Assignment 1 – Music Culture Exercise

Assignment 1 – Music Culture Exercise
Write a 500 word paper (approximately two double-spaced typed pages) on a piece of music of your choice that you can relate to this class’s topic of Music in Global America. You may select a purely audio example but preferable might be a video from YouTube for instance that offers visual contextualization. :
– Describe the social setting of the music.
– Describe the ensemble set up and instrumentation.
– If a live performance, describe the basic social organization of the performance including the interaction between the performers and audience; how is the audience reacting to the music?
– Construct a brief time line of the linear form of the performance (opening theme, vocal verse 1, vocal chorus, verse 2, chorus, trumpet solo, etc, etc,)
– Based on this video performance speculate on the music’s social function.
– Conclude with a paragraph about the “global” or “transnational” nature of the music culture represented by your chosen example. What are its roots of this music and how did it come to the US? How has it moved out from the US to other corners of the globe?
Please pay close attention to writing style, basic grammar, and spelling. Your paper will be graded on style as well as content. Please be sure to proofread your paper carefully. You may consult any published or online or even living human sources you wish but be sure to CITE your sources and please limit your direct quotations.
Music topics we covered: Blues Music, Chinese, Japanese, Indigenous culture, Antartica.