2009 Courses

Courses for January Term 2009

SOC 225/MUSI 225: Digital Vernacular Music-Culture [3]

Carey Sargent and Wendy Hsu, Instructors

Music scenes, virtual social networks, digital recording studios, and music tourism are emerging social spaces that affect how music is produced, transmitted and received in digital, post-industrial society. Currently, scholars and critics engage in debates whether cultural production in these contexts is becoming more democratized or commercialized, more globalized or localized. In this course we will study amateur and independent level participation in music. In particular we will study how this "digital vernacular" music creates a sense of place, asking how do people use music to produce locality, community and identity? We will also examine the social institutions that organize music production and distribution, delving into the relationship between commerce and art.