This winter semester, we have once again been able to attract guest lecturers from a wide range of disciplines to teach on the Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes in Popular Music and Media. We are delighted to welcome a total of five guest lecturers (again)!
Thomas Venker, Max Roland and Hannes Liechti will be offering seminars in the Popular Music and Media Bachelor's programme.
The latter is returning to Paderborn University with his seminar series "Trackology". Together with Liechti, the students will deliberately focus on technological developments, the emergence of genres and scenes, and the challenges of pop music historiography in an achronological manner and based on tracks and songs. The follow-up course "Trackology 2" will take place in the summer semester.
Thomas Venker - co-founder of kaput - Magazin für Insolvenz & Pop and former editor-in-chief of Intro Magazine - is also returning to UPB with a teaching assignment.
His two-part seminar will focus on the genesis of music journalism, journalistic formats and insights into the music business before heading to the CTM Festival in Berlin, where students will produce their own journalistic contributions in the form of reviews and interviews, for example. The CTM Festival in Berlin is one of the most exciting festivals for experimental and electronic music in the world and the seminar has already inspired the students in previous semesters and created lasting experiences.
Max Roland is a freelance actor, author and artist and works together with the participants on presence, expression and self-confidence: through body-voice training, spontaneous speeches, autosuggestion and theatre games. The aim is to use language consciously, e.g. in job interviews, discussions or on stage, and to use one's own voice to stand up for oneself. His seminar "Moving with your voice - more persuasive power through body-voice training" focuses on the power of the voice: as a tool, a form of expression and an attitude.
This winter semester, the Master's programme will be complemented by the expertise of Dr. Mario Anastasiadis and Dr. Melanie Ptatschek on the topics of pop and extremism and pop and health.
Once again, we are delighted to welcome Dr. Mario Anastasiadis to UPB. This winter semester, Dr. Anastasiadis, who holds a doctorate in media studies, will give the seminar "Pop on the fringes of society - and beyond - actors, media practices and effects of politically marginalised and extremist pop acts". In several block sessions, Dr. Anastasiadis will discuss pop cultural boundaries and borderline experiences with the Master's students, which will then be analysed and classified.
Dr. Melanie Ptatschek from the University of New York, DFG Walter Benjamin Fellow and current head of the DAAD PRIME project "Busking, Wellbeing and the Value of Music in Post-Pandemic Times" will also be holding a seminar for the Master's programme.
In her seminar "(Re-)Constructions of the 'Healthy Turn': Health Narratives in Popular Music" is about how pop culture deals with health - between myths like "Sex, Drugs & Rock'n'Roll" and new narratives about mental health, mindfulness & self-care. The seminar examines these developments using music and media analyses, (online) ethnographies and critical research practices. The focus is on the so-called "Healthy Turn": the shift towards health-conscious and reflective self-presentations in pop culture.
We wish all guest lecturers and students a great, instructive winter semester 2025/26!
