Category: Music

The song is Nirvana – Smells Like Teen Spirit
1. Analyze the song referencing the basic elements of design (pick 2 of the following) as they are called in music (melody, harmony, rhythm, tone/color, structure/form, etc).
2. Describe the compositional elements that stand out and make the piece successful artistically.
3. What are the influences that are present and the characteristics of the genre that best fits the piece.
4. Is the piece defining of the artists style or is it uniquely different to his/her music.
5. Observe and describe the emotional content of the piece of music.

Your journal should include a sentence or two about five (or more) of the recordings listed below and a paragraph that addresses the unit’s recordings as a group. Each individual track response must include a specific observation that points to a particular musical event in the recording. Timestamps pointing to these specific moments should be used to make the point you are referring to as clear as possible (i.e. “At 1:32 in the recording we hear a guitar responding to the vocal line / an abrupt change in tempo / the first of a series of riffs / etc”). You may also discuss a particular recording in more depth or make any other observations you would like in regard to the assigned listening for this. The responses in your listening journal should demonstrate evidence of critical listening and engagement with the course materials more generally.
The tracks you are required to address are as follows:
Victor Minstrel Company – “Mobile Minstrels” (1909)
Arthur Collins – “The Preacher and the Bear” (1908)
The Victor Military Band – “Memphis Blues” (1914)
Morton Harvey – “Memphis Blues” (1914)
The Original Dixie Land Jazz Band – “Livery Stable Blues” (1917)
Mamie Smith – “Crazy Blues” (1920)
Ethel Waters – “Down Home Blues” (1921)
Lucille Hegamin – “Arkansas Blues” (1921)
Alberta Hunter – “Down South Blues” (1923)
King Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band – “Dippermouth Blues” (1923)
“West End Blues” – Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five (1928)

Report Guidelines
Format
2.5 to 5 pages (not including citation page). This is typically between 750-1700 words.
Typed
Double-spaced
8.5 x 11 paper
One-inch margins
Report should include a title, a header with your student ID, class title and the date.
DO NOT INCLUDE YOUR NAME ON ANYWHERE ON THE REPORT, including the file name. This helps me avoid any instructor unintentional bias. I will be grading your papers “blind” with your identities hidden. To help with this, you MUST NOT put your name on your report. Simply use your student ID.
Citation page (All reports should have a citation/bibliography as one cited academic source is required, PLUS your need to cite the video you watched)
Writing Voice and style
Academic Voice
Formal
No contractions, slang, colloquialism, or abbreviations.
Avoid first person statements when possible
Write as if your colleagues taking this class could read the report and gain a clear concept of your experience.
Do not define terminology we have covered in class,
Your audience will not HEAR this concert and will rely on a sense of the experience solely from your descriiptions.
Content
A successful report will address these 4 broad categories. Organizing your paper by this large structure is highly encouraged.
Introduction
Begin with an engaging first sentence that draws your reader in and makes them want to continue reading their paper. Provide any necessary transitions that relate this first statement to the topic of your paper.
Give the basics of the event; name of the concert and group performing, possible soloists and leaders (conductors).
Briefly describe your expectations for the experience- feeling free to point out any observations about our unique to an online experience.
What type of performance did you watch (symphony, opera, solo, chamber, ballet, etc)?
What pieces did you hear, who were the composers, and what were historical eras of these pieces?
Narrow down your focus
Introduce the two movements you will explore in detail.
Provide brief background information about the composer and/or piece including historical information that is of interest. This might include why the piece was significant to history or the composer.
If you choose ballet or opera, you should provide a brief, broad synopsis of the story told (less than 3 sentences, if possible). Same thing if your piece is programmatic (such as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6)– give a brief introduction to the programmatic aspects of the piece.
Body of Report: Musical Analysis
Musical Analysis of two movements or short pieces from your concert
Some pieces of art, such as opera and ballet, are formatted as one long story. It might be difficult for you to delineate movements. Instead, you will describe the music at two ‘action points’ in the story.
Example of how to narrow down your focus for opera or ballet: “This paper contrasts the music for the love duet of Lady Carla and Don Giovanni (1:30:20 in video) and during Don Giovanni’s death (2:20:19 in video)”
The main body of your report focuses on accurately and interestingly applying the knowledge gained in this class to the specific music you heard at the concert.
Use YOUR ears and listen for the basic elements discussed in class; you do not need to use all the elements, but a good paper will try to notice a minimum of 7 musical observations.
Use timings from the video stream to help orient your reader to descriiptions (example: “At 0:2:40, the orchestra made a dramatic crescendo…”)
If you choose to use citations in this section, make them brief and only use them to support your own observations, not in place of your observations.
Here are a few approaches to this section that might help you get started. DO NOT ATTEMPT ALL OF THESE IDEAS.
Contrast/compare your two works with references to specific musical elements.
Give an overview of their characters- what types of moods or feelings they evoked, then back that up with references to specific musical elements.
Choose the music composition you liked best and describe why using specific musical elements. Contrast it with the music you liked least and describe why using musical elements.
Conclusion
For an academic paper about art, you will provide either a synthesis or evaluation to conclude your paper. This might be a good spot to bring back ideas associated with your engaging introductory sentence or title.

