Assignment Details

General Description

This assignment applies the elements of music we have learned thus far to a song of your choice.  The pedagogical goal of this assignment is to increase your retention of course content by making the content more relevant to your life.

Specific Tasks

Choose any piece of music that you like (EXCEPT a piece on the listening list for this class).

Please identify the piece of music using the title, artist name (or composer name),and year (the year in which the recording was released).

Discuss your chosen piece of music in relation to each of the following four musical elements:

1.   Genre

2.   Instruments

3.   Rhythm (and Time)

4.   Metre

When you discuss each element, make sure to use two or more sub-concepts from the lectures. These sub-concepts should be terms discussed in the lectures in relation to the four musical elements above. Some examples of potential sub-concepts:

Genre

•  Genres (e.g. classical, hip-hop, jazz, pop, R&B) and subgenres (e.g., Baroque period, bebop, Bossa Nova, Motown)

•  Common instruments in the genre (e.g., guitar, piano, voice)

•  Common ensembles in the genre (e.g., band, choir, jazz big band, orchestra)

•  Common forms in the genre (e.g., 12-bar blues, AABA, sonata allegro, verse-chorus)

Instruments

•  Orchestral families (woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings)

•  Hornbostel-Sachs categories (aerophone, idiophone, membranophone, chordophone)

•  Performance techniques (e.g., staccato, arpeggio, riff, pizzicato, strumming, walking bass)

•  Instrument construction (e.g., valve, bell, mallet, drum set, fretboard)

Rhythm/ Time

•  Tempos (e.g., adagio, moderato, presto)

•  Tempo changes (e.g., accel., rit.)

•  The beat/ pulse

•  Notes vs. rests (e.g., different note and rest values)

•  Phrases (e.g., phrase lengths)

•  Swing rhythm

•  Arhythmic

*Note that ‘rhythm and time’ is considered one musical element for the purposes of this paper; only two total sub-concepts must be used for rhythm and time together.

Metre

•  Metres (e.g., 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/8); including duple/ triple/ quadruple, and simple/ compound

•  Bars/ measures

•  Downbeat

•  Upbeat (is there an upbeat?)

•  Backbeat (is there a backbeat?)

•  Syncopation (is there syncopation?)

•  Mixed metre

•  Ametric

Using Concepts ‘Accurately’

Make sure you use the musical elements and relevant sub-concepts accurately. This means that you will need to demonstrate your understanding of the concepts by using them in contexts in  which they make sense.

For example, if you incorrectly identify the genre or metre of your piece, or use a sub-concept wrong, you will not receive points for using those terms. You are welcome to do your own research in order to check that you have correctly applied course concepts to your chosen song.

Length of Answers

You should discuss the four musical elements for approximately 1-3 paragraphs each. Make sure to separate the elements clearly so that theTA grading your assignment knows that you have responded to all four elements. For example, you can start the paragraph on rhythm/ time by saying “I am now going to discuss my song in relation to rhythm/ time” and then go on to mention the rhythm/ time in your chosen song.

In total, the document should include approximately 750 words.

*Additional Requirement — Include Link to Recording*

Please make sure to include a link to your chosen audio recording within your assignment. This  should be a link to either YouTube or Spotify ONLY (i.e., no other streaming services). You can add the link by copying and pasting the web address directly into your assignment, or creating a hyperlink in your word processor.

If you do not provide a link to your chosen piece, the grader may have difficulty finding a recording, which could result in a lower grade.

Prompts to Get You On the Right Path

Starting Your Assignment

You can start your assignment by stating the title, artist name, and year of your chosen piece of music, and providing a link to the recording. Then you can talk a bit about why you chose this piece of music. Is it your favourite song? Is it a piece of music which has been meaningful to you for some time?

Discussing the Genre of Your Chosen Song

Identify the genre and potentially also the subgenre of your song, then see if you can identify other elements related to the genre. What is the ensemble? Is this the typical ensemble in this genre? How does the date of this recording compare to other recordings in the genre?

Discussing the Instruments of Your Chosen Song

Try to identify some of the instruments heard in your chosen piece of music. What are the

families/ categories of these instruments? Are there any special performance techniques being used?

Discussing the Rhythm/ Time of Your Chosen Song

What is the tempo of your chosen song? Does it stay the same throughout, or does it change at all during the piece? What are the phrase lengths (i.e., how many bars per phrase)? Is swing rhythm    used at all? Is any part of your song arhythmic?

Discussing the Metre of Your Chosen Song

What is the metre of your chosen piece of music? Is there an upbeat? A backbeat? Syncopation? If it does feature an upbeat, a backbeat, or syncopation, how are these concepts used in the song?    Is any part of your song ametric?

Ending Your Assignment

No special ending is required here, but you may wish to tie your investigation together by mentioning what you learned about your chosen song through this assignment, and how you might apply these concepts to other music you listen to in the future.

Grading Rubric