On my way

Hello friends terrible traffic on 66 this morning there in 10 minutes. Please review the exam instructions and listen to the songs while you wait. Thank you!

Exam Activity

Dear Friends: Welcome to you exam! There shouldn’t be many surprises here. Here’s the drill:

First of all, choose one of the two songs as your essay focus. You are welcome to pull up the lyrics on your laptop, but you should not, on your honor, read anything else about these songs on the internet during the exam period.

Song: "People are Crazy" by Billy Currinton OR "Marilyn Monroe" by Nicki Minaj

Please write a two-three page EXPOSITORY (thesis-forward) essay that answers the following question, employing terminology from our close-listening lessons and activities:

How does your chosen song transmit cultural messages, ideas or values using AT THREE methods (through lyrics, through instrumentation, through performance, through rhythm, through sampling, through references to other art, etc)?

Your essay should:

·       Have a strong expository structure with a clear, recognizable thesis that addresses the essay question.

·       Be well-organized on the paragraph level, with clear topic sentences.

·       Contain your own original thinking in each paragraph, offering insight into the song and your ideas about the song that are products of your own mind.

·       Use at least three specific examples from your chosen song(s) derived from close listening techniques.

·       Be properly MLA formatted with in-text citations and a works cited entry for your chosen song(s).

You may:

·       Use a 4 x 6 index card (both sides) containing ideas/info prepared in advance

·       Look up the lyrics to the song on the internet

·       Use the Purdue Owl MLA Guide to verify that your citations and formatting are correct

You may not:

·       Use the internet to access email, Facebook, or look up any information while your exam is in progress.

·       Consult others during the exam period.

You will have ninety minutes to complete this activity from start to finish. I STRONGLY recommend setting aside the first five minutes of the activity for pre-planning and outlining, and last five minutes for proofreading and editing. Once you have completed the exam, please email it to me as an attachment.

Thank you so much for a wonderful semester. I really respect the work you’ve put in, and I’ve had so much fun with you! I’m on side in all your future endeavors! You are awesome!

Annotated Bibliography Guidelines

Instructions for the Annotated Bibliography

See assignment sheet for source breakdown!

Each entry (source) will consist of three parts:

1)    The citation. This looks JUST LIKE any entry on a works cited.

2)    The summary. 3-5 sentences describing what happens in the source.

3)    The evaluation. 3-5 sentences describing the role that this source will play in creating your original thinking and answering your questions.

Your annotated bibliography will play an important role in the development of a focused, well rounded research project:

Benefits for a Writer

• Encourages the researcher to choose their sources carefully and intentionally.
• Help the researcher to build a solid body of evidence BEFORE beginning to write.
• Supports careful planning of a paper’s substantiation.

Benefits for a Reader

• Helps the reader to fully integrate quotation into the overall argument.
• Gives the reader additional information about the paper topic and piques their interest.
• Gives the reader a “behind the scenes tour” of the writer’s research logic.
• Provides the reader with additional material on the topic, should they wish to explore it further.

Basics:

MLA Format

3^rd Person

Academic tone

Carefully proofread

For formatting help, please see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/

Online Class Activity 4-3-15-- EDIT: LINK FIXED

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Instead of in-person class today, please read this the Pop Music and Culture Lit Review. I went with a smaller, 10-page version instead of the 20-monster I was originally considering. You are welcome.

 Please annotate it according to your customary style and write a 250-word response to those ideas on your blog by MIDNIGHT ON SUNDAY-- little extra time for ya. Don't forget to do that, because it's your attendance for today's class!

Please don't forget, also, to keep working on research for your paper-- we'll go over what you've got so far on Tuesday!

Anna

REMINDER: ONLINE (NOT IN PERSON) CLASS ON FRIDAY 4-3

Online research activity on the way!

Profiles on Longreads

Hi, friends. Please use this link to find and select a profile piece from Longreads that interests you!

Pre-research Guide

To start things off, you'll fill out this pre-research guide over the weekend. Have fun!

Sample Profile Pieces

Here are the two sample profiles we'll start with:

Jay-Z

Willie Nelson

Project #3 Assignment Sheet

Hi friends! Can't wait to get started on Project #3 with you! Have fun!

Anna

Just for fun: Snow Day Country Mix

And! Since it's been a while since we listened to country! Here's a little lady-centric mix of a few songs that have come up in class lately. Plus a very important video because snow day. Don't forget to look at the blog entry below this one for today's actual class work :)

Snow Day Activity 3-6-15

Hi, friends,

Happy snow day! Instead of class, please read this text on Media Ecology. Then, write a blog entry discussing how this theory might help you in translating your written work over to the media form for Project 2. Please get it all done by midnight tonight.

