MLAS 260-64: , , and Sexuality Spring 2017 Tuesday evening, 7:00-9:30 in Blair 1167

Instructor: Melanie Lowe Office: Blair 2108 Phone: 3-3169 E-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: by appointment

Course Description: MLAS 260-64 is an exploration of Gender and Sexuality in Western music, both art and vernacular traditions. We will consider such topics as musical constructions is an exploration of gender and sexuality in western music, both popular and classical traditions (e.g. rock, opera, dance, country, hip hop, orchestral, pop, etc.). Topics include musical constructions of masculinity, femininity, and sexuality; expressions of gender and sexuality in a variety of musical genres; feminist ; ; “deviant” sexualities in music; and music as sexual politics.

Class Participation and Attendance: To ensure a lively and engaging class, participants must attend all class meetings (unless excused ahead of time by me), be on time, actively engage the material, issues, and questions outside of class, and be prepared to discuss them in class.

Required Materials: I will provide all required materials. Supplemental materials and streaming audio reserves will be on reserve on Blackboard.

Reading and Writing Assignments: There will be weekly reading assignments. For each reading assignment there will be an accompanying worksheet to direct you toward a critical engagement with the essay(s) and to help you prepare for the in-class discussion of the issues and questions raised by the author. For three of the reading assignments there will be an accompanying writing assignment in the form of a response essay.

Final Paper/Project: There will be one final paper and/or project, due during the last two week of class, on a topic of your choosing and my agreement. I will hand out details about the final paper/project about midway through the semester.

Evaluation: Class Participation 50% Response Essays 30% Final Paper/Project 20%

Disabilities: If you need disability related accommodations for this course; if you have emergency medical information to share with me; or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment to speak with me, as well as the Opportunity Development Center (2-4705), as soon as possible.

Course Outline

Week 1 Read: Syllabus Handouts on “feminine” and “masculine” Write: Opening exercise

Introduction and discussion of critical issues Discussion of sex vs. gender Examples of “feminine,” “masculine,” “straight,” and “gay” music

Week 2 Read: Fred Maus, “Music, Gender, and Sexuality” Simon Reynolds and Joy Press, “Angry Young Men: Precursors and Prototypes for Rock Rebellion” Ian Biddle and Freya Jarman-Ivens, “Oh Boy! Making Masculinity in Popular Music” Write: Critical Engagement/Discussion Worksheet

Discussion of Maus, Reynolds/Press essay, Biddle/Jarman-Ivens essay, and Masculinity Introduction to Emo

Week 3 Read: Sarah F. Williams, “‘A Walking Open Wound’: Emo Rock and the ‘Crisis’ of Masculinity in America” Sam de Boise, “Cheer Up Emo Kid: Rethinking the ‘Crisis of Masculinity’ in Emo” Listen: Emo selections on Blackboard

Discussion of Williams and de Boise essays and Emo Set-up for McClary essay

Week 4 Read: Susan McClary, “Getting Down Off the Beanstalk: The Presence of a Woman’s Voice in Janika Vandervelde’s Genesis II” Listen: Beethoven, Symphony No. 9, First Movement Vandervelde, Genesis II Write: Response Essay #1

Discussion of McClary essay Introduction to and Feminist Theory Set-up for van den Toorn/Quick intro to the politics of Music Theory

Week 5 Read: Pieter van den Toorn, “Politics, Feminism, and Contemporary Music Theory” Ruth Solie, “What Do Feminists Want? A Reply to Pieter can den Toorn” Suzanne L. Cataldi, “Reflections on ‘Male Bashing’” Write: Critical Engagement/Discussion Worksheet

Discussion of van den Toorn, Solie, and Cataldi essays Introduction to Covers

2 Week 6 Read: Victoria Malawey, “‘Find Out What it Means to Me’: Aretha Franklin’s Gendered Re-authoring of Otis Redding’s ‘Respect’” Write: Critical Engagement/Discussion Worksheet

Discussion of Malawey Discussion of Taylor Swift/Ryan Adams 1989 Introduction to Madonna

Week 7 Read: Susan McClary, “Living to Tell: Madonna’s Resurrection of the Fleshly” Patricia Pisters, “Madonna’s girls in the mix: Performance of femininity beyond the beautiful” Corinna Herr, “Where is the female body? Androgyny and other strategies of disappearance in Madonna’s music videos” Karlene Faith, “Grist for Feminist Thinking” View: Madonna, “Express Yourself,” “Justify My Love,” and “What It Feels Like for a Girl” Write: Madonna video interpretations and response to Pisters

Discussion of Madonna videos and essays Preliminary Thoughts on Lesbian and Gay Music: Handel and Pet Shop Boys

Week 8 Read: Gary C. Thomas, “‘Was George Frideric Handel Gay?’: On Closet Questions and Cultural Politics” and Elizabeth Wood, “Lesbian and Gay Music” John Gill, “Pet Shop Boys, Naturally” Martha Mockus, “Queer Thoughts on Country Music and k.d. lang” Write: Critical Engagement/Discussion Worksheet

