3) The concert must be on the “Approved YouTube Concert List”, located in the “Course Materials” folder on the class ICollege page. You may choose another jazz concert with prior approval from your instructor. If a concert on the list has been removed from YouTube you will need to select another concert from the list.
4) The first goal of the paper is to prove that you watched an entire performance, and paid attention to details the entire time. The second goal of the paper is to fulfill the writing requirements for a bachelor’s degree. Each student should work on their ability to communicate clearly in writing.
5) Do not use the “first-person” voice or “passive” voice when writing the review.
Write like a reporter: stating who, what, and when.
Avoid using the word “I”.
Instead of writing “The concert I chose to review was” or “The concert chosen was…”, write “Herbie Hancock performed a concert at the Atlanta Jazz Festival on May 5th, 2022”
Instead of writing “I thought the piano player was amazing”, write “The piano player amazed the audience with their incredible skill”.
Instead of writing “I was bored the entire time”, write “The concert was not interesting”
Your ideas are already presumed to be your own. Your ideas may communicate clearer and
stronger when stated directly.
You must not copy writing from other students or sources without fully crediting them. This is plagiarism.
Avoid using any copy-and-paste. This includes copying a sentence and rewording it, or even copying a paper and rewriting each paragraph. You must express your own thought and ideas, using your own words. This is especially true for names of musicians or songs.
ICollege identifies any copied portions and the source. It highlights each paragraph, sentence, or words that it identifies. It shows the other source side-by-side with the student’s paper. Sharing a paper with another student is also considered to be a violation of the honesty code, equal to copying.
Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also considered to be a violation. ICollege has tools to identify possible AI content. Remember that a goal of the paper is to prove that you watched the entire concert. Statements like “Miles Davis was magnificent and impressed the audience with his dazzling notes” could be written without watching the concert. Instead say “Miles Davis played the first solo, standing with his back to the audience. The guitarist stood close to him and smiled when Miles turned to face him”
7) The average “A” paper has 8-12 paragraphs and includes details about the venue, each musician, and each song. Write it to be interesting to the reader: like a great blog-post or magazine article.
8) Here is the suggested process:
Watch the entire video and take good notes on all of the performers, the songs performed, and what you thought about each one.
The songs and performers will be announced at different points in the concert. You may also search the YouTube comments or the Web for needed information, but avoid using ANY copy and paste.
Write an intro paragraph explaining which concert you choose, including date, place, name, and why you picked it.
Write a paragraph describing the musicians as they appear in the video. Don’t just list them, and avoid any copy and paste. No biographical information is needed.
Make it interesting!
Write a paragraph for each song, describe it and what you thought of it
Write a closing paragraph: summarize your overall impression of the concert.
Make sure the paper is readable. Include your name, and if it is paper 1 or 2.
The number of pages, formatting, and font size are not as important as covering all the required details (listed above).
