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MUSI2089 Electronic Dance Music Culture
Course Type: disciplinary elective for music majors/minors, free elective for others
Prerequisite: NIL
Instructors: Dr. Li Meng DE BAKKER
Semester: Second Semester 2025/26
Time: 10:00am–11:50pm, Wednesday
Venue: CPD-LG1.22 Rehearsal Room
This course introduces students to electronic dance music (EDM) through critically surveying key cultural practices. In the process, students will journey through important episodes within EDM history and gain insight into how the EDM industry and its diverse scenes operate and are perpetuated.
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Course Learning Outcomes
Assessment Methods
Topics
Text & Resource Materials
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
  • Engage in critical discussion of key cultural values and beliefs held by electronic dance music practitioners and within the electronic dance music industry and its diverse scenes;
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the historical, social, and environmental factors that gave rise to key values, beliefs, and practices associated with electronic dance music culture.
Fieldwork Report 12.5%
Journal 12.5%
Mid-term Test 25%
Final Test 35%
Participation 15%

  • From the “Mainstream” to the “Underground”: The Contemporary Landscape of EDM
  • Curator, Shaman, Educator, Star…: Views on the Role of the DJ
  • Digging and Sampling: Archival, Production, and Performance Practice
  • Turntablism vs. Controllerism and Attitudes on Changing DJ Technologies
  • From Free Party to Festival: Gatherings in EDM
  • Visual Culture and Design in EDMC
  • Nightlife as Interdisciplinary Practice
  • Rave Culture: Drugs, “Disappearance”, and the Legacy of Acid House
  • Soundsystem Culture: Enduring Performance and Production Practices from the African Diaspora
  • Aesthetics of Darkness in UK Bass Music
  • The Role of Media in Perpetuating EDMC
  • The Impact of Online Platforms, Digital Technologies, and AI on EDMC
    Selected readings and listening/viewing materials are either available on Moodle or on reserve at the Main Library.