If terrible things happen and you just cannot make this date, let me know, and you may EMAIL your paper to me by Thursday 27 May 2004. Do not leave a copy in my school mailbox; I won't get it.
You will turn in a draft of your paper on Tuesday 4 May 2004. This draft will not be graded; it will be corrected and have suggestions for improvement. I will return your draft to you on Tuesday 11 May 2004, you make the corrections and apply the suggestions, and then hand in your final draft as described above.
Your draft should be as close to the final product as possible; more work now, means less work later. If you happen to write a scintillating paper on your first try, that's great — I'll let you know. Chances are, I'll have a few things to say, even about the really good drafts. Do yourself a favor and make sure you turn in a draft.
If you are not a native English speaker and you are not totally comfortable writing in English, find a reliable friend with a good command of the language to help edit your paper. They aren't writing it for you; they will help you put your writing in stylistically and grammatically correct English. I know it seems like I'm picking on you, but remember: I have a lot of papers to correct and I don't want to spend time trying to figure out what you mean. If I have to do so, then you probably will not get a good grade, even though you know what you're talking about and you had some really good ideas. When I lived in Germany and had to write papers in German, I got the same deal from my professors; I know what you're going through.
If you are a native English speaker, you should seriously consider doing the same thing: have someone else read through your draft and make sure grammar, spelling, and style are the best they can be.
•You will write a 6 to 10 page paper on one of the CDs listed below.
•Type your paper.
•If you email me your paper, send it as a Word file attachment (.doc),
not in the body of the email (unless you do not have Microsoft Word).
•A page is single-sided, double-spaced, font size 12, with a normal font,
such as Times or Palatino. Six pages means six full pages. Do not get fancy
with extra returns, cover pages, graphics, titles, etc. Find something to say.
•If you find that you actually have more than 10 pages (don't laugh, it
happens), that's okay (within reason), just make sure that what you are saying
is essential to the paper. In fact, it's better to have more and chisel it down,
than to not have enough and have to stuff your paper with junk.
•You will say something about every track on the CD. This may be somewhat
superficial.
•You should pick about 15 minutes worth of music (not necessarily consecutive)
to discuss in great detail.
•Using the concepts and terms we have discussed in class, describe what
happens musically throughout the piece, focusing particularly on how the work
creates and releases tension, i.e. the drama of the piece.
•You should also talk about the CD as a whole, whether it is a complete
work or a set of pieces.
•You may have up to one page about the history or background of the composer
and the work. Do not make this the bulk of your paper. However, if you feel
that this information is essential to the way you understand the music, you
can explore that and discuss it thoroughly.
•There is no requirement for the order of your ideas. In other words,
you don't have to write in the same order as the music on the CD. Do what makes
sense to you.
•You will use outside sources of information, at the very least the liner
notes of the CD. You must have a bibliography (see information on how to do
a bibliography below). You may use the internet, but it CANNOT be your sole
or primary source of information. The internet is a great thing, but it is not
very reliable for academic research. Use books and periodicals (magazines, journals,
newspapers) as your primary sources for information.
Some useful books:
•Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. (The author of each entry
is listed at the end)
•Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians.
•Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music.
•The Music Index — This lists articles in magazines and journals by
year. For example, if you wanted to see what had been written recently about
Notorious B.I.G. then you could look up his name in 2002, 2001, 2000 and so
on.
For the Bibliography and giving credit:
The bibliography is put at the end of your paper and is not counted in your page count for the paper. Please list articles and books alphabetically by author in the following way (follow punctuation, too):
Last Name, First Name. "Title of article if applicable." Title of Book/Periodical. pages used. publisher. city of publication, year of publication.
example:
for an article in a magazine:
La Rose, Andrea. "How to write a decent paper in your core class."
Useless Magazine. pp. 70-82.New York, 2007.
for a book:
La Rose, Andrea. Passing Your Core 2.2 Class. pp. 1-29. CUNY Press. Brooklyn,
2004.
If you paraphrase ideas that aren't your own or you put a direct quote in your paper, you need to give credit to the author. At the end of the idea or quote put the author's name and the pages the idea comes from in parentheses. The book or article will also appear in your bibliography. For example (La Rose, 24). If you have more than one source by the same author, then put the first two or three words of the title in there, too: (La Rose "How to write," 73).
•Some of the CDs are available in the library and will be marked as such.
All of them should be available in Tower Records (W4 & Broadway or Lincoln
Center) or online for purchase.
•These are the only recordings to choose from. You may not pick something
not on this list.
CDs are listed in the following way:
composer/artist. title. call number at brooklyn college library if available. other information. things you need to talk about in your paper if you pick this CD.
1) Joan La Barbara. 73 Poems. This is on the label Lovely Music; if you can't find this at Tower, you can order directly from the label (it's in Manhattan, so it won't take long to get it). Don't read the liner notes before you've listened to the piece the first time. How does your perception change after you know more about how the piece works? Because there are so many tracks, you don't have to say something specific about each one, but you may want to discuss several as a group based on qualities they have in common, or perhaps because the pieces complement each other in some way.
