Mus 199: Singing Circles and Composing Songs

Fall 1998 Syllabus

9:30-10:50 UH, Room 105 Music

Instructor: Randall Moore (Home page: http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rmoore/)

Office: 101 Music, 346-3777

Course description: Sing folk, Broadway, Beatles, Motown, hymns, spirituals and gospel, as well as, ballads, work songs, and the blues. Develop a song repertoire for any occasion. Compose your own songs to develop self-expression. Become acquainted with texts, song collections, and recordings found in the Mills Archives and Knight Library.

Goal: To stimulate thinking concerning how the values in folk and composed songs influence society and shape personal thought.

Objectives: 1. To sing, hear, and learn folk and composed songs that reflect social values that shape American culture.

2. To study the cultural values of various peoples who created and sang diverse songs through singing, listening discussing, composing and writing.

3. To develop a scholarly attitude by studying, singing, listening, discussing, writing about, and composing songs.

Text: Required: Peter Blood & Annie Patterson. (1992). Rise Up Singing. The Group Singing Songbook. Bethlehem, PA: Sing Out Publications. ($17.95)

Optional: Steve Gillette (1990). Songwriting and the Creative Process. Bethlehem, PA: Sing Out Publications. ($16.95)

Assignments: (Percent of grade follows each listed assignment)

1. Attend class regularly and participate attentively by singing, discussing, listening, taking notes, and being receptive. Textbook must be in hand for every class. (40%)

(While singing is an essential aspect of class activities, singing accuracy will not unduly alter grading.)

2. Research and submit a two-page report on one folk or composed song in the Randall V. Mills Archive or the Knight Library (10%)

3. Write an essay out-of-class on the meaning of folkmusic. (10%)

4. Compose your own song and present it in class. (10%)

5. Sing 15 folk or composed songs from memory and explain the historical background of each song to the instructor. (15%)

6. Complete final exam that reviews songs sung and studied throughout the term. (15%)

Method of instruction: The course is organized in a singing circle format in which the students and instructor actively sing. The instructor will prepare daily commentary of song materials and students are responsible for discussing issues raised. Class activities focus on singing, listening, discussing, and creating song literature.

Course Outline: Class meets 9:30-10:50 Tuesday and Thursday for ten weeks.
Weekly schedule is as follows:

Week: Class Agenda

1: Syllabus, orientation, overview of course content, golden oldies and favorites from 1890 to today.

2: Traditional British and American ballads; and survey references in the Knight Library and visit Mills Archive.

3: Songs of farm and country: cowboys, Native Americans, and Appalachia. Share folk or composed research in Mills Archives or Knight Library.

4: Songs of work and friendship; from sea to land or sailors to miners, and old buddies & friends to lean on. Notes on composing your own songs.

5: Love songs and lullabies, home and family and hope; romance and night songs, around the hearth and fireside. Sharing your own songs.

6: Songs of hope and faith and freedom; hymns, spirituals, gospel, from slavery to civil rights.

7: Songs of dreams and fantasies and ecology; for the imagination and the environment.

8: Hard times and blues, struggle and travelin'; perseverance and prison, freedom and truckin' on down the highway.

9: Play and funny songs and rounds; about animals and sillies, and harmony through rounds; folkmusic essay due.

10: Summary of course; select favorites to record for each student's resource.

FINAL: Singing and written examinations.

For a list of song titles to be sung in class, see: SongTitles199.html