Music writing

 

Review your newly learned music vocabulary from Chapters 1-5. Choose 2 pieces of music to write about in a Listening Journal Entry. These two, separate entries, should add up to approximately one full, single spaced page. Listening journals will be available in Blackboard for 5 days after the due date. However, journals will lose 10% each day they are late. This journal will be worth 40 points and please recall that the five journals that are due over the course of the semester are worth 20% of your final grade. As mentioned on day 1, I strongly recommend that you write the journal in a standard program such as Microsoft Word, and upload your journal to this assignment through the link below: Attach File > Browse My Computer. Do NOT write it in the “comments” section below as it will appear as a huge jumble of words with no separations or paragraphs.

Please choose 2 songs/pieces of contrasting styles. If possible, please paste into your document a URL link to a Youtube version of your chosen songs/pieces. This is so the instructors can have a reference for the accuracy of your observations and be able to give you feedback for adjusting the use of certain terminology.

In the journal entry you should discuss: What do you hear? What is going on in the piece? What are the instruments or vocal ranges being used? What style or genre are they playing/singing? What distinguishes this piece of music from others you know and have listened to? What do you like about this music? What do you not like? Do you have an emotional response to the music? Be specific and describe what you hear. You should use vocabulary words that you have learned so far, and your own words to describe the music. Also, please clearly state the TITLE of the piece/song, the COMPOSER, and the specific PERSON/GROUP performing.

**If you reference, direcectly quote, or even paraphrase background information from an outside source (such as the textbook), you MUST provide properly formatted citations to avoid plagiarism. This includes parenthetical/in-text citations at the end of sentences or paragraphs AND a brief Bibliography listing at the end of the journal.  However, since this is supposed to be YOUR thoughts and observations, it should not be necessary to use much outside information.**

References for citations in Chicago or Turabian style format can be found in the library links found in your syllabus as well as right here:

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html

,

http://www.lib.usm.edu/legacy/tutorials/turabian/tutorialindexTur.html

GOALS for the Assignment: The goal is for you to demonstrate your ability to talk about music on a deeper level, by properly using music vocabulary terms. I don’t want multiple paragraphs of background information or the story behind the piece, which you likely copied or paraphrased from an outside source. This is missing the point of the assignment and will result in a lower grade. I want to see you talking about the actual music itself.