Writing on Music (WRTG 3020), Fall 2009

Writing on Music (WRTG 3020), Fall 2009

Section 036 meets in HUMN 270 on M/W/F from 2 to 2:50 p.m.

Instructor: Daniel Brigham

Office: ENVD B 27C

Office hours: M/W/F 12 -- 12:50 p.m. -- also by appointment.

Voice mail: 303.735. 4776

Email: (My preferred method of communication.)

Brief Course Overview

As a course within the program for writing and rhetoric, the broad objectives of WRTG 3020 are:

• to develop your writing so that the rhetorical situation, audience, and purpose are clear and appropriate
• to develop your skills in generating, developing, and revising your ideas and your writing
• to develop your strategies in critically analyzing a text[1]

What you will write about is music and the experience thereof. But not just music -- you will also write about sounds (e.g., the sounds of the city or of the mountains), taking a foray into the interesting field of acoustic ecology.

I have created a sub-theme for the course which hopefully creates a nice thread for course – living texts. For much of the content for the course will be found in places beyond the University, places where people are actively engaged in musical behavior. The first assignment explores you-as-text: you will write a personal narrative in which you analyze a musical experience that continues to be important to you. Next, you will write an ethnography in which you explore a musical sub-culture that intrigues you – e.g., Parrotheads, Punks or Goths, Music Majors. The third major assignment describes and analyzes the soundscape of an environment (e.g., CU football game, sorority party) with the hopes of gaining a bit of insight into what is occurring in that environment. The last assignment concerns that link between music and spirituality. After reading seminal academic articles on the subject, you will visit a place in which music may be serving a spiritual function: a concert, yoga or meditation class, religious service, etc. The goal here is to explore why music is so often tied to spirituality.

Make no mistake – the living text theme makes your job more difficult and time-intensive; you’ll have to plan to make repeated visits to these places, do observations, take field notes, set up and conduct interviews. But I think you’ll find that observing and talking with people who love music a satisfying thing.

I don’t assume you have any technical knowledge about music, though I do assume you are interested in learning more about it.

Key Learning Objectives:

Extend your rhetorical knowledge

How will we meet this objective? One of the main ways is through class lectures and handouts on rhetorical concepts – e.g., the qualities of an arguable opinion, the structure of arguments, the different types of rhetorical appeals, the credibility and validity of sources, etc. You will then apply this rhetorical knowledge by analyzing the arguments of the writers and thinkers we study, as well as writing and defending your own analyses and arguments.

Three chapters from Rossenwasser and Stephen’s Analytical Thinking, fourth edition – “Writing and Thinking Analytically,” “Analyzing Evidence,” and “Making Your Response to Topics More Analytical” – will help you develop sophisticated strategies regarding your musical topics and also help you apply rhetorical knowledge to your writing. These readings will be placed on e-reserve.

You will learn some reflective strategies – such as many different types of brainstorming, in-class reflective writing, and post-workshop discussion – that will help you synthesize the rhetorical and communicativeknowledge you have gained.

To extend your experience in different writing processes

How will we meet this objective? Throughout the semester, you will get the opportunity to write multiple drafts for major assignments, as well as learn new strategies for generating and revising your ideas. You will learn the latter primarily through the following means: responding to the brainstorming and self-reflective prompts provided to you for the major writing assignments; having your papers discussed in-class or online; and writing multiple drafts of the larger assignments. You also have the opportunity to revise one of your major assignments. So the learning process, in some ways, is over when you say it’s over.

In the process of writing your own analytical papers, you will also learn (through class lecture and handouts) how to better evaluate your sources for accuracy and credibility. This is especially applicable to the ethnography, which will require secondary sources, as well as primary. In addition, you will use a variety of technologies: you will use electronic databases; critique classmates’ papers online (through the culearn learning management system); discuss papers in-class on laptops, instead of the making photo copies. I also encourage the use of Powerpoint or other programs and a.v. equipment (iPods, etc.) when you are giving your oral presentations. In-class discussions will cover the finer points of using such presentation technologies.

To extend your mastery of writing conventions (genre conventions, specialized vocabulary, document design, grammar, style)

Through class lecture and analyzing sample articles, you will learn about genre conventions appropriate to the field of music and/or to your audience, about how to draw on specialized vocabularies in ways that still make your work accessible to secondary audiences, and about the role of textual features and document design as persuasive tools. The crucial musical vocabulary (e.g., timbre, tempo, etc) will be covered in lecture. Via in-class exercises and online grammar and style resources (e.g., the nationally recognized Purdue Owl site), you will learn matters of grammar and style that will make your writing more effective. Do you want to learn how to make your paragraphs more unified and coherent? How to achieve greater sentence variety? To create more artful transitions between paragraphs? Well, you’ve come to the right place.

