American Music

Student Learning Outcomes, Goals, Objectives:

Students successfully completing this course will be able to:

• Identify the musical characteristics (form, instrumentation, and rhythmic structures) of various styles/genres of American music and explain how musical form relates to function.
• Analyze American musical practices in historical context, drawing on multiple perspectives to examine their intersections with sociocultural issues and concepts.
• Apply historical and historiographical approaches to analyze and evaluate primary and secondary sources representing divergent perspectives.
• Construct and support with appropriate evidence an independent, historically grounded argument about American music that engages with existing scholarly perspectives.

Course Grading Information:

Activity/Performance Measure	Percentage/Points
Participation (reading circles etc)	20%
Reading Responses and Essay	25%
Quizzes and reflection	25%
Final Project	30%

Grading Scale for the Course

Percentage	Letter Grade
93–100	A
90–92	A-
87–89	B+
83–86	B
80–82	B-
77–79	C+
73–76	C
70–72	C-
66–69	D+
63–65	D
60–62	D-
59 or below	F

Attendance/Participation:

Attendance at all class sessions is strongly encouraged but attendance itself is not graded.

Participation: There will be about ten classes over the course of the semester in which participation will be graded. In these classes, students will assess their own participation based on a rubric provided. Students will be expected to prepare for and participate in class discussions/ activities/ reading circles. If you do not attend class on a participation day, you will be given a zero. At the end of the semester, the instructor will remove the two lowest participation grades (including zeros).

Course Materials Purchased by the Students:

No course materials are required.