Posted: November 6th, 2015

College Music Assignment

The Essay for this Module is not one long essay, but rather, series of 4 short, one-page ‘mini-essays.’ These one-page essays are designed to demonstrate how you personally listen to four different musical selections. You are asked to write verbal descriptions of the style and structure of four different musical works. Each of these works is unique in origins and style; the selections are very different from one another. The listening selections are from the accompanying course CDs:

• #26 Dikrayati
• #12 John Howatt
• #25 Mozart, Piano Sonata in A Major, No. 11 (K.331). (Use the Theme and first Variation only. Note that the first Variation has sounds of Turkish March Music. The first Variation ends when a rumbling bass stops at a cadence. This signals the close of your assigned music selection.)
• #14 Beethoven, Symphony No. 5 in C Minor. (Use the beginning section only, this is the first 1 minute, up to the development section. )

For each selection, write a one-page explanation of the selection’s rhythmic and melodic features. You may want to use 3 paragraphs: a brief introduction, a paragraph on rhythm, a paragraph on melody. Discuss these elements chronologically, in the order in which they occur in the music, to show that you are hearing change within the musical flow. Use all course-related materials text, audio, and web resources to help you discuss the ways that rhythm and melody contribute to the overall effect of the selection.

Addendum to ESSAY #3: Musical Terms & Definitions

Please ALSO submit with ESSAY #3 a list of at least 5 key terms and definitions you have learned in your reading assignments for MODULE 3. You can choose any 5 terms found in Chapters 5 & 6. Please attach to your ESSAY #3, as an ‘addendum,’ a list of these 5 terms with definitions to indicate you understand the meaning of the terms. These terms should be related to your listening assignments for the MODULE.

For this MODULE, the Instructor will post web sites to assist you if you wish to look up additional key terms and definitions in your work on Rhythm & Melody.

Documentation Guidelines for this Essay

• If you quote from the text or from web sites, you must document using ” ” [quotation marks] known as an ‘exact quote,’ and if from a web site, you must provide web site addresses.
• If you ‘paraphrase’ (approximate the language style and content of a source) from text or web site, you must still provide page references and web address information at the bottom of your paper, to indicate your sources.
• If you quote lyrics from a song or biographical information, for example, from a CD or album cover, you should provide the ‘reference’ for the CD, such as CD title, volume number, record company, date published, etc. (you can find this information on any CD); for information such as lyrics from a songbook you should also include publisher and standard annotation information, etc.
• You may wish to do a combination of ‘personal opinion’ as a listener and ‘quotes’ from resources, to provide a context for the information you present.

If you ‘paraphrase’ (approximate the language style and content of a source) from text or web site, you must still provide page references and web address information at the bottom of your paper, to indicate your sources.

If you quote lyrics from a song or biographical information, for example, from a CD or album cover, you should provide the ‘reference’ for the CD, such as CD title, volume number, record company, date published, etc. (you can find this information on any CD); for information such as lyrics from a songbook you should also include publisher and standard annotation information, etc.

You may wish to do a combination of ‘personal opinion’ as a listener and ‘quotes’ from resources, to provide a context for the information you present.

How the music affects you personally will enter into your analysis and might serve you well as a brief introduction to each analysis. That is, various moods, images, or impressions of the sounds may enter your mind as you listen. The main object is to discuss the music itself in terms of rhythm and melody. Do use the keywords and other relevant terms and concepts you encounter in our reading as part of your musical description.

Do not be surprised that it may be difficult, at first, to write ‘analytically’ about music. The learning experience is what this course is about, and this Essay is one step in that process. As a listener, your skills in analysis will grow with ‘practice’ in listening to both the ‘formal elements’ and the ‘feeling elements’ in the music.