Making Music Popular - Motown and Soul

This unit explores the unique artistic and cultural factors which precipitate the increased popularity of cult and folk musical styles. Almost all significant and pioneering musical developments begin as eclectic, often subcultural innovations which subsequently achieve wider mainstream acceptance. The role of music performance, theory and technology in this popularisation process will be considered, as well as relevant socio-political frameworks. The unit material will feature the impact of 20th century African-American genres on popular music, although these factors and frameworks can be applied to music from multiple territories (e.g. Indigenous Australian music).