The American Musical Experience
MSH 245 – Fall 2025
Course Description:
MSH 245: The American Musical Experience: 3 hours, 3 credits. History of music in America, with focus on popular, jazz, folk, and religious music, as well as contemporary compositions and musical theater.
Course Overview:
Step into a bodega, walk around a busy street, take the subway without your headphones and you will notice… music is all around you. What if you could not only tell the difference between the cool jazz a fancy grocery store plays to appease wealthy customers and the bachata blasting from a Dominican barber shop but also have the skills to explain it to others? What if you could connect today’s sounds to their deep histories in U.S. culture and society? What if you could connect today’s sounds to their deep histories in U.S. culture and society? And, what if, along the way, you also strengthened your reading and writing skills?
This class is about the history of music in the United States. It is a writing intensive class where we will use music to explore deeper aspects of American society and the complex dynamics that shaped the different cultural expressions across history. The focus on “experience” extends our interest outside of what is just music, allowing us to expand our exploration towards the technologies, mediations, discourses, and institutions that constantly shape our engagement with sounds. This means that in this class you will learn vocabulary to speak about your favorite songs but also gain a critical understanding of the complex historical dynamics that have brought them to your ears. We will do this through critical engagement with readings, class discussion, listening, speaking to experts, writing, and experimenting with devices and music-making.
Learning Objectives:
- Root appreciation of music of the United States in the historical processes that shaped it.
- Build a critical understanding of how music relates to social issues such as slavery, segregation, globalization, and immigration.
- Recognize different American musical styles, their histories, and their cultural significance across time and place.
- Examine how music is passed down, preserved, and transformed, and the role of technologies in these processes.
- Practice intentional and reflective listening.
- Gain hands-on experience with aspects of music-making.
- Strengthen reading, writing, and independent research skills.
You do not need to purchase a textbook or any books. This is an Open Educational Resource created for this class.
Some things that you will need:
- A laptop, desktop computer, or tablet, with internet access.
- Headphones or speakers to listen to musical examples (the music department can provide)
- An active account to access Lehman’s Library. Click here to make sure you have one.
- Access to Brightspace, to check your grades and submit assignments.
Grading criteria:
This class is a writing intensive class. In order to fulfill those credits, and to build up your grade, you have to complete a few requirements:
Plusses: class participation, informal writing, and “analog experiences” (25%)
One of the best ways to get better at writing is to get better at reading. This is why most of each class period will be devoted to discussing class readings or to engaging in different kinds of activities with them. Participation means contributing thoughtful comments that connect to the material. If speaking in public is not your preferred means for expressing your thoughts, you can gain plusses by handing in reading notes at the beginning of each class.These may be informal in style, (no essay formatting, citations, etc.), and can be typed or handwritten. At several times during the semester, you may also get plusses from having a complete “analog experience” in the classroom. This means having your phone and laptop out of reach and engaging in the class with nothing more than pen and paper (like your parents once did!).
Attendance (10%)
Being present and on time helps you succeed in this class. Regular attendance boosts your grade, while frequent absences, lateness, or disruptions (including phone use) lower it. Remember: if you miss class, you also miss chances to earn plusses.
Formal Essays (4 = 65%)
There will be a total of 4 written assignments throughout the course. Three of these will be short, the last written assignment is a slightly longer paper. There will be many instances to improve writing and revise drafts in class. Papers are submitted via Brightspace by the end of the day (11.59pm) of the day they are due.
- Formal Essay #1: The concert report essay (15%)
Our first formal paper will ask you to apply Jeff Titon and Mark Slobin’s “music-culture” model to a live music event that you attend on campus or within the city. Using the music-culture model, you’ll pay attention to and reflect on the many elements that make a music performance meaningful. A list of suggested free concerts will be made available to you at the start of the semester.
Paper due: September 25th
- Formal Essay #2: The soundscape essay (15%)
When people describe places, sound is often forgotten. But sound is a major part of what makes a place unique to us. A soundscape is like an auditory landscape, the collection of sounds that make a place unique. It may be helpful to think of a soundscape as an auditory landscape. For this assignment, you are asked to produce a piece of writing that captures the sounds of a place, to define what a soundscape is, and to draw on different readings that we have discussed in the semester to imagine what that same space sounded like in the past. Think of this as your “midterm” assignment.
Draft due: October 28th Paper due: October 30th
- Essay #3: The make a song! essay (15%)
This assignment invites you to take creativity into your own hands and experiment with creating a song that fits within a specific genre. You will be given different tools (apps for your phone, websites, and devices) to make a composition. No musical background is required. The focus is on the process and your reflection, not on producing a perfect song ! Please do not be intimidated by this 😊 Your song can be as short as 1 minute and it can be a cover of an existing song, or something that you write from scratch. Your essay is meant to document your experience creating this piece. More information will be made available to you later in the semester.
