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Prompt for Blog 9

During our in-class presentations, you were asked to take notes on at least three presentations that you found interesting but had very different topics from your own. Pick one of those presentations and answer the questions below.

To help you answer these questions, the slides for everyone’s presentations will be linked the evening after they present in-class.

  1. In your own words, summarize the connection between the topic and the two music entries discussed in the presentation. Lyrics? Social context? Musically interesting moment?
  2. If you wrote about this topic instead of your own, what kind of music would you pick? Pick two songs/pieces that the author didn’t discuss in their presentation. How would you connect these songs/pieces to your topic? Lyrics? Social/historical/cultural background? Musically interesting moment?

If you prefer, you can include links to your song choices on Youtube or Spotify.

This blog is due on Monday 12/19 at 11:59pm.

Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide. You can earn a point of extra credit by reading a classmate’s blog and posting a substantial comment before Wednesday 12/21.

Links to Presentations

Day 1

Music & Racism (Justin)

Music & Feminism (Punesha)

Music & Grieving (Susan)

Music & Feminism (Ibrahim)

Music & Animals (Despina)

Music & Death (Regina)

Day 2

Music & Economics (Kai)

Music & Addiction (Adriana)

Music & Beauty (Megan)

Music & Beauty (Ellie)

Music & Feminism (Katia)

Music & Rebellion (Soja)

Day 3

Music & Poverty (Marcus)

Music & World Peace (Ashton)

Music & Police Brutality (Kayla)

Music & Friendship (Joanne)

Music & Inequality (Luis)

Music & Mental Health (Salina)

Music & War (Anand)

Music & Addiction (Nav)

Music & Feminism (Zhuoyao)

Music & Death (Sophia)

Music & Racism (Derick)

Prompt for Blog 8

This week’s unit is centered on the question, “What is good music?” This blog offers you the opportunity to share a piece of music that you think is good and find a place for it within our course.

First, choose a piece of “good” music that you’re familiar with and that hasn’t been discussed in class or one of your past blogs. Tell us some of the social/cultural/historical background of this music and at least two musical characteristics (using the musical elements vocabulary) that make it special.

Then, look over the unit themes that we’ve covered this semester and pick a unit that could feature your piece of music as a listening example. How would it fit into the unit? What important concepts would it help teach? Connect your earlier discussion of the music to these points.

What Is Music; Elements of Sound and Music; Instruments and Music Technology; US Popular Music; Song; Sung and Danced Drama; Listening in Concert; Listening at Home and Court; Stories Without Words; Music and Spiritual Expression; Music and Political Expression

Unit Themes to Choose From

Due Sunday December 4 at 11:59pm.

Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide. You can earn a point of extra credit by reading a classmate’s blog and posting a substantial comment before Sunday December 11.

Prompt for Blog 7

In this blog, you’ll explore the role of music within a specific religion or spiritual tradition.

First, choose a religion to discuss, like Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, etc. This can be a religion you have personal experience with or one that is completely new to you. Referring to the textbook or online articles (which you must cite if you use!), describe some of the ways that music is used within their religious practice.

Then, find a piece of music associated with the religion that isn’t featured in the assigned reading. Describe the music with our musical elements vocabulary, and discuss how that piece of music expresses religious belief and/or serves a religious purpose. Don’t forget to include a Youtube or Spotify link to the piece of music at the end of your blog.

Due Sunday November 20 at 11:59pm.

Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide. You can earn a point of extra credit by reading a classmate’s blog and posting a substantial comment before Sunday November 27

Prompt for Extra Credit Blog

There is no required blog for this week. Instead, you can earn up to 10 points of extra credit by posting a response to this prompt.

All of us are an expert in at least one thing. Pick a subject somehow related to music that you know a lot about–this could be your favorite album, a type of dance, a piece of music software, etc. If you were given 20-30 minutes of class time to teach us about this subject, what would you do? Your blog should summarize the content/information you want to teach and include at least one paragraph describing how you would teach it–what musical examples would you play, what questions would you ask the class, and what kind of activity would you include?

Due Sunday November 6 at 11:59pm.

Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide. You can earn a point of extra credit by reading a classmate’s blog and posting a substantial comment before Sunday November 6 at 11:59pm.

Prompt for Blog 6

In our Music in Concert unit, we discussed how different types of concerts included different expectations for performers and audiences. In this blog, you will reflect on a concert or live music performance that you’ve attended (in-person or virtually). If you’ve never been to a concert before, find and watch a concert on Youtube that shows both the performer and audience. If you need help finding a concert, send me an email.

First, introduce the performing artist/group, the genre of music they performed, and the space they performed in (for example, a concert hall, a bar, a park, etc). What made you decide to attend or watch the concert?

