A follow-up complement to the first-year required Creative Entrepreneurs in Historical Context course that focused on entrepreneurs and producers, Artists and Audiences in Historical Context considers the history of popular (& semi-popular) music through the lens of iconic performers/recording artists and their audiences and communities, with special attention to issues of space and geography. Here are the central questions this class asks: Why do we have performing musicians and recording artists? What work do they do in the world, and how have our conceptions of the artist changed over time? And why do artists continue to need audiences? What role do fans and listeners play in our culture and politics? As we tackle these questions, we’ll look at how artists and audiences have been impacted over the decades by emerging media and technologies; we’ll look at auteur theory, crowd theory and cultural conceptions of musical genius; we’ll address taste and the rockism/poptimism debates; the pervasive role of stardom/celebrity as it determines what we might call today’s “pop industrial complex;” we’ll talk about issues of freedom of expression and political activism; we’ll think about the artist’s role in and against forces like war, terrorism and various forms of state and religious repression; and the artist’s struggle to reach audiences in, and against, categories of classification like genre and format. Artists and Audiences in Historical Context is an intensive reading and writing course, perhaps the most intensive one you will take at REMU: students read critical and historical writing about a diverse range of performers/recording artists, and then practice critical/creative writing themselves. Working with assistant editors/mentors as well as the instructor, students will be expected to learn how music writing improves through drafting, editing and stylistic refinement. Weekly audio/video playlists will supplement the reading and writing.

Undergraduate