MUS 32 — Why Soul Music Matters
Quarter: Summer
Day(s): Wednesdays
Course Format: Live Online (About Formats)
Duration: 10 weeks
Date(s): Jun 22—Aug 24
Time: 5:00—6:50 pm (PT)
Refund Deadline: Jun 24
Units: 2
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Tuition: $410
Instructor(s): Charles Kronengold
Class Recording Available: Yes
Status: Open
Summer
Date(s)
Jun 22—Aug 24
10 weeks
Refund Date
Jun 24
2 Units
Fees
$410
Grade Restriction
No letter grade
Instructor(s):
Charles Kronengold
Recording
Yes
Open
What was soul music? How did soul become the umbrella term for Black popular music in the late 1960s, and what happened when it did? What did soul music do for its '60s and '70s listeners, and what can it teach us now?
The music called soul emerged from rhythm and blues, gospel, and jazz in the 1950s and became the dominant strand of Black popular music by the end of the '60s; it defined an era that ended in the early '80s. This course will ask how and why soul matters. We will explore the African American tradition of soul music from its origins. Along the way, we will examine genres and styles like Motown, funk, gospel, Southern soul, Philadelphia soul, and disco; artists like Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Nina Simone, Chaka Khan, Ashford & Simpson, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Parliament-Funkadelic; and the musical cultures of cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Our discussions will consider soul’s musical characteristics; its aesthetic and cultural meanings; and its interaction with race and racism, politics, gender, place, technology, and the economy. We’ll ask how this Black American music has helped shape American culture as a whole. This means listening, looking, and reading closely, learning new ways to talk about music, and grappling with the ideas, social meanings, and rhetorical strategies of soul music and of the discourses around it: thinking about how and why this music has mattered.
The music called soul emerged from rhythm and blues, gospel, and jazz in the 1950s and became the dominant strand of Black popular music by the end of the '60s; it defined an era that ended in the early '80s. This course will ask how and why soul matters. We will explore the African American tradition of soul music from its origins. Along the way, we will examine genres and styles like Motown, funk, gospel, Southern soul, Philadelphia soul, and disco; artists like Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Nina Simone, Chaka Khan, Ashford & Simpson, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Parliament-Funkadelic; and the musical cultures of cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Our discussions will consider soul’s musical characteristics; its aesthetic and cultural meanings; and its interaction with race and racism, politics, gender, place, technology, and the economy. We’ll ask how this Black American music has helped shape American culture as a whole. This means listening, looking, and reading closely, learning new ways to talk about music, and grappling with the ideas, social meanings, and rhetorical strategies of soul music and of the discourses around it: thinking about how and why this music has mattered.
Stanford Continuing Studies has lowered the tuition for this course as part of our mission to increase access to education around diversity, equity, and inclusion.