Then, discuss how the performers and audience behaved (for example, dress style, interaction with the performer/audience, movement, etc). Did anything surprise you, or did everything match with your expectations?

Finally, compare this concert to one of the concerts we discussed in Unit 7.

Due Sunday October 30 at 11:59pm.

Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide. You can earn a point of extra credit by reading a classmate’s blog and posting a substantial comment before Sunday November 6 at 11:59pm.

Prompt for Blog 5

The Paris premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s 1913 ballet The Rite of Spring is popularly described as a riot, though recent research by musicologists has thrown doubt on this idea. In this blog, you will summarize the viewpoints of two different articles on the event and share your own reaction to the music.

To receive full credit, your blog should do the following:

  1. Read “100 years ago today, ‘The Rite of Spring’ incited a riot in a Paris theater”; in your own words, summarize what the author believes happened during the ballet’s premiere
  2. Read “Did Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring incite a riot at its premiere?”; in your own words, summarize what the author argues actually happened at the premiere and describe at least two pieces of evidence (like historical material) the author uses to support their argument
  3. How did you respond to this ballet the first time you watched/listened to it? If you were in the audience in 1913, how do you think you would have reacted to the music and dance?

Due Sunday October 23 at 11:59pm.

Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide. You can earn a point of extra credit by reading a classmate’s blog and posting a substantial comment before Sunday October 30 at 11:59pm.

Prompt for Blog 4

For this blog, you’ll need to compare and contrast two different performances of the same song by different people. This can be a song of your own choice, or one of the songs featured in Chapter 5 of Resonances (that we didn’t already discuss in class). I recommend finding performances that sound very different from each other, but you can also contact me for suggestions.

Embed links to both performances at the top of your blog by clicking the plus icon (“Add Block”) that shows up when you start a new paragraph and selecting the “Youtube” option.

In your blog, you should: 1) share some background info about the song and each performer; 2) discuss what story and/or emotions are being communicated by the lyrics; 3) using musical elements vocabulary (form, tempo, timbre, etc.) and time stamps (when something happens in the song), identify at least two similarities and two differences between the performances; 4) consider how the different musical settings affect the story and/or emotions of the lyrics.

Due Sunday October 16 at 11:59pm.

Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide. You can earn a point of extra credit by reading a classmate’s blog and posting a substantial comment before Sunday October 23 at 11:59pm.

Prompt for Blog 3

Select a piece of music technology such as a musical format, a streaming platform, an instrument, a mode of instruction, software, etc. This can be anything related to music that fits our definition of technology:

“Knowledge, techniques, and tools that help humans achieve certain goals.”

Referring to Reading Packet 3, notes, and any online sources you find useful, describe this technology and answer the following questions. What is its purpose? How does it work to achieve that purpose? Are there any people that use this technology in a way that it wasn’t designed for? Do you have any experience with this technology?

Find a piece of music that uses the technology that you’ve chosen. How did the technology influence the music it helped to produce? Please include in your blog either a YouTube or Spotify link to the music you choose.

Due Sunday September 25 at 11:59pm.

Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide. You can earn a point of extra credit by reading a classmate’s blog and posting a substantial comment before Sunday October 2 at 11:59pm.


Prompt for Blog 2

Pick a song or a piece of music that you’re familiar with. Give us some background information on the artist, genre, and your relationship to the piece of music. Next, choose two of the musical elements we discussed in class: one from Monday (melody, rhythm, or harmony) and one from Wednesday (timbre, texture, or form). Using some of the vocabulary featured on your Musical Elements Assignment and in Reading Packet #2, describe a musically interesting moment in the song. Giving basic facts about the music like beats per minute or key are interesting, but will not be enough for this blog.

Please include in your blog either a YouTube or Spotify link to the music you choose.

Due Sunday September 18 at 11:59pm.
Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide.

Prompt for Blog 1

Based on the first letter of your last name, you will write a blog (around 200 words long) about one of the six historical periods of Western art music described in Reading Packet 1. Before writing this blog, make sure to read pages 19-40 of Reading Packet 1.

Medieval: A-D

Renaissance: E-J

Baroque: K-M

Classical: N-R

Romantic: S-V

Twentieth Century: W-Z

Your blog should discuss the following questions: What about this historical period is most interesting to you? What do you already know about the period? How does the textbook describe the music from that period?

Pick one of the “Major Figures in Music” listed under your period in pages 19-40 of Reading Packet 1. Look up and listen to some of their music. Does the music sound like what you expected from the textbook or your own knowledge? Why or why not?

Due Sunday September 11 at 11:59pm.

Refer to the Posting Guidelines to make sure you get full points for this blog. For help with posting your blog, check out the How-To Guide.

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