The authors of the textbook state that “music is universal, but it is not a universal language” (Miller & Shahriari, 2021, p. 18). What does this statement mean?
You may not be familiar with many of the types of musics we will listen to in this course. What are some things you can do to make it easier for you to learn as you listen to unfamiliar music?

The authors of the textbook state that “music is universal, but it is not a universal language” (Miller & Shahriari, 2021, p. 18). What does this statement mean?
You may not be familiar with many of the types of musics we will listen to in this course. What are some things you can do to make it easier for you to learn as you listen to unfamiliar music?

Watch the two short videos on Minstrel shows and write a 1-2 page, double spaced paper (include your name, and course # at the top) using Arial 12 pt. font that answers the following:
1. What is your initial reaction to watching the videos of early minstrel shows?
2. How have minstrel shows affected the way America treats slaves, freemen, and African Americans?
3. Provide examples of modern day minstrelsy that you have seen on tv, film, or music videos.

Write a minimum 350-word reflection about how the eras of Western European classical music from the Middle Ages to the Baroque, are or are not relevant to your experience of music today, using specific examples from ch 8-10 of the textbook. You must discuss at least three musical examples or pieces. You do not have to agree that these concepts are relevant to your musical experience today, but whether you do or do not agree, you need to explain why you hold your position.
Possible Topics
Some questions that you can answer to structure your reflection are:
1. How is music represented visually today as compared to the middle ages? What role does music notation play in contemporary musical practice, if any? How does this change depending on the type of music you are discussing?
2. What cultural, social, philosophical, or political influences shaped the musical practices discussed in chapters 8-10? What cultural, social, philosophical, or political influences shape the music you listen to today?
3. What type of instruments were used in chapters 8-10 and how do those instruments relate to contemporary instruments used in different musical traditions?
4. How does the use of lyrics and singing relate to the practice of chapters 8-10?
5. How does the practice of musical performance compare to today? What were concerts like in chapters 8-10, what are they like today, and are there any relationships between these?
You do not have to answer all these questions. You can write the entire reflection on one question, answer all five, or make up your own questions, but again, you do need to discuss three separate pieces of information or musical pieces found in chapters 8-10.
You are not required to use any sources other than the textbook, but if you use any sources other than the textbook you must acknowledge this by citing the source in some way.
The textbook is Music Appreciation – A Guide for the Active Listener. I have a digital log in if needed.
https://www.khpcontent.com/

General Information
View one of the concerts listed in the Directions for the Concert Report
Write a 5-page paper on the experience
Details
What to write about:
Describe what you hear and see in the concert/performance
Share your opinion on the performance
Use musical terminology as appropriate
Format:
Three pages typed, double-spaced (a full 5 pages); no title page
12-point font
Organize the paper into paragraphs
Important Note!
You must cite the source every time you incorporate research, words, ideas, data, or information that is not your own.
If you directly use someone else’s research, words, ideas, data, or information — even if you rewrite their words in your own way — you must use an in-text citation. After the quote or the words you have borrowed, parenthetically give the author’s last name and the year of publication. Then at the end of the report, include a list of all your sources. For each source, include the author, the publication date, the title of the page or article, the website name, and the URL
For example, if you take a quote or biographical information about Nina Simone from Wikipedia, add a parenthetical after that information in the text of your report: (Wikipedia contributors, 2023). Then put the full citation at the end of your report: Wikipedia contributors. (2023, February 1). Nina Simone. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone Links to an external site.

