Popular Music Studies Minor
This program is available at the following locations:
- Corvallis
- Ecampus
The Popular Music Studies minor provides an opportunity for students to examine popular music as a cultural, social, creative, and economically viable field. The minor provides students with literacy in several popular music genres including American music, Latin Popular Music, hip hop, film music, reggae, musical theatre, songwriting, jazz, music business, arts entrepreneurship and music software. Through the study of a diverse range of genres, music making practices, performance media, and music as a commercial enterprise, students develop analytical, historical, critical and practical skills to explore, create, explain and differentiate popular musics.
This minor does not require an audition or ability to read music.
Minor Code: 253
Upon successful completion of the program, students will meet the following learning outcomes:
- Analyze genre and discipline-specific knowledge of modern, contemporary and popular music processes, influences, practices, and histories.
- Describe and analyze works of contemporary, popular and modern music critically and relate them to historical and contemporary contexts, issues, and cultural meaning.
- Articulate discipline specific concepts through applied theory, through technical writing, oral traditions, notation and sound practice.
- Create original music and/or research projects by applying discipline-specific tools, skills, methods, and sources.
- Repeatable courses may only count once towards minor requirements.
- Some of the courses in the minor have additional prerequisites or grade requirements that are separate from the minor.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Foundational Core (15 credits) | ||
| Select 9-12 credits from the following courses: | 9-12 | |
| Music History/Music & Culture | ||
| *MUSIC APPRECIATION II: PERIODS AND GENRES | ||
| *MUSIC APPRECIATION III: GREAT COMPOSERS | ||
| *SURVEY OF JAZZ | ||
| *MUSIC CULTURES OF THE WORLD | ||
| +NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE | ||
| AMERICAN MUSIC TRADITION | ||
| CRITICAL STUDIES IN CONTEMPORARY & POPULAR MUSIC | ||
| Creative Making | ||
| INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL AUDIO WORKSTATIONS AND PUBLISHING | ||
| APPLIED MUSICIANSHIP: BEGINNER BEAT MAKING (DAW) | ||
| INTERMEDIATE DAW AND MUSIC PUBLISHING | ||
| INTRODUCTION TO SONGWRITING 1 | ||
| Music Business | ||
| +THE MUSIC BUSINESS I | ||
| Lower-Division Electives 1 | ||
| Select 3-6 credits from the following courses: | 3-6 | |
| INTRODUCTION TO TIME-BASED ART | ||
| DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY | ||
| INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS | ||
| DATA ANALYSIS USING MICROSOFT EXCEL | ||
| COMPUTER PROGRAMMING FOR NON-CS MAJORS | ||
| +*PRINCIPLES OF MICROECONOMICS | ||
| ENGINEERING COMPUTATION AND ALGORITHMIC THINKING | ||
| *INTRODUCTION TO FILM STUDIES: 1895-1945 | ||
| *THE NEW AMERICAN CINEMA | ||
| GRAPHIC DESIGN TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES | ||
| +*INTRODUCTION TO NEW MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS | ||
| APPLIED SOUND DESIGN | ||
| +*INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY I | ||
| +*DISNEY: GENDER, RACE, EMPIRE | ||
| Advanced Core (12 credits) | ||
| Select 6-9 credits from the following courses: | 6-9 | |
| Music History/Music & Culture | ||
| +*WOMEN IN MUSIC | ||
| *GENRE STUDIES: POPULAR MUSIC AND CULTURE IN LATIN AMERICA | ||
| GENRE STUDIES | ||
| THEORY AND COMPOSITION STUDIES | ||
| Creative Making | ||
| APPLIED MUSICIANSHIP: GROUP GUITAR | ||
| SCORING VISUAL MEDIA I | ||
| SCORING VISUAL MEDIA II | ||
| INTRODUCTION TO SCORING GAME MUSIC | ||
| Music Business | ||
| THE MUSIC BUSINESS II | ||
| INTERNSHIP | ||
| INTRODUCTION TO ARTS ENTREPRENEURSHIP | ||
| Upper-Division Electives | ||
| Select 3-6 credits from the following courses: 1 | 3-6 | |
| OFF THE SCREEN - VIDEO INSTALLATION ART | ||
| DOCUMENTARY FILM STUDIES | ||
| *SOCIAL CHANGE AND AMERICAN POPULAR MUSIC | ||
| +*FOUNDATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH | ||
| PODCAST PRODUCTION | ||
| +VIRAL CONTENT | ||
| *PHILOSOPHY AND THE ARTS | ||
| Total Credits | 27 | |
- *
Baccalaureate Core course. Applies to general education requirements for undergraduate students in a catalog year up to 2024-2025
- +
Core Education course. Applies to general education requirements for undergraduate students in catalog year 2025-2026 and beyond
- ^
Writing Intensive Curriculum (WIC) course
- 1
Other courses may be used with Music Advisor approval
Minor Code: 253