M-JP-MHS

Community

2

All first-year students

20

One 120-minute lesson per week

40 hours

16 hours

Admitted to ArtEZ Jazz & Pop.

See Competencies Matrix.

Developing a broad understanding of jazz and popular music history as well as the analytic skill to identify music based on stylistics and genre. Developing a critical mindset and argumentative reasoning.

This course is related to the main subject course.

This course introduces students to various elements that form a general understanding of jazz and popular music history. Starting by introducing earlier influences such as traditional music and spirituals and discussing the blues, the course traces the steps of influential performers, improvisers, composers, songwriters, conductors, and earworms that have made their mark on jazz and pop history. The lessons will be lecture-based, following the jazz and pop traditions simultaneously, discussing concepts, terms, songs, and sounds that have shaped history. Students will be encouraged to take part in class discussions where the aim is to train a critical and analytical mindset and argumentative reasoning.

Lectures, class discussions, and feedback.

List of songs.
Handouts.
Dancing in the Street. Created by Robert Palmer, BBC, 1996.
Gillett, Charlie. The Sound of the City. Da Capo Press, 1996.
Gioia, Ted. The History of Jazz. Oxford University Press, 2021.
Jazz. Created by Ken Burns, PBS, 2001.
Stanley, Bob. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Norton, 2014.
The Girls in the Band. Directed by Judy Chaikin, performances by Geri Allen, Jessie Bailey, and Jane Ira Bloom, Artist Tribe and One Step Productions, 2011.

Attendance and participation in class discussions.
Listening to music.
Assignments:
Song and reasoning: Cover a song from the song list, either copying genre-defining stylistics or arranging it in another style/making it your own. Make a simple recording and hand it in along with a short text (300–500 words) discussing the process. Students work together on the song in groups, but each student hands in the text individually.
Listening diary: write short texts about six songs from the song list.
Presentation: Give a short presentation of a chosen song during class.

Song and reasoning (50%).
Listening diary (30%).
Presentation (20%).

Students should have mastered the elements described under Contents.

The student has completed this module if being awarded a minimum grade of 5.5 at
the end of the second semester.

Assignments are assessed and graded by the teacher.

See the Education and Assessment Plan.