MUSA 104 African American Music

Previously MUSC 108. Open to all interested students, this course will examine the heritage of African American music from the colonial era through the jazz age to the present. Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to identify the characteristic elements of African music, trace the development of the major idioms such as religious and ragtime music, identify important African American composers and performers, and articulate the role of African American music in ritual and ceremony, as transmitter of culture and as a social and political tool.

Credits

3

Hours Weekly

3

Course Objectives

1. Recognize major works of selected African American composers.
2. Identify and organize information and ideas related to African American Music in the following categories: main characteristics, vocal devices, African instruments and their Diasporan derivatives, and African elements in African Latin, African Caribbean, and African American music.
3. Critically analyze and consider the contributions of African American music to the world of music, and in particular, the music of the United States.
4. Generate and address ideas about how music functions in African and American Diasporan ritual and ceremonies within social and cultural contexts.
5. Discuss and reflect upon the social, political, and religious functions of music in African and Diasporan cultures and its effects on today’s culture.
6. Offer an informed critique of live performances of Black music and musicians.

Course Objectives

1. Recognize major works of selected African American composers.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

2. Identify and organize information and ideas related to African American Music in the following categories: main characteristics, vocal devices, African instruments and their Diasporan derivatives, and African elements in African Latin, African Caribbean, and African American music.

   This objective is a course Goal Only

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Other (please fill out box below)
   • Test/Quiz

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT1
3. Critically analyze and consider the contributions of African American music to the world of music, and in particular, the music of the United States.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments
   • Project

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT3
4. Generate and address ideas about how music functions in African and American Diasporan ritual and ceremonies within social and cultural contexts.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric
   • Activities/artifact grading

   Critical Thinking

   • CT2
5. Discuss and reflect upon the social, political, and religious functions of music in African and Diasporan cultures and its effects on today’s culture.

   Learning Activity Artifact

   • Writing Assignments
   • Essay

   Procedure for Assessing Student Learning

   • Critical and Creative Thinking Rubric

   Critical Thinking

   • CT4
6. Offer an informed critique of live performances of Black music and musicians.

   This objective is a course Goal Only