Music

Please choose 2 songs/pieces (from Ch. 20-23) that can be vocal or instrumental music. Do NOT choose 2 sections or movements of the same piece, but rather two different pieces.  If you choose a vocal piece you MUST read the listening guides in your  textbook that provide translations of the words into English. There is  NO EXCUSE for not understanding what they’re singing about, when you  discuss the piece. Don’t guess. Use the available resources. Your  entries should include proper use of music vocabulary, and try to make  detailed comments, not broad generalizations. You DO NOT need to provide  Youtube links for your pieces. They should be the versions used in our  textbook.

When  you begin your discussion of each piece, please include the TITLE of  the larger work, the specific song, aria, or movement, and the COMPOSER.  Imagine your reader knows very little about music.

In  the journal entry you should discuss: What do you hear? What is going  on in the piece? How does the music develop compositionally or  sound-wise throughout the piece? What are the instruments or vocal  ranges being used? What genre and/or style 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.

**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.