Course Director: Ray Williams E-mail: Ray Williams
Course Description and Content:
This is a study of the musical, historical, spiritual, cultural roots and traditions of the music of Jamaica. Topics will include: Mento, US R&B, Sound Systems, Ska, Rocksteady, Reggae, Roots, Toasting, Dub, Dancehall. Artists and Producers to include Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid, Prince Buster, Derrick Morgan, Skatelites, King Tubby, Lee Scratch Perry, Owen Gray, The Maytals, John Holt, Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff, The Heptones, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, Burning Spear, Sly Dunbar, Robbie Shakespeare, Third World, Bunny Lee, Sugar Minott, Gregory Isaacs, Yellowman, Shabba Ranks, etc. This course is designed for students not majoring or minoring in music. No previous musical training is required.
Schedule: Classes meets each Tuesday as follows:
| |
TIME |
PLACE |
INSTRUCTOR |
| Section A |
8:30AM - 10:30AM |
ACW 206
|
Ray Williams |
Required Text: Various readings may be suggested.
Suggested text: Rough Guide To Reggae
Requirements: Notebook, pen and ears. You will need a pencil and eraser for Tests.
Academic Honesty: Please note the Senate Policy on academic honesty found on the
York
website at http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/legislation/senate/acadhone.htm. Any form of cheating will result in a mark of ZERO.
Assignment Submission: All assignments are to be submitted directly to the instructor during class time. If this is not possible, you may submit your assignments to the Music Office in
Accolade
East
Building
3rd Floor [371] before 3:00PM during working days. Make sure your assignment is time stamped by the Music Office staff to establish the date of submission.
Evaluation and Grading
| COURSE COMPONENTS |
WEIGHT |
| Tests (in class "listening", context, terminology, analysis, genre) |
40% |
| Listening Journal |
30%
|
| Participation |
15% |
| Attendance |
10% |
| Effort |
5% |
| TOTAL |
100 |
Listening Journal
You are required to listen to various forms of Jamaican popular music performed by Caribbean artists and record information along with your personal reaction to this music in a Listening Journal. The Journal should be divided into four sections as follows:
- Section 1 - 1950-1962 [minimum 15 songs] Calypso and music from other Caribbean countries are permitted here.
- Section 2 - 1963-1969 [minimum 30 songs] Jamaican music only
- Section 3 - 1970-1979 [minimum 45 songs] Jamaican music only
- Section 4 - 1980-1990 [minimum 60 songs] Jamaican style music from anywhere in the world.
The Journal will consist of individual song listings for each song you listened to. You should write about your personal feeling about each song. There must be no duplicates i.e. same song by the same artist (these will result in mark deductions). There must be a table of contents. The Journal’s pages must be numbered. The journal should explore a minimum of 150 songs and be at least 30 pages long. Entries should list factual data about each song in a table above your write-up, which may include, but is not limited to: artist, song name, composer, release date, record label, etc. where possible. Plagiarism, especially cut/paste from the Internet, will result in deductions of up to 100%.
The journal may not contain songs played in class except for Section 1. Here is a complete list of songs that should not appear in your journal.
Journals are due at the end of class on January 3, 2012. Every journal submitted late will result in a minimum 10% deduction – no exceptions. If you are unable to submit your journal in class, then it must be submitted to the Music Office at
Accolade East Building
3rd Floor [Room 371]. Please ensure that your journal is time stamped to prove the date it was submitted.
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