3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This course examines music contests across time, with a particular but NOT exclusive focus on vocal contests. While contests such as American Idol have received widespread attention, these competitions must be understood in terms of a much broader trend towards the proliferation of music prizes, both within and outside the classical music tradition. Our course examines the deep history of the current obsession with music contests. Together we will ask: what sustains the power of prizes? What has driven their incredible proliferation since the outset of the twentieth century, when the Nobel, Pulitzer and modern-day Olympic prizes were first awarded? How does prize culture motor the classical- and popular-music industries? And how should musicians best maneuver themselves within modern-day economics of prestige? This course will be of relevance to all those with an interest in how musical value is created—and tastes shaped—by prize-giving institutions.