Discussion of Thomas, Brett and Wood, Gill, and Mockus essays Introduction to The Cliks, Lucas Silveira, and Transgender Studies

Week 9 Read: Elias Krell, “Contours through Covers: Voice and Affect in the Music of Lucas Silveira” Write: Critical Engagement/Discussion Question Set

Discussion of Krell Riot Acts

Week 10 Write: Final project proposal

Introduction to Queer Theory Rocky Horror Picture Show Marilyn Manson Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”

Set-up for Hedwig

3 Week 11 Hedwig and the Angry Inch

Week 12 Read: Jordy Jones, “Gender Without Genitals: Hedwig’s Six Inches” Judith Peraino, Listening to the Sirens, Chapter 5 Write: Critical Engagement/Discussion Question Sets (Peraino Question Set counts as Response Essay #3)

Discussion of Peraino, Jones, and Hedwig, and Hedwig Reviews

Week 13 Prepare Final Projects

4/16 Project Presentations

Week 14 Prepare Final Projects

4/23 Project Presentations

4 Course Readings

Abbate, Carolyn. “Opera; or the Envoicing of Women,” and Difference: Gender and Sexuality in Music Scholarship. Ruth Solie, ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

Bellafante, Ginia. “Who Put the “Me” in Feminism?” Time, 29 June 1998.

Bergeron, Katherine. “The Castrato as History,” Cambridge Opera Journal 8 (1996), 167-84.

Brett, Philip. “Piano Four-Hands: Schubert and the Performance of Gay Male Desire,” 19th Century Music 21 (1887), 149-76.

Brett, Philip and Elizabeth Wood. “Lesbian and Gay Music.” In Queering the Pitch: The New Gay and Lesbian Musicology, ed. Philip Brett, Elizabeth Wood, Gary C. Thomas. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Cataldi, Suzanne L. “Reflections on ‘Male Bashing,’” Issues in Feminism: An Introduction to Women’s Studies. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1998.

Citron, Marcia. “Canonic issues,” Gender and the Musical Canon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Clément, Catherine. “Prelude” and “Dead Women,” Opera, or the Undoing of Women. tr. Betsy Wing. Minnesota: Press, 1988.

Cooper, Sarah. “Introduction,” Girls! Girls! Girls! New York: New York University Press, 1996.

Dame, Joke. “Unveiled Voices: Sexual Difference and the Castrato.” In Queering the Pitch: The New Gay and Lesbian Musicology, ed. Philip Brett, Elizabeth Wood, Gary C. Thomas. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Faludi, Susan. “I’m Not a Feminist, But I Play One on TV,” Issues in Feminism: An Introduction to Women’s Studies. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company, 1998.

“Feminism,” A Concise Glossary of Feminist Theory. Andermahr, Lovell, and Wolkowitz, eds. New York, Arnold: 1997.

Harris, Ellen T. “Twentieth-Century Farinelli,” Musical Quarterly 81 (1998), 180-89.

Higgins, Paula. “, Feminist Criticism, and Guerrilla Musicology: Reflections on Recent Polemics,” 19th-Century Music 17 (1993). hooks, bell. “Feminism: A Movement to End Sexist Oppression,” . Kamp, Sandra and Squires, Judith eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.

Juno, Andrea. “Introduction,” Angry Women in Rock, Volume I. New York: Juno Books, 1996.

Kramer, Lawrence. “Culture and Musical Hermeneutics: The Salome Complex,” Cambridge Opera Journal 2:3 (1990), 269-94.

Labi, Nadya. “What Do Girls Want?” Time, 29 June 1998.

5 McClary, Susan. “Getting Down Off the Beanstalk: The Presence of a Woman’s Voice in Janika Vandervelde’s Genesis II.” Feminine Endings. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.

McClary, Susan. “Sexual Politics in Classical Music.” Feminine Endings. Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press, 1991.

Nochlin, Linda. “Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?” Theorizing Feminism: Parallel Trends in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Herrmann and Stewart, eds. Boulder: Westview Press, 1994.

O’Dair, Barbara. “Introduction,” Trouble Girls: The Rolling Stone Book of Women in Rock. New York, 1997.

Solie, Ruth. “What Do Feminists Want? A Reply to Pieter van den Toorn,” Journal of Musicology 9 (1993).

Thomas, Gary C. “‘Was George Frideric Handel Gay’: On Closet Questions and Cultural Politics.” In Queering the Pitch: The New Gay and Lesbian Musicology, ed. Philip Brett, Elizabeth Wood, Gary C. Thomas. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Roselli, John. “The Castrati as a Professional Group and a Social Phenomenon, 1550-1850,” Acta Musicologica 60 (1988), 143-79. van den Toorn, Pieter. “Politics, Feminism, and Contemporary Music Theory,” Journal of Musicology 9 (1993).

Walser, Robert. “Forging Masculinity: Heavy Metal Sounds and Images of Gender,” in Running with the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. Hanover: Wesleyan University Press, 1993.

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