• Course ID: 050:302:B6
  • Credits: 3
  • Instructor Name: Appels

Outings to those places where Jersey Shore music culture had its beginnings -- and where it continues to flourish. We study the widest dimensions of the connection between music and summer beach culture, and the yearning for a song that will speak to our hearts. We will consider New Jersey Shore music culture within the wider context of the history and dissemination of music throughout American culture. How has New Jersey music remained distinct, yet also been built from other contemporary trends? What is the function of music, and its relationship to forms of individual and social relaxation and signification? How is music listening understood differently in the concert hall on the one hand, and by-the-beach on the other? What principles of acoustics and brain functioning can we learn from “shore listening”? The course examines the biological and social ecosystems of making and hearing music, and all dimensions of sound, as well as the celebratory rituals surrounding music perception and appreciation. (Start 5/26 - End 7/03)