MUSI0037-1

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

	Master in history of art and archaeology : musicology, research focus	5 crédits
	Master in performing arts, teaching focus	5 crédits
	Master in performing arts, professional focus in cinema and performing arts	5 crédits
	Master in communication, professional focus in publishing and the publishing industry	5 crédits
	Master in journalism, professional focus in investigation multimedia	5 crédits
	Master in communication, professional focus in cultural mediation and public relations	5 crédits
	Master in history of art and archaeology : musicology (60 ECTS)	5 crédits

Lecturer

Christophe Pirenne

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the second semester

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Over the course of the 2024-2025 academic year, "Question d'histoire des musiques populaires" will address the challenges of jazz musician biography, focusing in particular on the figure of Belgian musician Toots Thielemans. After a general introduction to the history of jazz, we'll look at the problems of biography in music: the notion of biography, the pitfalls of certain "traditional" approaches and the specificities of a "cultural" approach. The latter will then be explored in greater depth by examining certain aspects of Toots Thielemans' career.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

At the end of this course, students will have mastered the main frameworks of jazz history (chronology, places, major figures, reference works, social issues, styles) and will know the main lines of Toots Thielemans' career. He or she will have acquired an understanding of the notion of biography in musicology, and will be able to distinguish and critically approach the different approaches that exist.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

None

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Ex cathedra courses and seminar sessions with compulsory and preparatory readings of texts and audiovisual documents.

Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)

Face-to-face course

Course materials and recommended or required readings

Platform(s) used for course materials:
- eCampus

Further information:

For a general introduction to the history of jazz:

Baudouin, Philippe (2005). Une Chronologie du jazz, Paris, Outre Mesure.
Shypton, Alyn (2009). New History of Jazz, Londres, Bloomsbury,
Gioia, Ted (2021). The History of Jazz, 3e édition, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
DeVaux, Scott (1991). « Constructing the Jazz Tradition : Jazz Historiography », Black American Literature Forum, 25/3, pp. 525-560.

For the theoretical part on the notion of biography in music:

Solomon, Maynard (2001). « Biography », Grove Music Online.
Pekacz, Jolanta T. (2004). « Memory, History and Meaning : Musical Biography and its Discontents », Journal of Musicological Research, 23/1, pp. 39-80.
Stein Daniel & Butler, Martin (2015). « Musical Autobiographies: An Introduction », Popular Music and Society, 38/2, pp. 115-121.
Wiley, Christopher & Watt Paul (2019). « Musical Biography in the Musicological Arena », Journal of Musicological Research, 38/3-4, pp. 187-192.
Cormac, Joanne (2020). « Introduction : Music and Biography », 19th-Century Music, 44/2, pp. 61-66.
Daniels, Douglas Henry (1987). « Oral History, Masks, and Protocol in the Jazz Community », The Oral History Review, 15/1, pp. 143-164.
Harlos, Christopher (1995). « Jazz Autobiography : Theory, Practice, Politics », in Representing Jazz, ed. by Krin Gabbard, Durham, Duke University Press, pp. 131-166.
Perchard, Tom (2007). « Writing Jazz Biography : Race, Research and Narrative Representation », Popular Music History, 2/2, pp. 119-145.
Teague, Jessica E. (2021). « Ethnographic Transcription and the Jazz Auto/Biography : Alan Lomax, Jelly Roll Morton, Zora Neale Hurston, and Sidney Bechet », in Sound Recording Technology and American Literature : From the Phonograph to the Remix, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 56-92.
Stein, Daniel (2023). « Jazz Autobiograhy », in Jazz and American Culture, ed. by Michael Borshuk, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 248-261.
Tadié, Benoît (2023). « Arrangements difficiles : à propos des autobiographies de Jelly Roll Morton, Mezz Mezzrow et Billie Holiday », in Quand les musiciens de jazz (s')écrivent, ed. by Pierre Fargeton & Yannick Séité, Paris, Hermann, pp. 191-201.

On Toots Thielemans :

Danval, Marc (2006). Toots Thielemans, Bruxelles, Éditions Racine.

Exam(s) in session

Any session

- In-person

written exam

Work placement(s)

Organisational remarks and main changes to the course

Contacts

Alexandre Piret : apiret@uliege.be

History questions of popular music