To demonstrate comprehension of the assigned readings and lectures at an advanced level

You demonstrateyou comprehend the material at an advanced level when youapply the material in creating your own in-depth analyses, and are able to respond to the needs of different audiences and rhetorical situations – e.g., writing to a music critic vs. a layperson interested in music. To give you a specific example: When you read Rossenwasser and Stephen’s chapter “Making Your Response To Topics Analytical” and then you apply their techniques to your Music and Spirituality project, you demonstrate comprehension of the readings at an advanced level.

To extend your knowledge of some of the fundamentals of music (e.g., dynamics, timbre, form, etc.)

These fundamentals of music will be covered in-class.

To expose you to some “new” music

You will give at least one informal presentation. This will be entitled “Music you really need to check out,” and concerns music that you feel is exceptional and deserves to be better known. It usually runs about five minutes or so. Don’t let the presentation freak you – it’s informal, and whose primary purpose is to spread the word about good music.

To introduce you to the field of acoustic ecology, and hopefully, as a result, make you more aware of the sounds in a given environment

You will read introductory articles on the field of acoustic ecology, as well as at least three chapters from The Tuning of the World written by the man who created the field, R. Murray Schafer. The information contained therein will help with your Soundscape Observations.

To help you move beyond the obvious in your thinking and writing

Good non-fiction writing says something new. How will I get you doing this? By asking you the following related questions while you are drafting your major assignments:

• What have you discovered in your brainstorming, observations, or research that readers need to know?
• What can you teach your readers about this topic or experience?
• What can you say that hasn’t already been said?
• What have you observed that others haven’t?
• What unique angle could you take on this topic?

Course Delivery

We will explore the main topics of the course in eight, basic ways:

1. by reading assigned books and scholarly articles, and responding to the written prompts I post for each reading.

2.by completing in-class brainstorming and reflective writing prompts that respond to a reading or topic

3. by experiencing (in and out of class) different genres of music

4. by writing analytical papers that explore each topic in detail

5. by observing and then reflecting on various “musical” environments and activities in the greater Boulder/Denver community

6. by critiquing the major papers of your classmates online (through the culearn site)

7. by “workshopping” (that is, discussing as a class) the drafts of your major papers

8. by discussing grammatical and stylistic issues – e.g., paragraph unity and coherence, achieving conciseness, and so on.

Expectations

My expectations of you:

1.that you show up on-time and don’t ask to leave early

2.that you complete all of the assignments

3.that you give all assignments and papers an honest effort (we’ll discuss what this means)

4.that you ask me for clarification if you are confused

5.that you treat classmates and me with respect.

In return, you can expect me to:

1.treat you respectfully

2.start and end class on-time

3.get your work back to you within a reasonable amount of time (within a week or so)

4.use class time efficiently

5.give a clear explanation of what I’m looking for in major assignments, as well as a clear indication of due dates

6.respond to email inquiries within 24 hours (excepting holidays and weekends).

Writing Center

If you want additional help with your writing, the Writing Center in Norlin Library is a great place to go to talk about ideas, improve your thesis or essay organization, or just generally work on your writing skills. And it’s free to CU students. Check the Writing Center website for more information about hours and services, or request an appointment online at:

Technologies employed

To successfully complete this course, you will need to check your CU email account at least once a day (during week), and always have reliable access to the internet so that you can access the culearn website, where you will post your critiques of classmates’ drafts, as well as see revisions to schedules and assignments.

If you wish to access e-reserve material from an off-campus location, you will find it necessary to download a VPN client. Contact ITS for help (303-735-HELP) or check the UCB libraries’ website for information on setting up remote access:

You may also find it handy to procure a laptop for in-class workshops.

On checking Facebook in class:

I only allow laptops to be open only if we are workshopping a paper. Otherwise, you must go old school and use pen and paper. Why? Because no matter what a professor says, a few students are going to look at non-class stuff during class, and that is distracting and demoralizing for engaged students.

Revising Graded Assignments
At the end of the semester, if you would like to resubmit one of your major assignments, you may. If you resubmit work you must:

• Choose one of the major assignments and revise your work. (You are welcome to schedule an appointment with me to discuss some strategies for revision.)
• Attach the original graded version and drafts of the assignment so that I can better evaluate your revisions.
• Write a one-page reflective statement describing your revisions.
• Submit any time before the last class period.

