Dual Enrollment
General Education Credit: Elective
College Credit: 3
This communication course explores the history of rock (and pop) music—its significant performers, producers, recordings, performances, and cultural identity, with the focus on the decades of the 1950s and 1960s.
It’s NOT a music course, per se, but we will be listening to a lot of music as we consider the effects of recorded sound on popular culture. Thus, this is a quintessential "communication and culture" course. We will study the origin and growth of the recording industry and music business, consider the impact new technology had (and continues to have) on the development of popular music and examine the mutual influences of rock ‘n’ roll music and other mass media (film, television, journalism, advertising, etc.).
By the end of this course, students will:
Be able to broadly describe the history and development of rock ‘n’ roll music, its technological, regional, and cultural influences, and synthesize how all that has influenced the cultural history of the United States. Students also will be able to recognize and compare different styles of music such as blues, bluegrass, country, gospel, jazz, and various genres of rock ‘n’ roll.
Additional goals are to improve critical thinking skills, ability to discern important information, and note-taking skills, all of which are useful in a broad range of disciplines.
Exams and Grades
Your final grade for the course will be based on 4 exams on a 600-point scale.
Satisfied High School Graduation Requirement Subject: Elective
High School Credit: 0.5