Dear Parent or Guardian,
I am glad that your student is going to be in my class this year. I love being a teacher and I can’t wait to share my passion for the History of Popular Music with your daughter/son. Because this is an elective, your daughter/son chose to be in this class and is likely passionate about music and interested to see how their favorite artists from today link to the recording artists of the past. I know that your student will learn a great deal in my class if they are committed to success by working hard to achieve high marks on many thoughtful assignments, challenging class discussions and regularly administered tests. In order to be successful in this class your student will need to be self-motivated, have very few absences and actively participate.
At another, deeper level, by placing this tradition of popular music in its historic context, the class will look at the problematic and interrelated issues of music, business, politics, gender, race, class, and culture from the post WW2 era to our modern day . There are five major themes around which the class turns. The first is the importance of African-American culture to the origin and development of rock and roll. The second is the effect of demographic shifts and population growth during the postwar era. Economic issues— majors vs. independent record companies—form a third theme through which we will look at rock and roll. The fourth focus is on the technological innovations that spread through popular music and how those on the cutting edge continually reinvent the music making process. Finally youth culture and the cycles & experiences of popular culture through the decades are central to this class.
This class requires that your student does a great deal of listening to music and watching performances from many artists. Because Rock & Roll has always been the music of rebels, counter-cultural political figures and dissenters: there will be topics discussed in class that will require collegiate maturity and perspective. The material covered in class might challenge your student’s assumptions and provoke them to analyze and share their thoughts verbally and in writing. They will hear, think about and discuss different types of music and the reasons the artists behind the music were motivated to address those topics. Students can struggle with this because up until now they may have only casually listened to music. They will now be asked to hear music on deeper levels. Learning about the History of Popular Music will have names, events and vocabulary to memorize but more importantly it will require your student to listen to volumes of music and apply their musical observations to form arguments and frame discussions out loud in, on tests and even in essays.
The most important skill a student can learn in our modern world is critical thinking. Your student will be challenged to evaluate sources and apply what they have learned in class to not only assignments but also to the real world that they need to be productive members of. This class will empower students to use a medium with which they are somewhat familiar with (popular music) to examine less well-known issues and historical forces that are intrinsic to the American and British postwar musical experience. Attendance and follow though are essential to your student’s success in this class.
Let’s have a great year!
Mr. Johnson