Homework Schedule for the Semester

Due Jan. 31: Google Form introducing yourself (2 pts)

Please complete this form so I can get to know you a little better!

Due Feb. 14: Brief Musical Autobiography (1-2 pages, 10 pts). This is a personal narrative. It should be written in first person. As you can see from our readings, the personal narrative can take many forms and go many different places. Think about what drew you in (or didn’t!) when reading those autobiographical/auto-ethnographic excerpts and play with tone, texture, etc. You can focus on a memory of a concert, a time making music in school or listening to music with friends or family, your earliest memory of music, your relationship to a genre, your listening tastes, or anything music-related in your life. You are also encouraged to think and write about how the other topics of this course, such as race, gender, sexuality, and disability, interact with your musical narrative.

Due Feb. 21/22: Citation Zine (in class, 2 pts)

As part of our citation and bibliography workshop, we will make zines in class. All you have to do is show up, materials will be provided!

Due Mar. 6: Research Topic Proposal and Preliminary Bibliography (1-2 paragraphs + 3 or more formatted sources, 6 pts)

The topic proposal and preliminary bibliography assignment is a chance for you to get an early start on the preparatory work for your research paper. Thorough research takes time, and, for instance, if you intend to visit an archive in person, you will need to make an appointment in advance. Most strong arguments (summarized in a thesis statement) take a while to develop. For the topic proposal, write a one-to-two paragraph summary of the topic you would like to research for your final paper. The topic may be anything that relates to the course theme. If you already have thoughts on how you might go about your research process, feel free to share them in your proposal (ex: “I plan on interviewing [a local artist]” or “I plan on visiting [an NYC archive to look at their collection of riot grrrl zines].”)

For the preliminary bibliography, you should include 3 or more sources (including one primary and one secondary source). These sources should be properly formatted using the citation style of your choice (such as Chicago, MLA, etc.)

Mar. 18 & 20: Mid-semester 1:1 Zoom Meeting, sign up before! (2 pts)

This mid-semester meeting is an opportunity for me to check in with each of you about how the course is going.

Mar. 25 & 27: Midterm presentations: From your concert program, present a video/audio clip of one of the pieces along with your introduction and your program note for the selected piece, 7 pts).

Mar. 28: Concert Program with Program Notes (3-5 piece concert program with 1-3 paragraph introduction explaining the theme of your concert and 1-2 paragraphs per program note for each piece, 13 pts).

Think about a theme, concept, or category around which you might like to organize an imagined concert. You are welcome to take inspiration from our course’s topic weeks (ex: Queer Afrofuturism) or come up with something entirely different!

Once you have a theme, you can start finding pieces of music that fit into this theme (or you may find it easier to work in the opposite direction, by starting with a few pieces of music you’d like to program and figuring out what they have in common, then finding other pieces that fit that theme).

Next, write about your theme as an introduction to the concert for the audience (this should go towards the top or just inside the program). This helps the audience to understand what the pieces have in common and what to expect from the concert.

Then write program notes for each piece on your program. See the Resources page of this site for more detailed guides on writing program notes.

Finally, make a concert program. Feel free to have fun with graphic design or keep it plain. Submit it as a PDF to [email protected].

Some notes: Use your own words and provide English translations of non-English text when possible. If you use direct quotations, such as from a critic’s review of a composer, cite your source in the text, for example: | Caroline Shaw’s work has been described by New York Times critic Zachary Woolfe as “dazzling” and “emotionally generous.” | Otherwise, please keep track where you found your information and keep your sources in a separate document (that I may ask to see).

The midterm presentation is a chance for your classmates to see what you’ve been working on and for everyone to learn something new from one another and be exposed to new music! Presentations should be around five minutes.

Due Apr. 21: Multimedia Article/Interview OR Album/Concert Review (2-3 pages, 13 pts). Write an article aimed at a general audience on a musician, a musical group, a musical genre, etc. Imagine you are writing it for a publication such as the NYT or Pitchfork or the Guardian. Reflect on and revisit the readings we’ve done this semester that are in these forms. In the idiom of the form, include multimedia (pictures, videos, etc.) and in-text links to sources as citations.

OR Review an album, concert, or show that incorporates music in a significant way. Click here to read some guidelines for writing a review.

Go to see live music OR Listen to an album

Take notes.

In your review, write about when the concert took place or when the album was released, where the concert took place, who performed (using which instruments), what music was performed and who wrote it (and when). Did you like the concert or album? Elaborate: If so, why? If not, why not? In your opinion, what was successful and what wasn’t? If you are writing an album review, you may wish to mention how the album you’re writing about fits in with the rest of the artist’s discography. Song titles go in quotation marks (ex: Beyoncé’s “Love on Top”) and titles of longer works or albums get italicized (ex: “Love on Top” from Beyoncé’s 2011 album 4). Pick one or two songs from the album or concert to write about in more detail.

Due May 8: Draft of Research Paper (2-3 pages for draft, 4-6 pages + bibliography for final version, 13 pts)

Using your research topic proposal and preliminary bibliography as a starting point, write a research paper with an original argument (encapsulated in your thesis statement). Your topic may change somewhat over the course of the semester, and that is totally okay, but if you wish to pick an entirely new topic you will need to run your new topic by me first. Your final bibliography should be longer than your preliminary bibliography. You will receive feedback on your draft from me during the third week of May, as well from your classmates during our Peer Review Party.

May 13 or May 15: End-of-semester 1:1 Zoom Meeting, sign up before! (2 pts)

This end-of-semester meeting is an opportunity for me to check in with each of you about how the course is going as we approach the end of the semester.

May 22: Final Portfolio (30 pts)

The final portfolio is an opportunity for you to revisit and revise all of your writing projects from throughout the semester, incorporating the feedback you have received from your classmates and instructor. The final portfolio should include revised versions of the following assignments:

1. personal narrative aka musical autobiography
2. article/interview or album/concert review
3. research paper

While previous assignments for this course were graded based on completion (if you submitted an assignment on time that fully addresses the prompt, you received full credit), the final portfolio will be graded on the quality of the writing and the effort and extent of revisions you make.

If you do not turn in a final portfolio or turn in one that does not engage with any of the feedback you have received this semester, you will earn 0-2 points. If you put in little effort and make very few or few revisions, you will earn 3-14 points. If you put in more effort and make moderate revisions, you will earn 15-19 points. If you make significant revisions, you will earn 20-24 points. If you engage deeply with the feedback you have received on your writing and make extensive revisions, you will earn 25-30 points.