American Music
This course examines music in America from the earliest colonial period through the 20th Century. Because this has the potential to be an impossibly broad range of subjects, the course concentrates primarily on Europeans who brought their music to America, and what happened to that music when it arrived in the New World. In some cases, it remained very consistent with European tradition, but often this music took on characteristics of its American surroundings. The main focus is on the gradual evolution of an "American" music, which culminated in the Nationalism of the early 20th Century, and then the events that transcended Nationalism later in the 20th Century.
Here is the syllabus for the course
Click here for a list of topics week by week
This course has a listening component. Click here for the contents of the listening CDs
If you have comments or suggestions, email me at pholland@uwsp.edu