popular music

Length: 6-8 pages, or roughly 2000-2500 words.

Format: Use a 12-point font and double-spacing.  

Sources and Citations: Use at least 5 sources for your essay, at least 3 of which have been published independently of the internet (peer-reviewed web publications are acceptable). Your course textbook can be used as one of your sources. Wikipedia does not count as one of your 5 sources (although it may be a useful resource for getting started as well as finding legitimate sources). You may cite your sources using either footnotes in the Chicago Style (also known as Turabian) format or parenthetical citations in the APA or MLA style. Regardless of the citation style you choose, you should also provide a bibliography of sources cited. Instructions for formatting your citations are available via many websites. If you are unsure how to do proper citations, consult with your TA or go to the Writing Centre.

Assignment and Guidelines: You are an anthropologist from a culture (or perhaps a foreign planet) where there is no such thing as “popular music.” Your leaders have sent you to Halifax to attend a live “popular music” performance and report back with an anthropological analysis of the event. Your leaders have informed you that the best place to observe such an event is at venues that locals refer to variously as “clubs,” “concert halls,” “bars,” or “arenas.”

There is no such thing as a music venue or live popular music where you come from, so approach the event as though it is the first time you’ve ever encountered such a thing. This is an anthropological study of a wholly foreign culture and the ritual they call a “popular music performance” or, for those in the know, a “club gig,” “show,” or “concert.” Your main objective is to ascertain just what this ritual means to the participants. In order to do this, you will have to assess a number of things: what kind of people attend the event; the nature of the venue in which the event takes place; the sounds that are produced at the event; and the behavior of the participants and how they relate to each other. How do all of these factors contribute to the meaning of the event?

Your leaders have informed you that attending a live performance of popular music is an important experience to many Canadians. Your job is to ascertain why. What do the participants seem to get out of it, and what seems to be the social meaning of the event? To prepare for this assignment, your leaders have enrolled you in MUSC 1100: The Rock and Roll Era and Beyond. Draw on what you have learned from this preparation in your discussion of the event and what it means to the various participants. They have also instructed you to do research in the field of “popular culture studies” to inform your analysis.

This is to be primarily an anthropological essay; however, you must also comment on the actual sounds that you hear at this event, particularly those sounds that seem to contribute most significantly to the meaning of the ritual.

DO NOT write a review. Your leaders are not interested in whether the performance was good or bad. Rather they are interested in the social function of the event, how the participants (including the performers and the audience) interact, what the event means to the participants, and how those meanings are conveyed by the behaviours and sounds that characterize the event.