Course

Course: Theatre & Drama 469 Interdisciplinary Studies in the Arts
Topic Title: Stew's Song Factory
Instructors: Stew, Fall 2011 Artist in Residence
UW Instructor of Record: Patrick Sims, Theatre & Drama
Section 1: Mondays 12:00-2:30 plus required public series Mondays 7-8:30pm; 1132 Vilas; limit 20 students
Section 2: Mondays 3:30-6:00 plus required public series Mondays 7-8:30pm; 4046 Vilas; limit 16 students
Credits: 3
Prereq: Application & consent of instructor

 

Course Description

This course teaches and views the craft of song-making through the lens of personal history. This non-chronological, idiosyncratic view of our pop-cultural past seeks to engage both the seasoned and the first-time songwriter in an active, open-minded and irreverent debate on the nature of “black music," rock music and musical theater. Students will be guided down an “artist-centric” path through the winding, eclectic sensibilities of a veteran of both dive-bars and the Broadway stage.

Students will listen to and view a vast array of music on a daily basis, while Stew asks questions about race, region, money and sexuality and what role they play in the creation and consumption of black music, rock music and musical theater.

The class will look for as well as create its own connections between seemingly disparate musics in order to NOT come up with the same tired conclusions and opinions. This course will be a journey into academic alchemy. The only limits that exist when it comes to creating and thinking about art are those you have already placed upon your own imagination.