Studying at York
Dance Music Cultures - MUS00204I
- Department: Music
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
Module summary
This module will look at Electronic Dance Music from historiographical, sociological and practical perspectives, focusing on global Electronic Dance Music cultures spanning the last 50 years.
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2023-24 |
Module aims
This module aims to provide students with an in-depth exploration of the multifaceted and cross-disciplinary study of Dance Music Cultures (DMCs). The historiographical development of DMCs has been clearly documented, covering the evolution of Disco into House, the afrodiasporic Techno of Detroit and its connections with Berlin, and more contemporary global genres like Durban’s unmistakeable Gqom, and the UK’s own Drum and Bass and Jungle. The study of creative practices around the composition and production of these genres is also widespread. More recently, research has focussed towards philosophical and sociological concerns in DMCs in the form its inclusive (and exclusionary) tendencies, intersectional perspectives on the culture, and the utopian ideals that it projects. This module will cover all of these areas, and look at how they interact with one another in the study of DMCs.
Module learning outcomes
By the end of the project all students should be able to:
- Articulate and appraise a variety of histories and developments in Dance Music Cultures (DMCs);
- Critically engage with historical, sociological, and creative aspects of DMCs;
- Synthesise practical perspectives on DMCs with more theoretical or conceptual concerns that contirubte to understanding of the cultures;
- Participate in critical and analytical listening sessions and assess common tropes and idiosyncrasies across EDM genres and produce pastiche compositions;
- Assemble historical and theoretical accounts of contemporary or historical DMCs.
In their independent work for this module, students will be required to demonstrate Learning Outcomes A1–7 and 9, 10 and/or 12 as appropriate.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark | Group |
|---|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 | A |
| Essay/coursework | 70 | B |
| Essay/coursework | 30 | B |
Special assessment rules
None
Additional assessment information
Option 1: Critical essay of c. 4000 words
Option 2: Stylistic composition of c. 3' (30%) and critical essay of c. 3000 words (70%)
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark | Group |
|---|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 | A |
| Essay/coursework | 70 | B |
| Essay/coursework | 30 | B |
Module feedback
You will receive written feedback in line with standard University turnaround times.
Indicative reading
Brewster, Bill, and Broughton, Frank author. Last Night a Dj Saved My Life: the History of the Disc Jockey / Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton. Revised edition. New York: Grove Press, 2000.
Brown, DeForrest. Assembling a Black Counter Culture / DeForrest Brown, Jr. Brooklyn, N. Y.: Primary Information, 2022.
Jori, Anita, and Martin Lucke. The New Age of Electronic Dance Music and Club Culture. Cham: Springer International Publishing AG, 2020.
Lawrence, Tim. Love Saves the Day: a History of American Dance Music Culture, 1970-1979 / Tim Lawrence. Durham [N.C.]; London: Duke University Press, 2003
Maloney, Liam (2018) "…And House Music Was Born: Constructing a Secular Christianity of Otherness", Popular Music and Society, 41:3, pg231-249.
Rief, Silvia. Club Cultures. Vol. 48. London: Routledge, 2009.
Rietveld, H.C. (1998). This is Our House: House Music, Cultural Spaces and Technologies. Abingdon: Routledge.
Reynolds, Simon. Energy Flash: a Journey through Rave Music and Dance Culture / Simon Reynolds. London: Picador, 1998.
Salkind, Micah. (2018) Do You Remember House?: Chicago’s Queer of Color Undergrounds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Thornton, Sarah. Club Cultures: Music, Media and Subcultural Capital / Sarah Thornton. Chichester, England: Polity, 2001.