Course Director: Ray Williams
E-mail: Ray Williams (Please read these pages before emailing)

Course Description and Content : This course explores in depth the range of African-American popular music that came into existence during the 1920’s. Numerous styles and genres will be studied from various points of view (musicological, sociological & theoretical) and a wide variety of structural forms and musical techniques will be analyzed. The historical context as relates to the development of this music will be explored. The experiences of the personalities will also be studied in an effort to gain greater understanding of their artistic development.

Schedule: Classes meets each Wednesday as follows:

DAY	TIME	LOCATION	INSTRUCTOR
TUESDAY	7:00PM - 9:00PM	MOODLE ECLASS	Ray Williams

Required Text: FA1520-SongBook.PDF Various readings may be suggested.

Requirements: Notebook, pen and ears. Pencil & Eraser for Tests. This course has no text book.

Academic Honesty: Please note the Senate Policy on academic honesty found on the York website here. Any form of cheating will result in a mark of ZERO.

Assignment Submission: All assignments are to be submitted via Moodle eClass.

Evaluation and Grading

COURSE COMPONENTS	WEIGHT
Tests [on line "listening", context, terminology, analysis, genre]	30%
Listening Journal [150 songs minimum, 120 days, no extensions]	30%
Participation	25%
Attendance	10%
Effort	5%
TOTAL	100

Last Date to Drop without Academic Penalty: February 8, 2024

Topic Schedule and Due Dates:

2023	TOPIC	2024	TOPIC
Sep 12	Introduction to FA1520	Jan 09	Listening Journal Due [30%]
Sep 19	The Blues	Jan 09	Seventies 1 - Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye
Sep 26	Louis Armstrong	Jan 16	Seventies 2 - Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes
Oct 03	Billie Holiday	Jan 23	Test 2 [10%]
Oct 17	Nat King Cole	Jan 30	Seventies 3 - Stevie Wonder, Gamble & Huff
Oct 24	Ray Charles	Feb 06	Seventies 4 - Ballads
Oct 31	Doo Wop, Frankie Lymon	Feb 13	Seventies 5 - Pre Disco
Nov 07	Sixties 1 - Berry Gordy, Motown	Feb 27	Disco 1 - Van McCoy, Donna Summer
Nov 14	Sixties 2 - The Supremes, HDH	Mar 05	Disco 2 - Sylvester, Boney M, Chic
Nov 21	Test 1 [10%]	Mar 12	Test 3 [10%]
Nov 28	Sixties 3 - James Brown, Aretha Franklin	Mar 19	Disco 3 - Disco Lives
Dec 05	Sixties 4 - Stax, Jackson 5	Mar 26	Journal Return | Participation Marking

Listening Journal :

You are required to listen to African-American popular music performed by African-American artists and record information about this music in a Listening Journal.  The Journal should be divided into two sections.  The first must cover music up to and including 1969 and the second music between 1970 and 1990.  The Journal must be well presented in a businesslike manner although you are free to get creative and decorative.

The Journal will consist of separate entries for each song you listen to.  In these entries, you should write down your personal feeling about each song.  There must be no duplicates entries [i.e. same song by the same artist] as these entries will result in mark deductions.  There must be a table of content and the pages and songs must be numbered. The journal should explore a minimum of 150 songs and be at least 30 pages long.  Entries should list factual data about each song, which may include, but is not limited to: artist name, song name, composer, release date, record label and chart peak position.  Plagiarism, especially cut/paste from the Internet, will result in deductions of up to 100%.  The journal should not contain songs listed on the exclusion list located on the course website.

Journals are due at the end of day on January 09, 2024.  The journal may not be submitted after this date.  Any journal that is submitted after January 09, 2024 will receive a mark of zero – absolutely no exceptions.  You have 120 days to complete this assignment which is sufficient time.