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While much of the seminal music in the American tradition is instrumental, especially in Classical music and Jazz, most non-musicologists take recourse to lyrics to find an inroad into understanding music. Lyrics can be bemusing, vague, mysterious and often just silly fun; and in the context of many songs, they are often unintelligibly sung. Are lyrics just bad poetry as many claim? That is what we will explore in the course of our seminar. We will be taking an historic approach, beginning with 19th Century Minstrelsy and folk music and work our way through American popular musics to the 21st Century. As lyrics are contextualized in song, we will also be listening to a good deal of music to also discuss how the music itself underscores the words. |