Have fun!

Anna

Project Two!

Here we go, folks. This is gonna be fun.

Reading for Friday 2-26: Ogbar on Hip Hop

Finally, friends, let's bring this conversation into the late 20 century! Pleaser read and respond to Ogbar for Friday.

Note that we have moved the due date for Project Two to MARCH 20th because of snow days. Please adjust your calendars!

Reading and Listening for Monday 2/23: Kevin Young and the Blues

Hi, friends! Instead of reading more theory this weekend, let's head right over to Kevin Young. Please read this excerpt from Young's wonderful book, The Grey Album, and listen to the two songs below, both of which are mentioned in the article.

Then, please write a 250-word blog entry considering how Young's thinking about the relationship between movements of thought (like modernism), movements of creativity (like the Harlem Rennaissance), musical genre (like the blues), and historical envents could be applied to Modern Rap and Country Music.

How might we place these genres with the same context into which Young places the Blues? Finally, how might Hebdige's ideas about subculture and style help us to do so?

Homework for Friday 2/20: New playlist! It's been a while!

Dear friends,

Please listen to the following playlist, and select one of the country songs and one of the rap songs to write about.

Then, please write a separate page response to each song, discussing how that song represents/signifies a specific subculture, making use of five of the keywords/concepts that you found in the Hebdige reading.

 It's ok if you don't fully get Hebdige, and/or if your thinking about how these songs relate isn't yet fully formed. Right now, we are just starting to think about the relationship between music and culture/subculture, and mixing those concepts around in our brainpans. It'll be fun!

Snow Day Activity

Hi, friends! Happy snow day! As promised, here is your asynchronous class work for today. Please post the response to your blog by midnight. Have fun!

Please download the pdf of Dick Hebdige's Subculture: the Meaning of Style. We'll be reading several selections from this book for this unit.

To start, please read pp.1-4 and pp.23-29 (according to the numbering on the book, not on the pdf). Then, please make a series of of detailed notes about what Hebdige is saying about culture, subculture, style, and object. Start by chunking what you've read, with a full sentence summary of each chunk and a full precis of each of the two sections sections. Then, identify at least ten important keywords for the two sections taken together.

Your homework for Friday will involve more thinking about this reading!

Reading Roundup 2-13-15

Hi, friends,

For homework this weekend, please read the articles below, and then a write a single response covering both.

Word on the Suite

When Country Was King

Can't wait to talk to you about this!

Anna

Paper #1 Peer Editing Procedure

Here's how we roll:

Pair off with a friend, exchange drafts, and follow this process with their draft. I'll ask to see what you produce later on:

1.     Chunk the paper into sections  and write a one-sentence summary of each section.

2.     Go through the paper with a pen and circle every single example or piece of outside evidence

3.     Write down (complete sentences) five observations about the original thinking or ideas in the paper.

4.     Write down ten questions inspired by reading the paper

5.     Write down five observations and the paper’s written style.

Finish with a short in-person chat.

Conference Sign-Up for Friday

Hi friends,

Hope your rough draft for Paper #1 is going well!

 Just a reminder that we will be having conferences in the Dav on Friday instead of having class. Don't forget to sign up for a slot using the office hours sign-up in the upper right hand corner of the blog. To your conference, please bring a printed copy of your rough draft, and a list of at least three questions about that draft to get our discussion started.


I'm really looking forward to chatting with each of you one-on-one!
Anna

Paper #1 Assignment Sheet

Hi, friends. Here is assignment sheet for Paper #1. Have fun!

Reading and Listening for This Snowy Week

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Hi, friends.

Long time no see! Obviously, because we haven't seen each other for a week, we will be pushing conferences back-- WE WILL MEET ON FRIDAY.

In light of the classes we've missed, I'll be doing some restructuring to make sure you get the time you deserve to work on Paper #1-- I'll be introducing it on Friday. If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch.

In the meantime, please read Daley's take on vocal performance in Bob Dylan's 1965 recording of "Like a Rolling Stone", and respond on your blog.  I know this song is neither rap nor country-- I did that on purpose. It would be great if you could get this done by Friday, as you'll have additional homework over the weekend, but because this is going up a day late, you post your response NO LATER THAN MONDAY 2/2.

You'll want to listen to the recording in question, linked below.

See you all on Friday, snow-free and healthy!
Anna

Class Activities for 1-23: Make Your Own Playlist

Hi, friends,

So sorry that I had to cancel class today due to my illness. Hopefully I'll be all healed up next time we see one another!

