It appears that some people are having issues with worksheet 4. This is in no small part due to the fact that I was too sick both to host Monday's Workshop or to teach on Tuesday. I have a couple of possible solutions that I would like to run by you. Please reply with your thoughts in the comments, and we will discuss in class. As of right now, I am granting everyone an extension on the assignment until midnight tonight, but I may change that depending on your input:
I could grant an extension to those who need it until Monday, but students would have to come to a presentation on Audacity held later today. Those who do not need the extension will be given an extra point on this assignment as reward for completing it on time.
I could give an extension until Monday for those who need it. We could spend today's class talking about Audacity (those who already have the assignment completed could leave). The daily class wiritings would then become homework. Again, anyone turning in the assignment on time would receive an extra point on it.
We could do nothing. You will all be given an extension until midnight if you need it. I will field questions but not discuss Audacity in class, and will give the lecture I have prepared for the day.
Something else--if you have suggestions, please let me know in the comments.
Sound Opinions gives us a really in-depth look at ska as a genre. Explain the three waves of ska and what defined them. Then, explain what the waves have in common. What does this history tell us about how we understand genres and the ways in which they evolve?
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Given the definition of genre that I just gave, to what exigence is the genre of music you are discussing for your blog post a fitting response. Give a brief argument to explain and defend this postion.
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Summarize Croggon and Parker's argument about retro-historicism. What can you do to avoid this in your writing while still taking into account history and genre?
Pick the person who is going to have their blog reviewed first. Once time starts, the person to the left of them will read aloud the blog of the person being reviewed. The person who wrote the blog post, the reader, or the third reviewer can interrupt the reading at any time to ask questions or provide feedback. Do not stop discussing the review until I call time. Remember, you can do actual composition work and revision during these reviews. Some questions you may want to consider are:
Is the review relying too much on the background material or saying that the artists' intentions unequivocally explain the meaning of the album? (Neither are good.)
Does the review bring in relevant outside information that provides a context in which we can understand the album, or does it rely merely on a "navel-gazing" analysis of the album?
Does the author spend too much time discussing lyrics?
Does the author discuss the impact of the sound, or does she focus on pedantic descriptions of the sound?
Does the author provide a reading of the album, simply give an opinion, or simply describe the album?
Is the author's post on brand? Is that brand interesting, unique, and enjoyable to read?
Does the author fall back on track-by-track analysis, or discuss the album as a whole? (the latter is preferred for this assignment.)
Is the voice, tone, and grammar of the writing easy to read? Are the errors or "writing ticks" that throw you out of the reading?
Today we are going to use the rhetorical concepts we learned on Tuesday, and just went over together in class, to gain and organize information from a research source. We will watch the following videos hoping to learn about the band Screaming Females. We will then use this information to write rich and interesting reviews of their song "Hopeless" from Rose Mountain. We will be using the rhetorical situation both to help us think about what we want to learn from the source--who is this band, what are they like, what are their fans like, why did they create this album, what was their recording process, etc.--and to help us categorize this information once we have extracted it from the video.
So, as you watch this video, make copious notes about what we learn about Screaming Females's ethos, the pathos they generate in their audience, the logos of Rose Mountain (though much of that will come from actually engaging with the album itself), the exigence to which Rose Mountain was a fitting response, and the timelines of the album. The video does not clearly state these things; instead, you will have to make your own observations from watching it. In other words, this is a creative and analytical practice that asks you to pay attention not only to what is said but also actions, images, and auditory cues. Make as many notes as possible, the more information we have, the better reviews we will write.
Now that we have used the rhetorical situation to interrogate our background source and categorize the information, we will use that information to inform our reviews of "Hopeless."
Listen to the track, write a review, and post it in the comments section.
Today we are going to play a little game. I am going to split you up into 8 groups of three to analyze the four reviews you needed to read for today. This means that there will be two groups assigned to each review. You will all answer questions about the review and the honest based on today's lecture and the focus of Blog Post 3, "how can we utilize background information to write better album reviews?"
Each group analyzing the same review will be in direct competition with the group analyzing there same review. Each member of the group that answers the questions better, as determined by me with input from your peers, will receive an extra point (remember I grade those on a five point scale) on their Workshop 3 grade.
Use our discussion to answer the following questions:
What is the reviewer's (NOT the artist's) exigence for writing the article?
Describe the reviewer's (NOT the artist's ) ethos? How does she establish it? Give specific examples.
What kind of emotional response (pathos) does the author (NOT the artist) try to evoke from the audience? How does she do this? Give specific examples.
How does the author characterize the artist? In other words, how does the reviewer describe the artist's ethos? Give specific examples.
How does the author characterize the artist's connection to her audience? In other words, how does the reviewer describe the artist's pathos? Give specific examples?
How does the author describe the relationship between the artists purpose and execution? In other word, how does the reviewer describe the artists logos? Give specific examples.
Take some time to listen to some of the artist's songs. Consider, and give a brief explanation of how the reviewer's characterization of the artist's ethos, pathos, and logos effects how you engage with the music. Include the name of the song(s) to which your group listened.
For Worksheet Three you are creating a collage about your artist, their album, and the context in which it was created. Hopefully, this research combined with the use of an unusual mode of analysis will help you rethink the relationship between artist, album, and context in that way that will enable you to say something interesting about the album. However, I understand that working with image manipulation software can be confusing, which is why we are having this workshop. I am not a expert with using GIMP, which is why I have provided you with this tutorial from GlacticsTutorials:
Of course, we are here in a workshop for a reason. Feel free to ask me questions, ask those around you questions, or offer up some knowledge. Between all of us and the internet, we should be able to solve any problems that emerge. As we work, we will listen to J Dilla's Donuts
Choose either Ann Power's review of Daft Punk's Random Access Memories or Jim Derogatis's review of Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends. Take a few moments to skim over the review, then write a short response explaining what makes the review noteworthy (voice, tone, alliteration, research, lyrical readings, discussion of instrumentation, use of history, knowledge of band, knowledge of musical discussion, etc.). In your response, make sure to use examples from the text (summaries, paraphrases, quotes, textual references) to evidence your position.