For this assignment, choose one of the listenings from Unit 1 .
spotify list: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4ZmBDuBgI8SytwPXv3M6tp?si=65ed381807064697
Your assignment is to create a listening guide for this piece and write a short accompanying text. You may choose the format of your listening guide. For instance, you may decide to create a charts, a graphic, or some other visual representation for your piece. Alternately, you may create a purely textual listening guide. You might also choose to create an audio or video listening guide.
What to do:
1. State which listening you have chosen.
2. Make a listening guide for your chosen piece. This listening guide should be aimed at an audience of high school or undergraduate students; presume that they have no music theory knowledge. Creative approaches to listening guides are encouraged. Do not simply provide a listing of time codes and musical features. Rather, guide your listener through the music with the goal of helping them make their own connections, and perhaps even extensions, about the sounds they are hearing. On which musical elements would you like your listeners to focus and why?
Remember, it is up to you to choose the format of your listening guide.
Charts, graphics, or other visual representations should be about 1/2 to 1 page in length (PDF)
Written listening guides should be about 3/4 to 1 page in length (Word doc, double-spaced).
Audio or video listening guides should be about 1-2 minutes long (mp3, m4a, mp4)
3. Then, write a short accompanying text (250-350 words) for your listening guide. What musical elements does your listening guide foreground? Point the listener to two or three key musical moments and explain how you have represented these in your listening guide.

MUS1030: Music Appreciation
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Writing Assignment 1: Bach, Beethoven, and Bugs Bunny?
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Description
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This is an NPR story focusing on classical music in cartoons. Read the summary of “Classical Masterpieces Turn Up in Cartoons” from NPR. Then, click on “Listen Now” in the top left corner to open the 9 minute program. Listen carefully to the interview — hopefully you will remember some of the examples.
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Weekend Edition Sunday. Classical Masterpieces Turn Up in Cartoons. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17854152
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Assignment
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Go to the NPR story on their website.
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Weekend Edition Sunday. Classical Masterpieces Turn up in Cartoons. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17854152
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Read the summary
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Click “Listen Now” in the top left corner to open the program
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Listen to the entire interview
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Respond to the following prompts:
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Do you remember any of the cartoons mentioned? If so, explain which ones and what your experiences of these cartoons and the music were.
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Whose “Ave Maria” is mentioned in the interview? Have you heard this piece before? What are your reactions to this piece?
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Do you think children today experience classical music as much as people in your generation did?
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Do you think exposing children to a wide variety of music is important? Why?
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What is your prior experience playing, reading, and listening to music?
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What is your favorite type of music? Why? What draws you to this genre?
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All answers should be written in proper formal style. This means that responses should be written in complete sentences with no spelling or grammatical errors. Try to expand on your ideas as much as possible — one-word responses are never acceptable.
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Please create your response in a Word document file that you will submit under the Assignments tab. It needs to be at least 1 page, double-spaced, 12-point font. Do not list your name, class title, date, etc. on the paper in the corners nor list the questions again in your final submission.
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You can either write your answers in essay format with each question being a new paragraph, or you can number them and answer accordingly.
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When saving and submitting your writing assignments, please use the following naming convention:
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Lastname Firstname WA1.docx
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This example is obviously for Writing Assignment 1 [WA1], so change the number accordingly in subsequent assignments. The example is also for a recent version of Word that saves with a .docx file extension — .doc extensions from older versions of Word are fine too. .pdf extensions are acceptable as well, but please do not submit .odt or .rtf files — your word processing program should allow you to save as a .pdf.
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Do NOT use symbols (#,&,@, etc.) when creating filenames — this often makes files harder to open (and this applies in work settings as well; stick to letters, numbers, and spaces only).
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Please address all of the prompts in your response. Any response that requires your opinion on the music should be extensive; this is always the most important aspect of the assignment. Do not settle for a simple, surface-level answer; music is complex as are human feelings and reactions to it. You must work to articulate your ideas and opinions clearly and completely. You will not be graded based on your opinions — you will be graded based on your ability to communicate your ideas.
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Do not cut and paste any of your answer from another source. Plagiarism includes any copying of the words, structure, or ideas of another author without clear citation of that source. If you use the ideas of another author, put these in your own words.