Riot
- Assignment 10: How Has the Legacy of Protest Songs Evolved?
Lesson 11: Music and Censorship
- Defining Our Terms
- The PMRC, Part 1: Backstory
- The PMRC, Part 2: The Testimony
- Ripped From the Headlines
- Assignment 11: Censorship Analysis
Lesson 12: Into the Great Wide Open
- Voyager 1 and 2
- The Golden Record
- Recap and Mission
- Assignment 12: Analyze the Musical Playlist on Voyager's Golden Record
Requirements
Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements
Prerequisite Courses, Knowledge, and/or Skills
This course does not have any prerequisites.
Textbook(s)
- Your course author has created an e-coursepack (~$30) that you will be able to purchase during the first week of the course.
- Recommended: Let's Talk About Love: Why Other People Have Such Bad Taste by Carl Wilson (Bloomsbury Academic, 2014)
- Recommended: Strange Fruit: The Biography of a Song by David Margolick and Hilton Als (Ecco, 2001)
- Recommended: Ritual: A Very Short Introduction by Barry Stephenson (Oxford University Press, 2015)
Student Deals
After enrolling, be sure to check out our Student Deals page for various offers on software, hardware, and more. Please contact support@online.berklee.edu with any questions.
General Course Requirements
Below are the minimum requirements to access the course environment and participate in Live Classes. Please make sure to also check the Prerequisites and Course-Specific Requirements section above, and ensure your computer meets or exceeds the minimum system requirements for all software needed for your course.
Mac Users
PC Users
All Users
- Latest version of Google Chrome
- Zoom meeting software
- Webcam
- Speakers or headphones
- External or internal microphone
- Broadband Internet connection
Instructors
Author
Robert Lagueux is Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of Graduate Studies, and founding Dean for Faculty Development at Berklee College of Music. He oversees Berklee's graduate-level degree programs as well as the creation of learning and development opportunities for faculty at all of Berklee's campuses, as well as for instructors at Berklee’s international partner schools. He has worked with faculty to enhance teaching and learning at the University of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, and Northeastern University. As a Fulbright Scholar at City University of Hong Kong, he spent a year developing programs to support general education and leading teaching workshops throughout Southeast Asia.
Instructor
Nathan Link is Associate Professor and Chair of Music at Centre College. He received his doctorate from Yale University with a dissertation on Handel's operas, and his areas of interest include African music, popular music, and German Romanticism. His student ensemble at Centre has toured nationally and internationally, performing a mix of traditional American folk and modern acoustic music. In 2015, he received the Governor's Award in Arts Education, naming him the top arts-educator in Kentucky.
Instructor
Nicholas David Stevens (he/him) is a marketing specialist at Naxos of America, the U.S. branch of the world's largest classical music record label. Prior to working in the music industry, he taught in university and conservatory environments, leading courses on the history and social context of music. He earned the PhD in musicology at Case Western Reserve University in 2017. As a researcher and music journalist, Stevens has published essays in Opera Quarterly, Van Magazine, I Care if You Listen, and the book Thomas Adès Studies. Stevens currently lives in Indianapolis, where he plays French horn and alto horn in informal community ensembles.
Instructor
Graham Peterson is an independent scholar and musician. He holds degrees in history and ethnomusicology from the University of New Hampshire and the University of Washington respectively. His research centers on issues in popular music, critical race theory, and music in media. Graham's research has been presented at national conferences for the Society for Ethnomusicology and the Society for American Music. In addition to his scholarly pursuits, Graham is also an active guitarist and has performed with ensembles in the Greater Boston Area, Seattle, and Cleveland.
What's Next?
When taken for credit, Music, Self, and Society can be applied towards the completion of these related programs:
Related Certificate Programs
Related Degree Majors
Questions?
Contact our Academic Advisors by phone at 1-866-BERKLEE (U.S.), 1-617-747-2146 (INT'L), or by email at advisors@online.berklee.edu.
