Assignment Details

Due Feb. 4: Intro Form 

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

Due Feb. 5: Any materials you need printed for your zine! 

If you would like to use any specific printed materials in your zine, please email them to me so that I can print them. You may also submit an artist, genre, etc., that you would like to make a zine about, and I will print some related materials.

Due Feb. 7: Reading Reaction #1 

Reading and listening reactions are due before class. Reading reactions (1-2 paragraphs) are to spark discussion, so they should be questions and reactions, not summaries. Read Geffen, Sasha. “SCREAMING THE BEATLES: The First Boy Band Breaks the Gender Mold.” In Glitter Up the Dark: How Pop Music Broke the Binary, 13–26. University of Texas Press, 2020. and ask yourself:

  • Is there anything that is unclear to you?
  • What do you think of the argument that the author is making? What do you agree/disagree with?
  • What do you find interesting?
  • What might you like to talk about further in class?

Due Feb. 7: Create! 1: In-Class Zine Workshop 

We will make zines in class on Feb. 7. Your zine might include clippings from a magazine or newspaper interview with a favorite musician or band of yours, song lyrics, writings or drawings on your relationship to a song or an artist or a genre, a description of a time you went to a concert with a friend, etc. I will provide scissors, glue sticks, paper, markers, and various other materials you can use. You may also come to class and make a digital zine if you prefer.

Due Feb. 14: Create! 2: In-Class Jukebox Musical Activity! Bring headphones and laptop 🎧

Write an original plot synopsis (or make an adaptation!) with accompanying (pre-existing) hyperlinked songs for your own jukebox musical. See the Mamma Mia! Wikipedia page for an example of how to format the plot and musical numbers together. Remember, the title of your musical gets italicized and song titles go in quotes. One page, 4-6 songs.

Due Feb. 21: Reading Reaction #2 

Reading and listening reactions are due before class. Reading reactions (1-2 paragraphs) are to spark discussion, so they should be questions and reactions, not summaries. Read Farrell, Natalie. “K. K. COVID-19: Temporality, Trauma, and the Animal Crossing: New Horizons Soundtrack.” Journal of Sound and Music in Games. 2022. and ask yourself:

  • Is there anything that is unclear to you?
  • What do you think of the argument that the author is making? What do you agree/disagree with?
  • What do you find interesting?
  • What might you like to talk about further in class?

Due Feb. 21: Create! 3: In-Class Foley Art Project! Bring headphones and laptop  🎧

In groups of 2-4, where ideally at least one of you has a laptop, and one of you can record on a phone (headphones/earbuds will make this easier): You will select a video clip (a scene from a movie, a viral video, TikTok/Vine, part of one of these Pixar shorts, etc.) that has sound and recreate some of the sounds! Feel free to leave the classroom, explore the building, go outside, be creative, then when you’re finished, send both your sound file and the original clip to musqueens@gmail.com so we can listen! GarageBand and BandLab may be helpful here. You may use some sounds from sources such as BBC Sound Effects, but in the spirit of Foley art, you should also make some of your own! See Foley_(filmmaking)#Common_tricks for some inspiration.

Due Mar. 6: Listening Reaction #3 

Listen to any oral history from one of these collections, and write a short reflection (1-2 paragraphs) sharing what you learned from it! Among other things, pay attention to the sound in the recording. What do you notice about the voice of the person talking? Can you hear anything in the background?

Due Mar. 13: Reading Reaction #4 

Reading and listening reactions are due before class. Reading reactions (1-2 paragraphs) are to spark discussion, so they should be questions and reactions, not summaries. Read Ege, Samantha. “Florence Price and the Politics of Her Existence.” Kapralova Society Journal. 16 (2018). and ask yourself:

  • Is there anything that is unclear to you?
  • What do you think of the argument that the author is making? What do you agree/disagree with?
  • What do you find interesting?
  • What might you like to talk about further in class?

Due Mar. 20: Mid-semester 1:1 Zoom Meeting, sign up before! 

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

Due Mar. 27: Reading Reaction #5 

Reading and listening reactions are due before class. Reading reactions are to spark discussion, so they should be questions and reactions, not summaries. Kijas, Anna E. ‘Teresa Carreño: “Such gifts are of God, and ought not to be prostituted for mere gain.” In Gary E. McPherson (ed.), Musical Prodigies: Interpretations from Psychology, Education, Musicology, and Ethnomusicology (Oxford, 2016; online edn, Oxford Academic, 19 Jan. 2017). and ask yourself:

  • What are your preconceptions of the words prodigy or genius?
  • Who do these apply to/who gets excluded from them?
  • Do you think these are useful concepts? Who benefits from them? Who doesn’t?
  • What do you think of the argument that the author is making? What do you agree/disagree with?
  • What do you find interesting?
  • What might you like to talk about further in class?

Due Apr. 21: Create! 4: Composition Project 

This is a MuseScore/BandLab/Recording creative music composition project. This project is very open-ended! One option is to use MuseScore and a matrix calculator to write 12-tone/serial music. Another option is to experiment with BandLab or MuseScore to create something else musical. You may also create a simple audio recording with your voice and/or instruments. You can use your voice, instruments, sounds from the world around you, or digital instruments. You may work alone or in a group.

Due May 1 (9 AM): Create! 5a: Exhibit Topic & References 

Submit a 1-2 paragraph topic proposal for your Exhibit Project (see Create 5b and 5c!) and a formatted list of citations as a preliminary bibliography/works cited (which should include 4-6 potential sources at this point). The topic proposal and preliminary bibliography assignment is a chance for you to get an early start on the preparatory work for your Exhibit. 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. 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 creating a website for my digital exhibit” or “I plan on visiting [an NYC archive to look at their collection of riot grrrl zines].”)

Topic

You can pick any musically-relatable topic from any time that you can find items for in an archive, such as suffrage music, labor music, or a musical genre, a specific composer or performer, etc. You could relate music to a political/social movement, a visual art style, a place or culture, a language, dance, sports, a social category (music and gender, music and disability, music and race, music and sexuality, queer music), etc. The only requirement for the topic is that you must be able to find historical sources for it and that it must relate to music in some way, but there is a way to relate music to most things!

References

Your preliminary bibliography should include at least 2 primary sources, at least 1 secondary source, and at least one recording. Consult the citation resources for this class or me for questions on how to properly cite sources.

Due May 1: End-of-semester 1:1 Zoom Meeting, sign up before! 

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.

Due May 8: Create! 5b: Exhibit Presentations 

Spend time with a digital or in-person archival collection. Imagine you are a curator at a museum, pick 3-7 of these items and write descriptions for each item as well as additional text for the exhibit. You can pick any musically-relatable topic from any time that you can find items for in an archive, such as suffrage music, labor music, or a musical genre, a specific composer or performer, etc. You could relate music to a political/social movement, a visual art style, a place or culture, a language, dance, a social category (music and gender, music and disability, music and race, music and sexuality, queer music). This is a very open-ended assignment! In addition to the Resources tab and the archival collection list above, you may wish to check out Library of Congress | Citizen DJ.

Due May 20: Create! 5c: Final Exhibit Project 

Submit your final version of the Exhibit Project. Feel free to use your imagination for how to present this digital exhibit. It can be a website, a PDF, a slideshow, a video, a podcast (please provide an edited and proofread transcript in this case), an educational calendar with images (pictures, drawings, etc.) and information about events that happened in the history of your topic on relevant dates throughout the year (see example here), a comic/short graphic nonfiction piece, etc. You should be able to create a website through the CUNY Academic Commons by registering here. Have fun!