2) Benjamin Britten. Albert Herring. BC Library: video MV 60. (The CD will have to be listened to in another library or purchased. Or you may watch the video several times.) There are lyrics in this work — you must know what they are about and discuss how the music works with the meaning of the words. Because this is a longer work, you do not have to say something about every track, but you should summarize how the music works with the plot.
3) Bela Bartok. 44 Duos for two violins. BC Library: CD 1699. Because there are so many tracks, you don't have to say something specific about each one, but you may want to discuss several as a group based on qualities they have in common, or perhaps because the pieces complement each other in some way.
4) Leroy Jenkins. Themes and Improvisations on the blues. BC Library: CD 962. Leroy Jenkins is a violinist and violist, who lives in Brooklyn. Spend some portion of your paper comparing these pieces to the blues and gospel pieces we are familiar with from the book.
5) John Adams. Nixon in China. There are lyrics in this work — you must know what they are about and discuss how the music works with the meaning of the words. Because this is a longer work, you do not have to say something about every track, but you should summarize how the music works with the plot.
6) Olivier Messiaen. Quartet for the End of Time. BC Library: CD 957. There are several recordings available; all are acceptable. Don't read the liner notes before you've listened to the piece the first time. How does your perception change after you know more about the history of piece?
7) Steve Reich. Music for 18 Musicians. BC Library: CD 296. Also read Writings about Music, available at BC: ML 60.R35. Discuss Reich's ideas about music in relation to this work. Do not take this book out! Leave it in the library so others my use it.
•Write a paper that you find interesting. Don't make a list of ideas.
Connect your ideas. Make arguments and defend your ideas.
•Your opinions are welcome! Finally! Avoid simple, broad statements ("this
is lame." "this is nice."). Be specific and use your descriptions
of the music to support your opinions.
•Avoid saying, "I think," "I believe," and so on. I
can tell what is your opinion and what is factual. Your opinions will be more
persuasive without these common phrases.
I had a student one semester who thought that the ungraded, returned draft was all he needed to do and was very confused when he received an unsavory grade. Out of the kindness of my heart, I let him make it up, but it's a lot of running around for me, and that makes me unhappy and unsympathetic. Do not be foolish. Make sure you know what is going on! I am very approachable --just ask me if you're unsure.
Many students did not turn in a draft and did not get the best possible grade they could have received. I do not mark your paper down if you don't turn in a draft, but I am giving you more than one shot to write something substantial. I want to set you up for success. Does it mean more work for you? Yes! Does it mean a good grade for you? Yes!
Many students did turn a draft and then didn't make any of the corrections or take any of my suggestions, essentially turning in the same draft twice, most likely thinking I wouldn't notice the difference. I may be goofy, I may be crazy, I may be nice, I may be mean, I may have not matched your face to your name (please accept my apologies), but I do have a pretty good memory and I will notice if you turn in the same less-than-acceptable paper twice.
DO NOT PLAGIARIZE! Plagiarism is when you copy exactly or close to exactly from any source (a book, a magazine, an interview, a website) and pass it off as your own work; it can also be when you paraphrase someone else's ideas, but don't credit them. Some people do this on purpose. Some people do it unknowingly. Make sure that if you are using sources other than the audio CD (which is suggested, but not required) that you have a bibliography and that you credit the author in your paper as describe above. This is extremely important! You can get kicked out of school or worse for plagiarism. I have no qualms with giving you an F on your paper if I feel you have plagiarized. The burden of proof will be on you if you want to dispute it. When in doubt, give credit. I'd rather have an over-notated paper than an under-notated paper. That said, do not use notes as a way to beef up a paper that is too short.
Do not just make a laundry list of what happens in the music. "First there were some fast notes. Then it was loud. I heard some violins." and so on. Imagine reading 70 papers like that! Talk about the emotional content. Take some sort of stance on the music. What do you like about it? What is effective? Argue your points, using the technical language we've been learning this semester.
Rubric for grading:
These are things I am looking for in your paper and how much each is worth.
Length/formatting (type size, font, margins): 25 points. If your paper is less than 6 full pages you will get no higher than a C on your paper.
Basic content: 25 points. Discussing every track on the CD (with the exception of the Britten, Bartok, and La Barbara CDs), discussing the specific points described for the particular CD (for example, reading and discussing Reich's book in relation to his CD), balance of content (not too much biography, talking only about the lyrics and not how the music connects with the lyrics.
Style: 25 points. Form an opinion about the work and argue that opinion. Make your paper interesting to read. Talk about the climactic points in the music and how they are achieved. Avoid a dry, scientific, or reporter-like style; do not just list. Spelling and grammar affect the readability of your paper. Make sure they are good. Have someone read over your paper.
Bibliography: 25 points. Use the proper formatting and notate your paper, either with footnotes, end notes, or parenthetical notation.