The Evolution of Popular Music - Funk and Hip Hop

This unit explores the exciting and unpredictable methods by which music adapts, evolves and metamorphoses into new, variant and derivative styles. Popular music is a fluid and mutating phenomenon which frequently acts as a mirror to its community, reflecting both cultural and counter-cultural values. The role of music performance, theory and technology in these evolutionary processes will be considered, as well as relevant socio-political frameworks. The unit material will feature the development of 20th century African-American musical styles, although these processes and frameworks can be applied to music from multiple territories (e.g. indigenous Australian music).