1. GUIDED PROJECT PHASE I: Approaches to Protest Music and Selecting a Topic Due 9/12/23 Instructions After reviewing the assignment description PDF and reviewing the final project guidelines, please select a protest topic for your song. It could be any issue that is important to you, no matter how big or small. You could choose to write a protest song about something significant/controversial in our culture today (like racial inequality or climate change), or something more specific that impacts you in some way (cost of tuition, a school policy, subway fares). The attached document offers an (incomplete) list of possible topics to help folks get started, so feel free to peruse that document before making your selection. After selecting a topic, please look over the categorizations of protest songs listed in the PowerPoint posted on Brightspace. I want you to select a style of protest song that either interests you the most or you think would work well with the topic you have selected. 2.Guided Final Project: Phase 2 Discussion Topic After reviewing the guidelines of the Final Project on the Assignment Description PDF (Linked Here Again), please post any thoughts or questions to the Discussion Board. This should become a forum for us to address any questions or concerns about this project collectively. Please try and answer or comment on at least one post to the best of your ability. In addition to posting any questions you have, try and post a brief description of what you think you might be interested in doing for the final project. This will allow for any like-minded classmates to potentially join forces to collaborate on the final project, as group work is allowed here. Any unanswered questions will be responded to by the professor by the end of the week. Continue to reference this forum throughout the term if you have questions about the final project. Please note that you can change your mind on this at any point before we start composing the final song (starting in Week 7), so this is more of an opportunity to start considering options and wrapping our minds around what the final project entails. 2. Guided Final Project: Phase 2 (Discussion Topic) After reviewing the guidelines of the Final Project on the Assignment Description PDF (Linked Here Again), please post any thoughts or questions to the Discussion Board. This should become a forum for us to address any questions or concerns about this project collectively. Please try and answer or comment on at least one post to the best of your ability. In addition to posting any questions you have, try and post a brief description of what you think you might be interested in doing for the final project. This will allow for any like-minded classmates to potentially join forces to collaborate on the final project, as group work is allowed here. Any unanswered questions will be responded to by the professor by the end of the week. Continue to reference this forum throughout the term if you have questions about the final project. 3 Anthems and Challenges over Identity (Assignment) Open up a Word document and respond to the following prompts: Identity is often wrapped up in music at a fundamental level, whether it’s done intentionally or unintentionally. We often see ourselves in the music we listen to, or we see ourselves in the people who create the music we listen to. Going further, every country has a national anthem that is meant to generally encapsulate a national identity, as well as engender a sense of pride and patriotism. The problem that can arise is that these songs often come from a single perspective, and often tell only one story for a nation that contains a multitude of divergent narratives. What perspective do you think is articulated through our own national anthem, “the Star-Spangled Banner”? Think both specifically and generally. What aspects of American Identity are celebrated in this song? Who is left out of this narrative? Do you feel “My Country Tis of Thee” (the de-facto national anthem in America until 1931) represents a different or more inclusive narrative regarding American identity? Why or why not? Please cite either the Marian Anderson or Jimi Hendrix performance from our class material in your response. 4.“This Land is Your Land,” as a Foundation of American Protest Music (Assignment) Create a Word Document in response to the following: How does Irving Berlin’s background inform his composition, “God Bless America,” and how does this song offer a different perspective of American identity compared to the anthems we listened to last week? Was there any controversy that surrounded this song upon its release? How was Woody Guthrie’s “This is Land is Your Land” written as a response to “God Bless America”? What do you think is the protest message of “This Land is Your Land,” and what do you believe Bruce Springsteen meant when he called it the greatest song ever written about America? (from video performance)past 20 years or so) that challenge traditional notions of American identity? What is the song and what lyrics stand out to you as particularly relevant to this topic? Can you think of any other modern examples of songs (from the past 20 years or so) that challenge traditional notions of American identity? What is the song and what lyrics stand out to you as particularly relevant to this topic? 5. Artist Selection for the Midterm Paper (Assignment) Start a new document and enter the following information; Select an artist that you will focus your research on for the midterm Global Protest Music paper and presentation. You can choose any international artist who has a history of voicing social protest within their music. (Bob Marley) You will find a list of possible artists you can select for this assignment included on page 3 of the Assignment Description PDF (linked here). This document also contains a full description of the midterm paper (and Brightspace presentation) which is due Week 7 of this semester. To complete this portion of the assignment start your document with the name of the artist you’ve chosen to focus on, and a sentence or two about why this artist interests you. You are free to select an unlisted artist, but they cannot be an American/British musician, as the focus of this project is on international protest music. After that, please include at least one additional artist name (from the list on the linked PDF) that you would be willing to consider as a second choice in the case that we have too many people presenting on the same person. ( Fela Kuti (Nigeria) ) Your selection will be confirmed, or the instructor will suggest another artist if necessary, in the assignment feedback. 6.Song Analysis (Assignment) Using the Song Analysis Worksheet located in your Brightspace classroom: Please select any song from this week’s required listening and complete your own song analysis using the worksheet posted on Brightspace. If writing into the document itself, please write your responses in red and attach the document on the assignment page on Brightspace Taking a cell phone pic of your assignment and posting the photo is acceptable for this assignment, but please make sure the picture is oriented correctly when uploading. 7.Different Musical Perspectives on Economic Inequality or Injustice (Assignment) Task: Submit to complete this assignment Create a Word document responding to the following: Based on the two book excerpts this week, the Delta Blues (1920s-30s) and Soul Music from the 1970s, were both genres that regularly confronted issues of economic inequality in America – particularly in relation to issues of race and social segregation. Woody Guthrie’s music in the 1940s also regularly confronted economic themes, but most often from an autobiographical (White) perspective. What are the general themes/narratives presented about poverty or economic inequity as put forward by these three genres (based on our required listening)? Delta Blues Folk (Woody Guthrie) 1970s Soul Music How would you compare the tone of these genres in regards to the themes considered this week? Which song stood out to you from our week’s listening as making the most powerful or interesting statement regarding themes of economic inequity? Is there a contemporary song that you can think of (from the past 15-20 years) that addresses similar themes of economic disparity? What is the same, and what lyrics stand out to you as particularly relevant to this conversation?
