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HUMN 315/MUSI 315: Popular Music: Blues to Big Bands, 1900–1940 (Rev. C1/C1) . NEW DRR Report a Broken Link

Humanities/Music 315—Popular Music: Blues to Big Bands, 1900–1940 is a three-credit, second-year course on the history of popular music between 1900 and 1940. The focus is mainly on American popular music, with an emphasis on folksong, hillbilly music, blues, New Orleans–style jazz, swing, and musical theatre.

Unit 1—Introduction: Four Decades of Popular Music, 1900–1940

Unit 2—Popular Music before 1900

Ballads and Folk Lyrics — Tape 1
Negro Spirituals and Folk Songs — Tape 2
Ragtime — Tape 3
Afro-American Sources of Blues and Jazz — Tape 21
The Anglo-America Folk Tradition — Tape 22

Unit 3—To the First World War and After

Early Jazz — Tape 11
On Early Jazz — Tape 12

Unit 4—Folk and Hillbilly Music in the 1920s

Hillbilly Music — Tape 15
Hillbilly Music — Tape 16
Hillbilly Music — Tape 17

Unit 5—Blues in the 1920s

Classic Blues — Tape 4
On Classic Blues — Tape 5
Country Blues — Tape 6
Country Blues — Tape 7
Country Blues — Tape 24
Classic Blues, Jug Bands, and Barrelhouse Piano — Tape 25

Unit 6—Jazz in the 1920s

Jazz in the 1920's — Tape 13
Jazz in the Twenties — Tape 14
Jazz in the Twenties — Tape 26

Unit 7—Musical Theatre and Popular Song during the 1920s

Unit 8—Five Great Artists: Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, and Jimmy Rodgers

Hillbilly Music to Jimmie Rodgers — Tape 23
Armstrong, Beirderbecke, and Ellington — Tape 27

Unit 9—Folk and Country Music in the 1930s

Country and Western in the Thirties — Tape 28

Unit 10—Blues in the 1930s

On Urban Blues — Tape 8
On Urban Blues — Tape 9
Jug and Washboard Bands — Tape 10
Urban Blues in the Thirties — Tape 29

Unit 11—Jazz and Swing in the 1930s

Big Band Jazz in the Early Thirties — Tape 18
Big Band Jazz in the Thirties — Tape 19
Big Band Swing — Tape 20
Jazz in the Swing Era — Tape 30

Unit 12—Songwriters, Singers, and Shows in the 1930s