Backwards History of Pop Music

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Overview and Purpose

In this course, you will get to learn the history of popular music as it has changed through the last few decades and beyond. The class will be focused on music that was popular at its time, such as Jazz from the 20s-40s, rock from the 50s-70s, grunge in the 90s, and electro-pop today. However, the course starts with today's music, so you will be able to connect with your own music that you engage with everyday, analyzing it for rhythms, melodies, chord progressions, modulations, etc. This will lead to you being able to create your own compositions that follow similar compositional strategies. As you progress backwards through the different eras of popular music, you will learn what made the music popular, similar characteristics between the popular music of the time, and then explore ways to create their own music that reflects that music. This will also give you the opportunity to research famous musicians from the various time periods and be able to understand the similarities and differences to their favorite artists now.

Needs Assessment

The educational problem or opportunity
- The opportunity that this mini-course provides is an opportunity for students to connect with music that they already know and love and use it as a vessel for learning things like music theory and music history. The problem in our system is that many educators view popular music as an unserious type of music that is too repetitive, so they focus their classes on classical, orchestral, and other older styles of music, when this can often lead to unengaged students as they don’t feel any kind of connection to the music they are analyzing/creating in class. This mini-course provides them with an opportunity to analyze and create replicas of music they love, leading to more engagement and likely a better product.
Analysis of gaps in term of know vs. need to know (reality vs. ideal)
- Need to Know: notes on staff, major vs. minor scales, pentatonic scales, key signatures, triads and 7 chords, chord progressions and how they are built, basic guitar chords, basic drum patterns, instruments in various ensembles (rock band, orchestra, marching band, jazz quartet, electronic music, etc.), notes on keyboard, specifics on musical genres
- Nice to Know: Modes, various tetrachords and chords with 5 or more notes, bar chords on guitar, chord substitution techniques, how to play wind/string instruments
Existing efforts to address this gap
- Tagg (1982) discusses the process of studying popular music to gain knowledge about theory, but also approaches it from the lens of how many times, music educators don’t see the benefit of analyzing popular music. When discussing the student point of view, he states that we often teach students “pupils whose musical outlook has been crippled by those who present 'serious music' as if it could never be 'fun' and 'fun music' as though it could never have any serious implications” (p. 39). I think this mini-course tries to address a similar problem with the system we currently have in place by using popular music to not only engage the students, but also show them that there are things that can be learned from every kind of music, and that every kind of music can also be fun.
- In this study conducted by Walker (2005), he views the perception of current high schoolers vs. the perception of older people (70+) on music. Many of the high schoolers stated that they preferred popular music to classical, and the article explores how the pressures of the media and their peers may affect their view on music. The older generation tends to prefer classical music due to their upbringing and the way music was taught to them in school, mostly in formal settings learning technique and repertoire, which was heavily rooted in 18th and 19th century music. When discussing why popular music may be good to include in schooling, he states that it is “not so much the music but rather the context and level of engagement that might account for such choices” (p. 56). As the mini-course intends to challenge, using popular music may help to engage the students and will help them have a more accepting view on classical music when it can be compared to music they already know and enjoy.
Intent statement: how will this mini-course help your participants address their needs?
- This mini-course will help to show educators and students that popular music from all generations can have elements that can be educational. It will help to engage more students in their music classes and give them the music theory tools they need to express creativity by making their own music in the style of the popular music of other generations.

Performance Objectives

After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to:

After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to identify the genre(s) of popular music from every decade dating back to at least 1900. They will be able to identify things that were specific to each genre, such as chord progressions, instrumentation, vocal/instrumental techniques, or rhythmic patterns.
After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to analyze a piece of music for key, chord progressions, melodic ideas, and rhythmic patterns.
After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to utilize recording equipment and DAWs to create a recording with multiple tracks.
After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to compose original pieces of music based on the popular music of the time periods discussed in the course.

Course Units

Before taking this course, the learner:

Should have a general interest or some background in music.
Have an understanding of how to use a basic Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).
Should be willing and vulnerable to create and have their creations judged by peers.
(For educators) Should be a secondary general music teacher who is looking for ways to engage students and give them opportunities to create and analyze music.

Unit 1: Learning the History of Popular Music, Backwards

After this unit, the learner will:

Be able to identify all different eras of popular music dating back to the 1800s.
Be able to identify the elements of different eras of popular music, including things like rhythmic patterns, instrumentation, and use of scales/melodic ideas.
Be able to make comparisons between popular music of the different eras and find similarities and differences.
Be able to analyze the societal impact of popular music during the different eras.

Unit 2: Breaking Down Popular Music to its Theory Building Blocks

After this unit, the learner will:

Be able to analyze music for its structure (form).
Be able to utilize basic music theory principles, such as notes, chords, scales, key signatures, and intervals.
Be able to identify chord progressions, rhythmic patterns, and melodic patterns in popular music examples by ear or from notation.
Understand how chords and chord progressions are used and manipulated in the different eras.
Compare and contrast melodies, rhythms, and chord progressions from the different eras.

Unit 3 : Creating Popular Music from All Eras

After this unit, the learner will:

Be able to utilize a basic DAW to create multi-track recordings either alone or with others.
Understand how to interpret stylistic choices from various popular music using an instrument.
Be able to utilize knowledge of theory and history to create music that would fit in with the popular music of other eras.
Be able to write melodies, drum patterns, and chord progressions that relate to a chosen era of popular music.
Be able to execute basic playing on guitar, drums, bass, and piano.