Course Description

In this seminar we will listen to songs that tell stories. More particularly we will focus upon songs that address deep human issues. We will listen to songs of love, that great source of transcendence and pain. We will also listen to songs that address the yearning for justice when things between human beings go wrong. Justice has to do with the restoration of balance. Love is, for humans, the animating impulse of the life force. Love is so powerful that it creates challenges. Human beings must learn to somehow manage and channel that force. We must learn when, where, with whom, and under what circumstances we may express our love. Our songs are about things that are difficult to resolve. We listen to songs and feel less alone with our impulses and feelings. Our songs are different from the songs of birds and the calls of other animals. Justice is a state of balance and harmony we strive to achieve in our relations with one another. When things are out of sorts and people treat one another badly, we create songs. These songs express a yearning for resolution, redemption, and, sometimes, retributWe will look at songs as artifacts of the culture(s) that produce them. Songs are like physical objects. They can persist beyond the lifetime of the people that create and use them. We will focus on songs that tell stories of love (in love’s myriad forms) and songs that document the quest for justice. We will examine these songs, how they entertain, engage, and inform. We will look at the dimensions of the stories embedded in the songs - character development, plot, voice, etc. all the elements of fiction and narrative non-fiction. We will research these songs and the stories they tell in terms of what they reveal about culture and the human condition. Starting with the Odyssey, an epic, long-form ballad, we will examine many stories that people have chosen to address in song. Stories told in song are compressed, reduced to their barest fundamentals. Popular songs necessarily reflect the values and value conflicts of the people who sing and listen. We will hear and address some ancient folk ballads as well as love songs and songs touching upon the quest for justice in contemporary pop culture genres (rock, hip hop, Americana, C&W, etc.).     

Texts

Much of the content for this class will be in the form of songs.  The instructor will provide songs in MP3 format along with lyric files in MS Word format for common assignments

Readings will include: The Odyssey by Homer – about half of the text is assigned. Also: The Rose and the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad – Greil Marcus, Sean Wilentz. Assigned articles that will be available online.

Requirements

• An essay focused on the literary or musicological characteristics of a particular song(s) (5 pages)
• An essay focused on the cultural values embedded in a particular song(s) (5 pages)
• A research project involving a proposal (2 pages), a research paper (7 pages plus bibliography), and a presentation (5 minutes). There will be a creative option to the paper. The research may provide, for example, the background materials needed for a performance, video, or graphic art piece.
• Students will be expected to participate in all discussions and class activities and to maintain a professional demeanor.

About the Instructor(s): Michael Thomas

Michael Thomas is an Emeritus (retired) faculty member in Honors. An anthropologist, he became interested in ballads (story songs) through his work in anthropology and his endeavors in writing and publishing fiction – novels and short stories.