Instructions
Blog Posts: Beginning in Week 3, you will work together to create a blog, which will help shape our intellectual journey. You will sign up for TWO days (in different weeks), on which you commit to writing a lead blog post. Your post should be roughly one page in length and respond thoughtfully and substantively to the assigned materials. In addition, your post should include at least one properly formatted reference and at least one discussion question. To reference a textual source, use an internal citation [“Music is boring and meaningless,” (Plato, 56)]. To reference an audio or video source, be sure to include the time stamp [Beethoven then takes a dark turn (Ninth Symphony, 4th Mvt., 3:44)].
Over the course of the semester, you must also write 12 comments responding to your colleagues’ lead posts. (You are welcome to write more!) All posts are due by 10pm the night before class, so I have time to read and consider them before we meet. This is your blog, and it will have a big impact on the direction we take in our classroom discussions. Please be creative, have fun, and keep it respectful!
Leading Discussion: As part of this assignment, on ONE of your lead blog post days (the day with a star), you will take a turn leading our classroom discussion. To complete this assignment, you will need to prepare some contextual information about the assigned source, which you will present in class, as well as about 10 discussion questions. I will gladly meet with you in advance to discuss your lesson plan. This meeting is voluntary.
Schedule
Week 3: Socialist Realism
Sept 12: Soviet Musical Nationalism
Mason Secreti
Week 4: Late Stalinism
Sept. 17: Musical Scandals
Sydney Kightlinger
Sept 19: Musical Prizes
Kate Sullivan
Week 5: Weimar: Sex and Satire
Sept. 24: Berlin Cabaret
*Sydney Kightlinger
Sept. 26: The Blue Angel
Marissa Whitby
Week 6: Nazi Cultural Policy
Oct. 1: Jazz and Three-Penny Opera
Callie Yowler
Oct. 3: “German” Music
______________________
Week 7: Making Claims, Making Do
Oct. 10: Beethoven in Germany
Kailee Havrda
Week 9: Youth, Cold War East
Oct. 24: Soviet jazz and bards
Amanda Fitzpatrick
Week 10: Youth in the Cold War West
Oct. 29: Soviet rock and roll
*Callie Yowler
Oct. 31: French and German Protest Songs
*Mason Secreti
Week 11: Music and Identity
Nov. 5: Glam rock
*Marissa Whitby
Nov. 7: Punk rock
*Abbie Abraham
Week 12: Music at the Breaking Point
Nov. 14: Paul Simon’s Graceland
*Kate Sullivan
Week 13: Collapsing Boundaries
Nov. 19: The Bulgarian Women’s Choir
*Amanda Fitzpatrick
Nov. 21: Post-Soviet Fantasies
*Kailee Havrda
Week 15: Eurovision
Dec. 5: Eurovision
Abbie Abraham
Week 16: Tourists and Refuges
Dec. 10: Techno-Tourism, SOAS Arabic Band
_____________________