Carolina Courses Online

MUSC 144: Country Music

Course Home Page Blackboard Instructor's E-mail
Course Overview Required Materials About the Instructor
Discussion Forums Exams Concert Review
Research Paper Grading Course Policies
Bibliography Course Mechanics Schedule

Course Overview

This course explores the history of the country music genre, its significant performers, songwriters, songs, and cultural identity from 1922 to the present. Following a loose chronology, we will trace the evolution of specific musical styles and investigate issues related to culture, performance practice, transmission, and reception. Extensive listening assignments will introduce the distinct musical styles, songwriters, voices, and performers that comprise the genre. Reading assignments cover the relationship of country music to American popular culture, social history, and notions of authenticity. This course will critically evaluate country music's musical content and cultural role; the primary texts for our investigation are the songs themselves.

This course adopts a broad and inclusive understanding of the term “country.” We will explore musical styles that are related to the central tradition of commercial country, even when those styles exist primarily outside the mainstream.

At the end of our studies together, you will be able to

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Required Materials

The required texts for the course are

The texts can be obtained from Friday Center Books & Gifts in person, by ordering online, or by printing and mailing the book order form. You can also purchase these books through most major online bookstores. Used copies are often available at substantially reduced prices.

Additional Required Reading

Additional reading assignments will be made available through UNC's e-reserves. The Course Mechanics section has more information on accessing e-reserves.

Some lessons assign readings available on the Web. You will need the Adobe Reader to read some files in PDF format. You probably have a version of the Adobe Reader installed on your computer already. You can download the latest version free from the Adobe site:

Technical Requirements for the Course

This course requires a high-speed Internet connection, newer versions of Web browsers, and a media player (RealPlayer). To access sound files, you will be required to enter a course-specific user id and password.  Details and complete instructions are on How to Access the Sound Files.

Off-campus students: In addition to the above, you may be required to download special software and configure your computer to connect to the password-protected Listening Web Site. You will find complete instructions on How to Access the Sound Files. See especially Section 4: Can I listen to the music off-campus?

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About the Instructor

Dr. Jocelyn R. Neal

I am an associate professor of music at UNC-Chapel Hill, where I teach courses on music theory and analysis, popular music, rock, and country.  My research focuses broadly on country music, and I am particularly interested in changes in musical style, the boundaries of commercial and folk music, songwriting techniques and forms, and fan culture, especially dance.  I received a BA from Rice University in Houston, Texas, and an MA and PhD from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. 

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Discussion Forums

The materials and ideas we will be exploring require active investment on the part of all students in the course. To facilitate our studies, there will be a weekly discussion forum assignment. All students should post a minimum of one extensive contribution each week and two additional exchanges. There will be questions each week to spark discussion; you may also post other ideas or contributions based on listening and reading.

Most of your learning will take place as you put your thoughts and ideas into words and discuss this music with classmates. You should view the discussion forum as a central component of the course.

An “extensive contribution” is one or two paragraphs, approximately 200–350 words. “Additional exchanges” may be shorter and address more focused ideas.

Your discussion assignments will be graded on the breadth and depth of your contributions, the cohesion of your ideas, the supporting evidence you offer for your ideas, the demonstration of comprehension for major ideas in the course, and your engagement with fellow classmates' ideas. Additional thoughtful posts will improve your grade.

Postings may adopt a first-person tone. Please demonstrate respect for your classmates and the course's subject matter at all times and in all discussion forums. Differences of opinion and opposing viewpoints are welcome as long as they are expressed with professional courtesy and remain focused on the ideas at hand.

Please consider the discussion forum a chance to interact with the music, the readings, and your classmates. Your ideas and contributions form a significant part of the course.

Your extensive contribution is due by 11 pm (Eastern Time) each Wednesday. Your two follow-up contributions and any additional postings will be due by 11 pm (Eastern Time) each Saturday. Late work is not accepted. If you live in a different time zone, please make careful note of the deadlines so that your work is not late.

Our discussion forums are on Blackboard. See Course Mechanics if you need help using Blackboard.

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Exams

This course requires a midterm and a final exam. A major portion of each exam will involve listening to recordings and answering questions about them. To prepare for the exams, it is essential that you study the recordings assigned in each week's listening very carefully. Many students find that making flash cards for the songs is an essential part of preparing for the exams.

For the midterm (one hour), you may not use any external resources—no textbooks, no Web sites, no reference materials, no notes, and no other materials or sources. The midterm consists of three sections:

  1. Identification of recordings, based on the listening assignments from Weeks 1 through 8. You will hear short excerpts (approximately forty-five seconds) of these recordings and be asked basic questions about the song title, artist, approximate year of the recording, key stylistic features (which will be a major focus of our studies), and historical relevance.
  2. Discussion of recordings that were not covered on the listening assignments but that are drawn from the styles we will study in Weeks 1 through 8. You will hear moderate-length excerpts (approximately one minute) of songs and be asked basic questions about the style, probable position in the history of country music, and general characteristics.
  3. Concepts and basic facts: You will be asked brief questions about the key issues, ideas, people, places, styles, events, and concepts that we will be emphasizing in our studies in Weeks 1 through 8.

