Listening Assignment: Introductory Concepts
To complete this assignment, you must choose a listening selection from the “Basic Musical Concepts” section (any of the classes that you have listened to from “The Performer’s Role” up to and including “Folk Music, Art Music, And All That Jazz”), and write a two paragraph summary. (I chose the song Deep River by Barbara Conrad)
Assignment #2 will give you an opportunity to come up with something original as you flex your referential listening skills.The ‘Referential’ analysis portion of this assignment should be your OWN interpretation or story line of the piece that you have chosen to discuss, not simply a summary of what you’ve read on the website. In other words, what story line or metaphor does the piece suggest for you? Please don’t simply ‘paraphrase’ the story line that may already exist for the piece that you have chosen. Anyone can simply write about how Vivaldi’s Wintergives them the chills. Some of these submissions can be very imaginative so please don’t hesitate to be creative and invent your own story line as you hear it in the music. I’m looking for at least a paragraph or two for the story line portion of your submission.
Your summary must include the following to receive full credit:
- The name and composer of the selection.
- The location of the selection.
(e.g. Introductory Concepts: The Structure of Music) - At least a two-paragraph analysis from the point of view of the referential listener.
(Read the description of the Referential Listener, and use the attributes listed to analyze the selection.) - Finally, indicate what musical “concept” is illustrated by the selection (e.g. musical idea, ensemble, solo performer, variation, etc.), and state intelligently whether you think the selection was effective in doing so.