MUS 3891 - Detroit Music Heritage

Credits: 3

Prerequisite(s): ENG 1009 or ENG 1010 and ENG 1020 or ENG 1021; MUS 1000

Description: In this course, students explore the crucial role that music has played in Detroit’s development, and, conversely, how the city’s unique identity encouraged its particular sonic trajectory. From Motown to techno, Detroit is widely known as an important site of American musical development. Countering narratives of Detroit as a “dying” bankrupt city in perpetual decline, this course shows its vitality and tenacity through a social history of the city’s rich musical heritage. Incorporating an interdisciplinary approach, this course explores a diversity of readings, listening, and films from a range of academic fields including: history, sociology, ethnomusicology, anthropology, and journalism.