For the final exam (two hours), you may not use any external resources—no textbooks, no Web sites, no reference materials, no notes, and no other materials or sources. The final consists of four sections:

  1. Identification of recordings, based on the listening assignments from each week after the midterm. The final exam's listening questions are not cumulative from the first half of the semester. You will hear short excerpts (approximately thirty seconds) of these recordings and be asked brief questions about the song's style, recording date, artist, impact, and role in country music's history.
  2. Discussion of recordings that were not covered on the listening assignments from each lesson but are drawn from the styles we will study during the second half of the course. You will hear moderate-length excerpts (approximately one minute) of songs and be asked basic questions about the style, probable position in the history of country music, and general characteristics.
  3. Concepts and basic facts: You will be asked brief questions about the key issues, ideas, people, places, styles, events, and concepts that we will emphasize in our studies.
  4. Essay questions: you will be asked to write two moderate-length essays on questions that address major themes, ideas, topics, and issues from the course.
You will take your exams via Blackboard. Dates and times are listed in the Schedule.

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Concert Review

You must attend a live country music performance. Based on that performance, you will write a concert review that addresses specific aspects of the concert and its relationship to the ideas and topics we will be studying. Details on the concert review assignment are on the Concert Review page.

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Research Paper

There is one research paper for the course, addressing song analysis and cultural meaning. Details are on the Research Paper page.

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Grading

Your course grade is based on the following:

Discussion Forum (weekly assignments) 30 percent
Concert Review 15 percent
Research Paper 20 percent
Midterm Exam 15 percent
Final Exam 20 percent
TOTAL 100 percent

Based on your semester grade (numerical), a letter grade will be assigned as follows:

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Course Policies

Late work is not accepted, and assignment deadline extensions are not granted, except in cases of extenuating circumstances such as family death, documented extended illness, religious observance, and so on. If you are unable to submit your work on time, contact me as soon as possible.

Work Load: you should plan to spend between seven and ten hours per week on the course materials, including listening, reading, participating in the discussion forums, and working on assignments.

Honor Code: All work done in relation to this course is bound by the University's Honor Code. It is essential that you adhere to the principles outlined in the Honor Code at all times.

I encourage you to discuss topics together, talk about your readings and listenings with classmates and colleagues, and engage with the course material as a community of scholars. However, all work that you submit must be your own work. All work that you reference must be cited properly (see Citing Your Sources) and you must adhere strictly to the guidelines of academic scholarship.

Take pride in your work, maintain the integrity of your academic studies, and respect the tradition of scholarly professionalism at all times.

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Bibliography

Any academic undertaking sits in an intellectual framework constructed from the work of scholars, journalists, critics, artists, and other writers. For this course, the Bibliography lists many of the scholarly texts and academic resources on which the framework of the course's ideas are drawn. Many of these books are readily available in university and community libraries. As you work on your research paper and concert review, or if your studies lead you to further curiosities, these texts may provide interesting source materials.

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Course Mechanics

Blackboard

Some of your class components (discussion forums, announcements, exams) are accessed through software called Blackboard, and you will need to log in to Blackboard using a unique identifier known as your UNC Onyen and Onyen password.

There is a link to the Blackboard site in the gray navigation bar at the top of every page in this course. Click on that link, and then use your Onyen to log in to Blackboard. Click on the MUSC 144 link, and you will see navigation buttons on the left side of the screen labeled Announcements, Discussion Forum, and so on.

If you experience problems accessing Blackboard, this is what you should do:

If you have technical problems while using Blackboard, contact Blackboard Help (use the Help button in Blackboard, or call 919-962-HELP).

Library Services and E-reserves

Students enrolled in Carolina Courses Online can access online library resources from the UNC Library System by linking to Library Services for Distance Education Students. This site includes information on using general online reference works as well as accessing e-reserves and e-journals. If you are off-campus, when you click on a restricted library resource (such as e-reserves), you will be prompted to enter your Onyen. If you are unable to access the library's licensed resources, please contact the proxy team for further assistance.

Listening to the Sound Files: Technical Requirements

Because this course is based on the music itself, there is a large listening component to all assignments. The sound files for our weekly listening assignments are on the Listening Web Site. The recordings will not play properly over a modem connection. You will need to locate a computer with high-speed Internet access in order to complete the assignments.

