MUSIC ESSAY

MUSIC ESSAY

Paper instructions:
Topics to be considered:
• Selecting entire countries or continents are too broad but individual genres within those specific countries such as Nigerian Highlife, Japanese Enka, Portuguese Fado, Haitian Hip-Hop, Cuban Son, and Klezmer are good because they represent a specific genre of Music.

• Specific instruments—the history and use of the gamelan orchestra, the tres, the bandonion, the sitar, and the kora are a few of the many instruments to consider. Here, you should locate recordings or videos of your selected instrument being played alone (by itself) and recordings or videos of it being played together with other instruments or voices.

• A performing artist or music group—be careful not to submit only a biography as this is not a research paper, rather you must take a stand on why you believe this musician/group is important. An argumentative paper is a good approach here as it will develop why you believe—and importantly, why the reader should believe what you do about the significance of your selected performing artist.

• Go to the Seattle Central Library and look at The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, the Groves Dictionary of Music, and other World Music books; Skim through our textbook (listen to the CD’s that go with the textbook that are on reserve in the library) and listen to a variety of music from different parts of the world—our library has many excellent World Music CD’s listed by country or genre. Click on the following link to access: The Award Winning Seattle Central Community College Library

• As you explore those books and listen to the recordings, list areas (topics) that are of interest to you (minimum of 5). These areas of interest can be quite broad–genres of music, specific instruments, singing styles, composers, performing artists, ceremonial music, sacred music, social and political events, evidence of acculturation, urbanization, etc. Please understand that you do not need to know anything about the topics you select–a sincere interest and curiosity is all that is necessary.

This process will greatly help you with selecting/writing the research paper and group project topics.

• Listen to as many recordings/videos as you can find. You will select examples from the music itself (listening and responding to recordings) and opinions from experts which directly supports your thesis. The body of your paper turns into a site for laying out the proof you’ve collected rather than a canvas for delineating a topic.

• The final product will be a unique and appropriate integration of information you have located outside yourself along with your personal insights.

• The paper should reflect a balance between the sharing of factual information, quotes from writers you have read during the research process (cited in MLA), along with your own response, descriptions, and analysis of that information—which must include actual music (Records, CD’s, MP3’s, Videos, etc.) that you listened to as part of your research.

• At all times, try to research and view your topic from different perspectives. Always ask, why? Be inquisitive. Put yourself into the paper. Get excited. Remember that you are selecting the topic for each research paper; therefore you should be enjoying the research process and the learning that accompanies it.

• A Works Cited Page is required listing all your in-text citations for quotes/paraphrases in MLA Format. Go to http://libguides.seattlecentral.edu/MLA for expert help with MLA Format. Be sure to clearly cite all the quotations you include and the passages you paraphrase from your sources as well. Plagiarism will result in a 0.0 grade for your paper.

• An Annotated Bibliography is required to provide a list of ALL materials you read, listened to, viewed, etc. as part of your research.
There is a difference between a Works Cited and an Annotated Bibliography.
A Bibliography is a list of sources (books, journals, websites, periodicals, etc.) one has used for researching a topic. A bibliography usually just includes the bibliographic information (i.e., the author, title, publisher, etc.).
A Works Cited is a list of the sources you quoted (including song lyrics), paraphrased, viewed and listened to in your paper.
An Annotation is a summary and/or evaluation.
An Annotated Bibliography includes a summary and/or evaluation of each of the sources—this is what you will provide with your paper submission. Your annotations may do one or more of the following:
• Summarize: Some annotations merely summarize the source. What are the main arguments? What is the point of this book or article? What topics are covered? If someone asked what this article/book is about, what would you say? The length of your annotations will determine how detailed your summary is.
• Assess: After summarizing a source, it may be helpful to evaluate it. Is it a useful source? How does it compare with other sources in your bibliography? Is the information reliable? Is it this source biased or objective? What is the goal of this source?

