Soundtrack of Your Life Project

Music has become an integral part of human existence. It motivates us, calms us, inspires us, at times irritates us, and basically becomes the backdrop against which we live our lives. Songs can bring vivid memories of persons, places, and events from our own past and serve to document our thoughts, feelings, and emotions at a given time or place.

Assignment: Imagine you were asked to compile a soundtrack for your life. What songs would you include? Collect the titles of at least THREE (up to FIVE if you would like to do more) songs that are meaningful to you and that you feel document something personal in your own life. Just as music producers do, try to create a progression in the sequence of your chosen songs. For example, your songs might be listed in the chronological order of the events they document, or they might be mixed together so that all of the slow songs are not back-to-back. DO NOT just list them randomly. Put some thought into the order of your songs and the complete package you are presenting.

Part 1 – Brainstorm

Come up with some major events in your life, and then think about songs that might represent those times. It doesn’t have to make sense to everyone, but it should make sense to you.

Event / Songs That Might Work

Now, narrow that down to at least three songs and put them in the order you would like them to be on your album. Make sure you spell the titles and the artist correctly!

For a song title, you need to capitalize the first letter of each word and put the whole title in quotation marks.
For the artist, make sure you capitalize the first letter of the first and last name.

Song TitleArtist or Group

Track 1 ______

Track 2 ______

Track 3 ______

(extra) ______

Part 2: Now that you have created the imaginary soundtrack to your life, write a personal essay that explains why you chose the particular songs that you did. For each song you will need to reflect on the experiences, persons, places, etc. that inspired this selection. Obviously you will also need to explain who you are as a person and then offer some type of reflection upon the imaginary album as a whole.

We will have computers in class for typing. You will get formatting information when we start typing. Paragraphs should be at least 5 sentences each.

Paragraph #1—Explanation of yourself and the album

This paragraph is basically a brief autobiography and introduction to your soundtrack:

Who are you?
Where are you from?
Where are you now?
Give us details so that we can get to know who you are!
What would you title the album? (album title gets underlined, and the first letter of each word is capitalized)
Who do you think your audience will be? Who will like to listen to this mix of music?
What is the mood of the soundtrack – is it mostly heavy metal? Relaxing music? Pop? A mixture?

Paragraphs #2-4 (or more…)—Explanation of each song on the soundtrack (One paragraph per song)

For each song, be sure to explain:

What is the name of the song (Don’t forget the quotation marks and capitals!) and the artist?
Why is each song important to you?
How does each song connect to your life?
What does each song reveal about the kind of person you are and/or what you think is important in you life?

Final Paragraph #5 (or more…)—Final remarks and reflection on the soundtrack as a whole

This paragraph is your conclusion in which you summarize your paper and offer any final reflections upon this project as a whole.

Part 3 – Cover and Back: Now you are going to make the front and back of the CD case.

The cover should have:

Album title (You don’t need to underline it on the cover, but still capitalize first letter of each word.)
Your name
Artwork that fits with the soundtrack

The back should have:

The songs and the artists, in the order that they would go on your album – you can type the list, then cut and paste it onto the back cover, or do it by hand. If you do it by hand, you must go over the letters in ink.

You will be graded on:

The Paper:

Did you include everything that was asked for in each paragraph?

Do you have a capital at the beginning and punctuation at the end of each sentence?

Did you follow the formatting guidelines when you typed?

Is the spelling correct throughout?

The cover/back:

Is it neatly done and in color?

Do you have the album title and your name?

Did you list the songs and the artists, and did you spell them correctly?

______
______/ Back / This is where you will create your cover and back.

Neatly make your cover and the back of your album
Cut it out, VERY NEATLY, along the solid black lines.
Fold it in the center

Cover