Dr. Charles S. Fairchild
Lecturer
Department of Music
University of Sydney
Office: S404 Seymour Centre
Phone: (02) 9036 5224
charles.fairchild@arts.usyd.edu.au

Welcome to 'Popular Music' (MUSC 2054)

The Point of this Unit of Study

Popular music suffuses our society. We hear it in movies, on television, on the radio, in shopping malls, we 'share' it on the internet and we spend billions every year buying it. How do we approach the study of such a huge and ridiculously varied phenomenon? First, we have to look at and listen to what is right in front of us. What does the music sound like? How do the creators present themselves? Most importantly, what do musicians actually say about their own music? Second, we have to examine the specific cultural contexts and traditions through which particular styles and genres have been created. Very often a remarkable amount of influential music has come from a particular place at a particular time. Finally, we need to examine how the music industry and a constantly evolving technological context shape our experience of popular music. You do not need to have prior knowledge of notation, music theory or the ability to perform music to successfully complete this class. You merely have to be willing to learn to write clearly about music and learn how to listen to music carefully and analytically.

Thematic Clusters

This class will be organized around four thematic clusters and all of the readings during those weeks will relate to these themes:

I. Aesthetics -For the purposes of this class, aesthetics will be the study of how and why we value the music that we do. We will be asking how make judgments about popular music and most importantly, what standards we can use to evaluate popular music on its own terms, not on the terms used for art, classical or traditional music. Finally, we will examine the roots and origins of many of the elements we still hear in popular music today.

II. Places -It is hard to underestimate the importance of place in the development of specific styles of popular music. We will examine the ways in which specific kinds of music flourished in specific places at specific times. It will important to understand the social history behind the music and to understand how local scenes work to produce musical history.

III. Spectacles -A spectacle is a way of presenting a version of the real world through a distorted lens. We will examine two very different spectacles, 19th Century minstrelsy and the 'Idol' phenomenon, to see the ways in which each use sometimes crude stereotypes to express a vision of the world.

IV. Technologies -One of the defining characteristics of popular music is that it has been intimately bound up with recording technology almost inherently. We will look at recent changes in music making technologies that have shaken the music industry to its foundations.