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2010/1 Module Catalogue
 Module Code: MUS3022 Module Title: ROCK TRACK POETICS
Module Provider: Music and Sound Recording Short Name: MU3.RTP20
Level: HE3 Module Co-ordinator: MOORE A Prof (Music Record)
Number of credits: 20 Number of ECTS credits: 10
 
Module Availability

Autumn Semester
Assessment Pattern
Components of Assessment
Method(s)
Percentage weighting
Presentation
Assessed presentation, making a theorised interpretation of one track.
50%
Coursework
Written-up account and critique of one class session. 
One essay on an aspect of interpretation theory.
50%
Module Overview
Prerequisites/Co-requisites

Pass in Level HE2 Popular Song Analysis
Module Aims

To develop students’ interpretative faculties with respect to a range of genres of popular music, and to increase the degree of subtlety and cognisance of cultural location in students’ understanding.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this module, you should be able to:
  • Make an interpretation of any track with a high degree of confidence;
  • Identify and discuss the theoretical basis for such interpretations;
Module Content
  •                          A range of semiotic approaches to interpretation;
  •                      Critiques and defences of ‘unmediated’ meaning;
  •                      Issues of authenticity and intertextuality;
  •                      Concepts related to the persona.
Methods of Teaching/Learning
10 two-hour seminars. The basic material for the module will be found in the tutor’s Song Means. Plenary sessions will consist of: seminars on theory discussed therein, illustrated by prepared student work; student presentations on aspects of interpretation; and on complete tracks.
 
Time outside class should be spent principally on preparing for presentations, understanding interpretations within the literature, analysing the intellectual basis for such interpretations, and making sense of the intellectual basis for the interpretations the class develops.
Selected Texts/Journals
Required Reading:

Allan F. Moore (in preparation): Song Means. This exists as a manuscript draft which will be made available to all students and provides extensive coverage of the curriculum.

 
Brackett, David, 2000: Interpreting popular music; (Cambridge: Cambridge UP)
 
Covach, John, and Boone, Graeme (eds.), 1997: Understanding rock; (Oxford: Oxford UP)
 
Moore, Allan F, 2001:  Rock: the primary text; 2nd edition (Ashgate)
 
Moore, Allan F, 2002: Analysing popular music: and end-of-the-century perspective; (Cambridge: Cambridge UP)
 
Zak III, Albin, 2001: The poetics of rock; (California UP)
 
Additional Reading:
 
Dettmar, Kevin & Richey, William (eds.) 1999: Reading rock and roll (Columbia University Press)
 
Everett, Walter (ed.) 2000: Expression in Pop-Rock Music (Garland).
 
Frith, Simon 1998: Performing rites (Oxford University Press).
 
Frith, Simon et al (eds.) 2001: The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock (Cambridge University Press).
 
Gracyk, Theodore 1996: Rhythm and noise (I.B.Tauris).
 
Griffiths, Dai 2003: ‘From lyric to anti-lyric: analyzing the words in pop song’ in Allan F. Moore (ed.): Analyzing Popular Music (Cambridge University Press).
 
Hawkins, Stan 2002: Settling the pop score (Ashgate).
 
Horner, Bruce & Swiss, Thomas (eds.) 1999: Key terms in popular music and culture (Blackwell).
 
Jungr, Barb, 2003: ‘Vocal expression in the blues and gospel’ in Allan F. Moore (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Blues and Gospel Music (Cambridge University Press).
 
Marsh, Dave 1989: The heart of rock and soul (Penguin).
 
Moore, Allan F. 2002: ‘Authenticity as authentication’; Popular Music 21/2, pp.209-223.
 
Moylan, William, 2002: The Art of Recording (Focal).
 
Shuker, Roy, 1998: Key concepts in popular music (Routledge).
 
Tagg, Philip, n.d.: Introductory notes to the semiotics of music;
 
 
Tagg, Philip and Clarida, Bob, 2003: Ten Little Title Tunes (Mass Media Music Scholars’ Press).
 
Toynbee, Jason, 2000: Making popular music (Edward Arnold).
Last Updated

19.5.2010