In order to comply with copyright law and University policy, access to the Listening Web Site is restricted. You must enter the course-specific user name and a password to gain access. You will need a media player configured to work with your Web browser to play the sound recordings. Complete information is available on How to Access the Sound Files.

Off-campus access: The Listening Web Site is available only to computers that show a UNC-Chapel Hill on-campus IP address. If you are accessing the site from off campus, you can obtain authorized access in one of two ways. See How to Access the Sound Files: Section 4: Can I listen to music off-campus?

E-mail

All communication from your instructor will go to your UNC Onyen e-mail address (the one that appears when you post to the discussion forum). Off-campus users can access their UNC e-mail using Webmail. You can have your e-mail forwarded to a different e-mail address by clicking “Forward e-mail” at the Onyen Web site.

If you use a filter on your e-mail account, you are responsible for ensuring that it does not prevent you from receiving messages from your instructor, classmates, the course listserv, or Friday Center staff. Hotmail users should be aware that Hotmail will block messages sent from within Blackboard because Blackboard uses “blind carbon copy” to protect privacy. We recommend that you use your UNC Onyen e-mail account rather than forwarding to Hotmail for this course.

Communication

When e-mailing your instructor, please include “MUSC 144” in the subject line, along with a word or two describing the nature of the message. You can expect a response from Dr. Neal within two regular weekdays (not counting weekends or UNC holidays). Please remember to include your full name in the body of the message.

Submitting Assignments

Your research paper and concert review should be e-mailed to your instructor as attachments in Microsoft Word format (.doc). If you cannot save files as .doc, contact your instructor.

It is extremely important for you to save copies of any work you send via e-mail. If your instructor doesn't receive your message, you must have a copy of the e-mail with the attached file, indicating the date sent, to prove that you submitted the assignment on time. It is your responsibility to maintain copies of your sent e-mails as well as the attached files, as there is no way to guarantee that any e-mail message will be delivered. Please check your e-mail software to see how it manages sent and saved messages. Some software automatically deletes messages one month after they have been sent; others only save messages if they are filed in folders; others save messages received but not those sent. You may need to send yourself a copy of your e-mailed assignment at the same time you send it to your instructor, or you may need to print a copy of the e-mail message and any attachments to keep in your paper files. No matter how your system works, make sure you know how to save a copy of all work that you submit to your instructor and that you save the copy for several months beyond the end of the course.

And, finally, remember to keep your in-box cleaned out, too—a full in-box will not accept new messages.

Other Questions

Contact your instructor with questions regarding the content of the course and your progress. (There is an e-mail link at the top of every lesson page.) Please include “MUSC 144” and a word or two about the content of your message in the subject line of your e-mail. Remember to include your full name in the message.

Contact the Instructional Designer at the Friday Center about problems with this Web site, including bad links.

If you have any logistical questions as you work through the course (enrollment, Onyen, credits, withdrawal, and so on), contact the Student Services staff at the Friday Center for Continuing Education (phone 919-962-1134 or 800-862-5669).

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Schedule

Please take note of the start and end dates for each lesson, and remember that your discussion forum posts are due by 11 pm on the last day of each lesson. Click on the link for each lesson to view your assignments and the lecture.

Week 1 Introduction, The Study of Country, and Early Hillbilly Recordings
Week 2 The “Big Bang” of Country Music: Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family
Week 3 The 1930s: Radio Shows, The Singing Cowboy, and Western Swing
Week 4 Honky-Tonk and the Legend of Hank Williams
Week 5 The Birth of Bluegrass; Progressive Bluegrass; Newgrass
Week 6 Rockabilly: Hello, I'm Johnny Cash!; How Nashville Responds
Week 7 Country Goes Uptown: The Nashville Sound
Week 8 Country Heads West: The Bakersfield Sound and California Country Rock (Hybrids of the 1960s)
Midterm Exam Your midterm exam will become available on Blackboard at 8 am. You must complete and submit the exam within one hour from the time you open it. The exam period closes at 11 pm.
Week 9 The Traditionalist Country Sound, with Tammy, Dolly, and Loretta
Week 10 More Traditionalists; Willie Nelson Writes a Song; Outlaw Country and Southern Rock
Week 11 Urban Cowboy, Countrypolitan, and the Neo-Traditionalists
Week 12 The “Class of 1989”: Garth Brooks, Commercial Country, and the Shania Twain Effect
Week 13 How Songs Tell Stories
Week 14 Alt Country, the “O Brother Phenomenon,” and the Dixie Chicks
Week 15 Research days
Week 16 Current Trends, Muzik Mafia, and Country Fan Culture
  Research Paper due
Final Exam Your final exam will become available on Blackboard at 8 am. You must complete and submit the exam within two hours from the time you open it. The exam period closes at 11 pm.