• Reflect: Once you’ve summarized and assessed a source, you need to ask how it fits into your research. Was this source helpful to you? How does it help you shape your argument? How can you use this source in your research project? Has it changed how you think about your topic?
• The annotations for each source are written in paragraph form. The lengths of the annotations can vary significantly from one or two sentences to one or two paragraphs.
Annotated Bibliography Samples

Allen, Ray and Lois Wilcken. Island Sounds in the Global City: Caribbean Popular Music and Identity in New York. New York: New York Folklore Society, 1995.
A collection of critical essays exploring the relationship between music and cultural identity in the nation‘s most diverse urban center. Case studies include reggae, merengue, calypso, and steel pan music.

Brown, Karen. Mama Lola: A Vodou Priestess in Brooklyn. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991.
A readable and vibrantly engaging ethnographic study that helps to demystify the vodou religion and explore it through the perspective of people who are deeply rooted in Haitian folk performance and religious practices. The author is especially attuned to issues of gender and power as they emerge in the music.

Knight, Roderic. Mande Music: Traditional and Modern Music of the Mandinka of Western Africa. London, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.
An ethnographic study of an African tradition—the music of the jalis—that predates the Malian empire in the 13th century and continues today in the recording studios of Paris.

Lai, T.C., and Robert Mok. The Jade Flute: The Story of Chinese Music. New York: Schocken Books, 1981.
An appealing, if somewhat condensed, introduction to Chinese music in its various philosophical, literary, and historical dimensions, with illustrations and excerpts from primary sources.

Nettl, Bruno. The Study of Ethnomusicology: Twenty-nine Issues and Concepts. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1983.
An introduction to the core ideas that continue to shape the study of ethnomusicology and its methodological and theoretical foundations, written by a veteran in the field.

Neuman, Daniel. The Life of Music in North India: The Social Organization of an Artistic Tradition. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1980.
A very readable ethnographic study of the relationship between music and society in Hindu culture.

Robertson, Carol E. Musical Repercussions of 1492. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.
A collection of essays by music scholars discussing the musical performance traditions, dances, and instruments of the Americas, organized around the themes of conquest and colonization.

Shelemay, Kay. Soundscapes: Exploring Music in a Changing World. New York, London: W.W. Norton and Company, 2001.
Designed for teaching world-music courses at the college level, this textbook organizes the study of music not by region or period, like its more conventional cousins, but by the way most people encounter it—by the roles it plays in their lives and communities. With accompanying CDs, bibliographies and videographies, and sample syllabi and student projects.
Please remember that you have enrolled in a Music class. Your paper MUST include your descriptions of and responses to the actual Music that you have located and listened to. Write down anything you notice in the music during your listening. Listen for different layers of musical activity (rhythms, pitch ranges, instruments, singing etc.) within the selection you are listening to. Listen repeatedly–over and over again and reflect upon what others have said about the music you are listening to as well.

Content:
Does it have a clear thesis, a main point to which everything else relates?
Is enough evidence presented to support each point, and does each point support the thesis? Are possible counter-arguments considered and refuted?
Are the ideas original and engaging?
Does the paper treat the topic comprehensively, in depth, and with insight?
Are there enough relevant, varied, and scholarly primary and secondary sources, and are the sources used well in the paper?
Organization:
Is the organization clear, both in the paper as a whole and within each paragraph?
Have unnecessary details and redundancies been eliminated?

Style and Mechanics:

Is the paper enjoyable to read? Does it convey the writer’s thought efficiently?

Are diction, spelling, usage, sentence structure, punctuation, and MLA form correct?
Plagiarism is the act of passing off as one’s own the words or ideas of another. Examples include borrowing or paraphrasing sentences, paragraphs, or a line of argument from a book, article, or other source without crediting your source appropriately. It is a major act of academic misconduct, which can carry severe penalties. Avoid plagiarism by citing all quotations and paraphrases in-text using MLA Format and provide a Works Cited Page in MLA Format.

Finally, please open the Grading Rubric For our World Music Research Paper located here in this Module to see specific content areas to target and their respective point values.
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