Paper due: November 25th
- Essay #4: The final essay 20%
For your final project, you’ll analyze a song by an American artist from one of the genres we studied. You can choose to write a paper, record a podcast, or make a video. For this project you will combine the knowledge that you gained during our classes exploring the historical roots and musical elements of particular genres, with the knowledge that you gained from your previous essays. More guidelines will be shared later in the semester.
Short presentation due: December 9th and 11th Final due: December 16th
Extra credit opportunities for plusses (each is only redeemable once) include:
- Putting together a playlist
- Doing the “Walkman” experience (please ask me about the Walkman experience!)
- Interviewing a band or artist
- Meeting with Prof Checa for office hours
- Completing the Informational Literacy Certificate
- Attending “extra credit” events that Prof Checa suggests
- Working with a tutor at the Tutoring Writing Center
Attendance policy:
Your student handbook notes that “students are expected to attend all class meetings as scheduled, and are responsible for all class work missed as a result of late registration or absence. ” And that “excessive absences in any course may result in a lower final grade.” In an asynchronous class, your attendance comes from the work that you submit each week. When you do not submit the requested assignments by their respective deadlines you are technically “missing class.” If you are going through things that may impact your ability to complete the requirements of the class I encourage you to communicate this with me. This is part of our commitment to care (see below).
You can miss one weekly submission without letting me know. You will have 3 days in the semester to make up submissions that you missed or that are incomplete or to submit assignments that you have revised. Check the class schedule to find “make-up” days.
Academic Integrity and Plagiarism policy:
Under the student handbook, there are strict policies about academic dishonesty. Penalties for cheating, plagiarizing, obtaining unfair advantage, or falsifying records include “academic sanctions, such as failing or otherwise reduced grades, and/or disciplinary sanctions, including suspension or expulsion.”
One of the ways in which you can commit academic dishonesty is by plagiarizing. This means using someone else’s work or ideas and not providing them with their necessary credit. When you do not provide references to the information that you are using, this is plagiarizing. Please reference your sources, always provide credit when credit is due. Another way to commit academic dishonesty is to cheat. Cheating involves unauthorized use of information, materials, devices, sources or practices in completing academic activities, such as unauthorized use of ChatGPT or another AI for your assignments.
To foster a learning environment that is fair and where students commit to be respectful to others, I ask that you do not engage in instances of academic dishonesty of any kind.
Accommodating Disabilities
Lehman College is committed to providing access to all programs and curricula to all students. But there are specific protocols to ensure this. If you require any special accommodations you should register with the Office of Student Disability Services and follow some steps to make sure that you have the accommodations that you need. The Office of Student Disability Services is located in Shuster Hall, Room 238. Their phone number is: 718-960-8441.
COVID-19 Resources and Updates
The pandemic is not over. Please keep up to date with updates from Lehman and look out for the resources that the school has for you following this link.
Technology Information
Through Brightspace you can access our textbook, your grades, and submit your assignments. . If you have any issues with Blackboard, you should contact IT Services.
Instructional Support Services
Lehman College’s Instructional Support Services Program (ISSP) is home of the Academic Center for Excellence (ACE) and Science Learning Center (SLC). Both offer students an array of activities and services designed to support classroom learning. They are open to students at any level. There are individual, small group, and/or workshop sessions designed to improve “proficiency in writing, reading, research, and particular academic subject areas.” I encourage you to take advantage of these resources if you need to. Working with individual tutors is always helpful, I have done it myself many times! There are tutors also available in the Library.
Other resources that might be helpful to you:
Mental health: it matters! If you are feeling overwhelmed, unmotivated, stressed, or anxious, talking to a counselor can be super helpful. Lehman has a counseling center with professionals ready to support you and hear you. You can also follow the Wellness center, for workshops and alcohol and drug prevention services.
Physical health: take care of your body! Here is a link to Lehman’s health center.
Childcare: if you are an enrolled, matriculated, student you can have access to Child Care services for class-related times and activities on campus. Find more here. Lehman also has Breastfeeding Support Services which include lactation rooms and other resources.
Food bank: if you need to, please utilize Lehman’s food bank.
Immigration Support: As an educator, I fully support the rights of undocumented students to an education and to live free from the fear of deportation. If you have any concerns in that regard, feel free to discuss them with me, and I will respect your wishes concerning confidentiality. Furthermore, I am committed to resisting any and all attacks on immigrants, including threats of deportation. For free legal help, know-your-rights workshops, and related resources, visit CUNY Citizenship Now! or CUNY CLEAR.