The Larger Assignments

Personal Narrative on a musical theme (approx. four pages)

This assignment kicks off our living text theme with exploring your experience. The narrative assignment concerns a meaningful experience (or set of experiences) you have had with music or sound. This narrative must do more than tell a detailed story: it should analyze (try to make sense of) the experience, and give readers at least a small insight into its meaning. The best narratives often have a sense of discovery about them.

Ethnographic essay (approx. seven to ten pages)

This assignment continues your analysis of people’s behavior, but asks you to enter the field and conduct primary research on a sub-culture (a group of people who identify themselves as group members). This essay will demand repeated visits to the places the sub-culture visits. Want to research punks? Singer-songwriters? The goal of this assignment is to observe a culture as it behaves normally in typical situations, and to gain some insight into the way this group views the world.

Soundscape Observations (approx. four to five pages)

This assignment calls upon your observational and descriptive powers. After reading introductory articles in the field of acoustic ecology, you will visit a place of your choosing that promises to have an interesting soundscape (e.g., professional baseball game, Pearl Street mall, tailgate party at Red Rocks, etc.). The first part of the assignment asks you to richly describe the sounds heard; the second, asks you to explore the sounds’ various meanings: might they teach us a little something about ourselves? (Do they highlight our values or our attitudes towards certain activities or rituals?) Our rhetorical readings will help you with the second half of this assignment.

Exploring Music and Spirituality Project (approx. five to seven pages)

This last assignment is so because it’s the most complex and requires subtlety on your part. After reading seminal academic articles on the link between music and spirituality, you will visit a place in which music may be serving a spiritual function – e.g., a concert, yoga or meditation class, religious service, etc. Through repeated visits to this place, your observations, and possible interviews, you will explain as best you can how the music employed might be serving a spiritual function.

Texts and materials

For final papers, please staple, double-space, and use 12-font. I do not accept late homework or papers. I will not accept any class material via email.

Readings for the course will be placed on e-reserve ( You will receive readings and other course materials in the form of handouts. Essential tools for writing are a good dictionary and thesaurus; I recommend Webster’s Collegiate and Roget’s, respectively.

We will refer on an ongoing basis to writing materials on the nationally recognized rhetoric and composition website, The Purdue University OWL (on-line writing lab):

Attendance

Regular attendance and active participation are crucial to this course. It matters to me if you miss class. Because life sometimes gets in the way of scholarly pursuits, I allow (but do not encourage) you to miss three class periods. Please note thatI do not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences.[2] For every additional absence, your participation grade will be lowered 7.5 points. Six absences will result in an F for the course. If, for reasons beyond your control, you cannot meet these standards, you have the right to ask me for an IW/IF – essentially, an incomplete. Students who miss two classes in the first two weeks will be administratively dropped.

Tardiness and leaving early is unacceptable. Do not ask to leave early. Two late arrivals/early departures count as one absence. If you are late, please take responsibility for that fact, and make sure I haven't marked you absent.

Grading standards

For each major assignment, I will post a grading rubric on the culearn website, but, if you are curious, here are some general benchmarks:

90-100: Consistently insightful; opinions are clearly stated and backed up with sufficient evidence; style is graceful and error-free. Want an A? Teach me something.

80-90: Spots of genuine insight; opinions are mostly clearly stated and demonstrated, though there may be a spot or two where more evidence or detail is needed; writing style is general clear, though there may be minor, non-recurring grammatical issues.

70-80: It fulfills the assignment, but that’s about it. There may be a spot of insight here and there, but, generally the paper consists of ideas that have already been discussed by others, or are self-evident; as a general rule, the evidence lacks detail and depth; there may be recurring grammatical or stylistic issues.

60-70: Only marginally meets the criteria for the assignment; lacks focus, and thus depth.

0-50: Formless, incoherent, or not turned in when due.

Participation grading standards (attendance, promptness, in-class participation, comments on classmates’ drafts, timely submission of work)

90-100: Excellent participants are always prepared for class and offer their insights freely. (This does not mean they dominate class discussion; they are more discrete than that.) Moreover, they understand the strengths and weaknesses of the paper at hand, and consistently suggest ways to make the author’s point clearer and/or more persuasive. As well as always being in-class and turning everything in on-time, they are noted as excellent critics by their classmates.