Coursera
Free Online Course (Audit)
English
Paid Certificate Available
7 weeks long, 9-10 hours worth of material
selfpaced
Overview
Class Central Tips
Explores the factors — musical and cultural — that led to the birth of American rock 'n' roll music in the early 1950s. Covers in detail the genres, styles and people that converged to create this new music.
Syllabus
- Four basic themes of our course
- Some basic tenets of rock 'n' roll
- In the beginning: American popular music
- There were many, many genres, styles and sub styles of American pop
- The blues: Mississippi Ghosts 1
- The Mississippi Delta, an area surrounding the Mississippi River, becomes the cradle of the blues
- The blues: Mississippi Ghosts 2
- The legend of Robert Johnson and his visit to "the crossroads"
- A tale of three cities: New Orleans
- New Orleans is the city of jazz
- A tale of three cities: Chicago
- Chicago is where the blues went electric
- A tale of three cities: Memphis
- The delivery room of rock 'n' roll
Taught by
Alexander Reed and David Carlson
