See also a discussion of our kickoff song. The course will have two components: weekly listening, reading and discussion assignments, and an ongoing public-facing writing project.
Category Archives: Music
I decided what song I’m going to start my History of 20th Century American Popular Music class with
Content warning: this post includes offensive imagery. Way down upon the Swanee River by Dr. Ethan Hein It’s racist down there Read on Substack One of my tasks for the next two weeks is to put together my syllabus for NYU’s new music history class on 20th century American popular music. To start the semester off, I …
My Favorite Things update
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens by Dr. Ethan Hein Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens Read on Substack Last week I was at the International Society for Music Education conference, which is by a wide margin the biggest academic conference I have ever been to. I presented about teaching pop music theory …
Teaching Pop Music Analysis for Non-Majors
I am teaching two new NYU classes this fall. One of them is History of 20th Century American Popular Music, which I wrote about recently. The other is Pop Music Analysis for Non-Majors. I enjoy teaching new classes, even though they require a lot more work than teaching an existing class. The history class takes …
Continue reading “Teaching Pop Music Analysis for Non-Majors”
The Night Has a Thousand Eyes
The album Coltrane’s Sound begins explosively. There’s a single-note saxophone pickup, and then bang, straight into the full band playing a big, bright latin tune. A few seconds in, the feel changes to swing, then back to latin. Sometimes the chords are pedaled, floating and modal; other times they seem like regular functional circle-of-fifths changes, …
Teaching the history of 20th century American popular music
In the fall, I’m teaching a new music history class at NYU on 20th century American popular music. This is not a history of rock. When the department says “20th century”, they mean the entire 20th century. We don’t get to Elvis until after the midterm. The most difficult part is going to be the …
Continue reading “Teaching the history of 20th century American popular music”
How to learn to jam
Improvisation is the easiest and the hardest thing in music. Little kids do it effortlessly, while world-class performers and composers find it terrifying. I am a confident improvisor, but it took me a few decades to get here. Now I’m teaching classrooms full of undergrads to do it, which means coming up with more of …
More people should be listening to Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine
Most of the music I write about ranges from well known to iconic. I am not one of these people who takes pleasure in knowing about obscurities that other people don’t. However, I do have one intense fandom for a couple of guys who you are likely not to have heard of: Tim Eriksen and …
Continue reading “More people should be listening to Tim Eriksen and Peter Irvine”
That one weird chord in “Sir Duke”
You can feel it all over by Dr. Ethan Hein You can feel it all over people Read on Substack We’re coming up on the 50th anniversary of Songs in the Key of Life’s release, and I plan to put in some quality musicology on it. I’m starting now, with a look at a single …
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
I have mentioned the Beatles on the podcast before, but this is the first episode entirely about one of their songs. It will probably be the first of many. Blackbird singing in the dead of night by Dr. Ethan Hein Take these broken wings and learn to fly Read on Substack