ClassInfo

This course integrates several University-wide SLO's. A student who completes the course will acquire
"skills for effective citizenship and life-long learning." In addition to communication skills, the course offers students a deeper understanding of collaborative communication processes within group settings and insight into the media industry and music production processes. By creating musical media, students learn "skills for effective citizenship" through direct experience, creative experimentation, and critical reflection. Students learn to be critical creators, active citizens rather than passive media consumers.

Musical communication takes place on multiple levels. Music is aural, visual, textual, emotional, individual, interpersonal, and communal. There is no single or simple way to understand, experience, or explain the complex phenomena we group together under the term "music." The exploration of music can teach us a great deal about what we are as a species, as individuals, and as communities. The main objective of COMM 4221 is to investigate what popular music means, to discover how music functions as a means of communication, and to explore music's potential for cultural expression and community building. In other words, COMM
4221 helps students to "understand the role of creativity, innovation, discovery, and expression across disciplines."

Therefore, to learn about musical communication we must not only read about it and listen to it, but also experience it more directly and deeply. Each week, as we discuss relevant topics and published research articles from various perspectives, you will gain the additional perspective of the "participant observer," someone who actually makes music. As such, 4221 helps students learn how to "identify, define, and solve problems" rather than merely critique textual outcomes from the comfortable distance of a passive media consumer.

Students enroll in music and popular culture courses for many different reasons. Some students are interested in performing careers, while others would like to produce or market music. A business major might be interested in music as a marketing tool. An education minor might want to explore music's pedagogical potential. However, most students have no plans to apply what they learn in the course; they are simply interested in learning more about popular music. There are as many learning goals and interests as there are students. Because of that wide diversity in student interests, orientations, and goals, COMM 4221
explores popular music as social communication, broadly conceived. Assignments are designed to assist students in individual and collective exploration of popular music, while challenging them to link course learning to their specific, personal interests. It is hoped that COMM 4221 students will use the resulting knowledge toward positive ends in their lives and the lives of others.

Weekly Writing 30%

Discussion Forum 20%

Music Production Project 30%

Final Research Paper 20%