Course: Chapters from the History of Pop Music 2: Rock of the 60s and 70s

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Course title Chapters from the History of Pop Music 2: Rock of the 60s and 70s
Course code KMU/KDPH2
Organizational form of instruction Lecture + Seminar
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study not specified
Semester Winter and summer
Number of ECTS credits 4
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory-optional
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Blüml Jan, Mgr. Ph.D.
Course content
Thematic Areas: General theory and terminology ('non-art' music, modern popular music, rock) Theoretical approaches to rock music (Czech and international scholarship in rock music studies) The origins of rock History and musical analysis The political contexts of rock (the myth of rock authenticity, rockism, censorship, propaganda) Rock subcultures The economic aspects of rock Rock and sexuality Institutions (festivals, magazines) Rock after 2000 Case studies 1-2

Learning activities and teaching methods
Lecture, Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming)
  • Attendace - 26 hours per semester
  • Homework for Teaching - 34 hours per semester
  • Semestral Work - 10 hours per semester
  • Preparation for the Exam - 30 hours per semester
Learning outcomes
The main goal of the course is to understand the key aspects of the phenomenon of rock music. Through selected chapters and case studies students will be acquainted not only with historical, aesthetic, and general as well as music-theoretical problems of rock music, but they will be also familiarised with wider socio-cultural meanings and functions of rock. During the course students will discover basic style-genre areas of rock (rock and roll, the Mersey sound, hard rock, art rock, jazz, rock, heavy metal, etc.) and their main representatives, as well as political, sociological, economic, psychological, religious and other contexts of the key segment of the musical culture of last fifty years.
Student will gain knowledge about the complex phenomenon of rock music. Student will understand the specifics of each rock style, he will be able to define these styles, to compare them and to put them into musical context.
Prerequisites
Student should be generally acquainted with the history of music, aesthetic and sociological categories.

Assessment methods and criteria
Written exam, Student performance

Attendance, thorough knowledge of literature and the issues discussed in the course of the lectures, at least 70% in the final exam test
Recommended literature
  • BLÜML, Jan. (2017). Progresivní rock: světová a československá scéna ve vybraných reflexích. Praha.
  • COVACH, John. What's That Sound?: An Introduction to Rock and Its History. W. W. Norton & Company.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): Musicology (2019) Category: Theory and history of arts - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): Musicology (2026) Category: Theory and history of arts - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): Musicology (2022) Category: Theory and history of arts - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -
Faculty: Faculty of Arts Study plan (Version): Musicology (2024) Category: Theory and history of arts - Recommended year of study:-, Recommended semester: -