Instead of coming to class, please create a four song-playlist of songs that, in Barthes' words "desire you" (you may focus on a single genre or mix it up) and post it on your blog. For each song, please write at least one sentence answering the following questions:

1. What is it about this song that "desires you"?
2. What are the selective "screens and baffles" of style, culture, or message that pull you to this song?
3. What is noteworthy about the song's historical and or/cultural context?
4. Who wrote/performed the song and why does it matter?

Please post the playlist and annotations to your blog by the end of class time-- this will serve as your participation and attendance for today.

I'll hold off on introducing the paper until Tuesday. Keep your eyes open for the reading roundup and weekly playlist to be posted later today.

See you Tuesday!
Anna

In-Class Reading and Listening 1-20

Hi, friends,

Today we'll listen to these songs in class:


We'll also be using Wikipedia's Glossary of Literary Terms, paying special attention to the following terms:

-Allegory
-Allusion
-Analogy
-Apology
-Archetype
-Ballad
-Bildungrsoman
-Close Reading
-Conceit
-Context
-Criticism
-Dialect
-Discourse
-Epithet
-Euphemism
-Figurative Language
-Hagiography
-Hyperbole
-Imagism
-Intertextuality
-Lyric
-Morality Play
-Pathos
-Post-colonialism
-Psychoanalytic Theory
-Refrain
-Semiotics
-Simile
-Soliloquy
-Symbolism
-Verism
-Voice


Go team!

Barthes Update

Hi, friends

So sorry that the Barthes link was not looking. BECAUSE OF THIS, YOU WON'T HAVE TO TURN IN THE RESPONSE TILL FRIDAY. If you've done it already-- great! If not, I understand, and we'll hold off on discussing it till you've all hard the chance.

HERE is the updated link. Tomorrow, I'll just expect your playlist response.

Anna

Reading: Barthes' Ideas about Text

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Dear friends, for next class, please read this excerpt from Rolande Barthes' "The Pleasures of the Text" and write a 250-word blog response.

In particular, please consider in your response how Barthes' ideas might (or might not) be applied to "reading" music as a "text".  Another, deeper consideration-- are both country and hip hop "texts" in the same sense, or in different senses? Tackle that only if you want.

This Week's Playlist: From 1993 on Forward

Hi, friends! Here's this week's playlist. Please write a 250-word response to ONE of these songs based on the close listening heuristic you developed in class. You'll notice the Garth Brooks song is from Grooveshark, just below the Spotify list. Have fun!


 

Introduction Letter Instructions

I'd also like for you to write to me an email of introduction (due Friday). I'm looking forward to talking to each of you one-on-one, but this helps get the ball rolling.

Please write me a carefully proofread, paragraphed letter introducing yourself in relationship to the course topic and goals. Skip the basic personal stuff since we'll do that in class, and try and answer these questions:

• What (if any) are your personal writing goals for this course?
• What (if any) are your scholarly writing goals for this course?
• What (if any) are your professional writing goals for this course?
• What are your feelings about the course topic and title? 
• Do you have any preexisiting experience or hold any preexisting opinions related to the course topic?
• What are five questions about writing that you'd like to answer over the course of the semester?
• What are five questions about the course topic that you'd like to answer over the course of the semester?

Finally, please create your Blogger Blog, and share the URL with me at the end of this email.

Thanks for your patience during all of this start-up stuff! We'll get into the swing of things as quickly as we everly can.

Anna

Reading Response Instructions

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For each reading assignment you read in this course, you'll need to write a minimum 250 word blog response.

So long as the writing is properly polished and proofread with complete sentences, clear thoughts, and proper mechanics, you may write whatever you like concerning the reading in question. Sometimes that may mean summarizing a particularly sticky essay, other times it may mean expressing your original thinking about it, or relating it to your own life experience. I may also offer some questions to consider along with specific reading assignments. You may discuss these in your blog entry, but it is not required.

In any case, the purpose of these responses is to: 

a) Hold you accountable for completing reading assignments 

b) Help you to chew on each reading assignment by responding to it in your own words.

Again, you will turn in the reading responses by posting them to your blog by class time on designated discussion date.  Have fun!

Reading Roundup: Close Listening

Friends, here is the roundup of resources we'll be using to guide our discussion of "close listening".

I'm also interested in talking about how "close listening" is similar to (and different from) "close reading", and how each can inform the other.

We'll start out exploration of close listening by reviewing Mystery Tricycle's instructions for developing a "listening heuristic".

We'll watch Evelyn Glennie's TED Talk, "How to Truly Listen", which models some great close listening techniques.
Finally, we'll be following Salford University researcher James Thirkettle's fantastic new blog, "How Do You Listen to Music?".

Please review each of these resources, and write a 250 word blog post that discusses your own perspective on listening, and that references each of the resources in some way.