Universiteit Leiden

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Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA)

PRE-Class Popular Music: Selling Rebellion

The course Popular Music: Selling Rebellion offers a unique opportunity to explore the popular music world from the point of view of its relation to both politics and the industry.

Popular Music: Selling Rebellion

Singer-songwriters, punk headbangers, sharp-tongued rappers: what all of them have in common is a history of social commitment that defines their musical styles. Incidentally, they also share a complicated relationship with the commercial apparatus that produces and distributes their musical work. This course offers a unique opportunity to explore the popular music world from the point of view of its relation to both politics and the industry. There is a sense in which 'popular' means that which is liked by the majority, but sometimes it also means that which runs against the grain of ‘adult’ cultures and other expressions of the mainstream. The development of subcultures and musical scenes in resistance to the ‘status quo’ is intertwined with a powerful element of defiance and rebellion that is worth discussing at length. To that end, students will explore issues of identity, meaning, inequality and political economy to better understand the various facets of popular music as a field. This course provides new insights into these matters by listening to popular songs with a critical ear, by tuning into current trends and actual cases in light of key cultural theories.

PRE-Classes

De Pre-University Classes (PRE- Classes) have been specifically developed for pupils who need a scientific challenge in addition to their VWO education and already want to experience what it means to be a student. ACPA will provide the PRE-Class- Popular Music and PRE-Class Practicum Musicae in 2020/2021. For more information: mail to acpa@hum.leidenuniv.nl.

 

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