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Assignments, Week Three
Read This is Your Brain on Music, chapters 6 - end. Note that you can listen to examples of the songs he mentions by going to the website for the book. Click on the image of the book, choose Interactive Features, then go to "Listen to the Musical Examples" or whatever it's called. Each clip is only 9 seconds (the maximum allowable by copyright law), but at least it gives you an idea of what the examples sound like, especially the unfamiliar ones. You should have completed this reading by Monday's seminar, October 8. Take notes on questions you might have, points that you would like to discuss, and things that you found remarkable or surprising. Keep these notes in your portfolio (you don't have to turn them in, but we will be taking a look at them at the end of the quarter as part of your evaluation process).
The written assignment this week is a take-home exam, due in seminar on Thursday, October 11. This exam must be typed, double spaced, with normal margins; it must have a title (to assist you in focusing your thoughts), your name, the date, and your seminar leader's name on it. The total length should be no more than two pages, and those pages must be stapled together. Name one song or tune (including the artist) that, when you listen to it, gives you physical chills. Name one song or tune that, no matter how hard you fight it, always brings on tears. Name one song or tune that cheers you up, no matter how you feel when you start it up. In all three cases, be specific about your physical reaction by putting that piece of music on (or playing it in your head) and paying special attention to your reactions on multiple levels. Based on what you have read, and what you know as a musical person, speculate about why that is. Cite specific page numbers in This is Your Brain on Music and "Music and the Brain" (the article from first week) to support your ideas, as in (Levitin 2006: 22) when you are quoting something from the author. You may also do a little extra research online, but don't get carried away. This is primarily about you and your music, and how you understood the book (and the Scientific American article by Weinberger) that we read these past two weeks.
Drawing on your sonic map, your music identity profile of last week, and this take-home exam, Sean will write a one-paragraph evaluation of your work in systematic musicology this quarter. Your seminar leader will incorporate that paragraph into your evaluation at the end of the quarter.
Note that your process paper for this week is due on Monday (to Jean) at the start of class.
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