For your final project, you will choose one piece from the list below, and write a short summary/ listening guide. The goal of this assignment is for each student to study a piece of music independently and think critically about its historical context, the musical elements that make the piece unique, and your personal experience listening to and studying the piece.
Choose one piece from the list below:
Cozzolani: Magnificat (LG 11)
Chopin: Étude, Op. 10, No. 12 “Revolutionary” (LG 31)
Mendelssohn; Overture to Midsummer Night’s Dream (LG 34)
Puccini: Madame Butterfly, “Un bel dì” (LG 41)
Dvorak: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96 (American), I (LG 43)
Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag (LG 45)
Billie Holiday: Billie’s Blues (LG 50)
Bartók: Interrupted Intermezzo, from Concerto for Orchestra (LG 57)
Reich: Electric Counterpoint, III (LG 61)
Tan Dun: Farewell, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (LG 65)
Assignments should be submitted electronically on D2L by 11:59pm on May 5, 2024. Please write a 2–3-page report typed and double-spaced using 12-point font and 1-inch margins.
You will receive full points for:
Formatting: a heading including your name, the course number, your section, and the date; 12-point font, 1-inch margins; a title, even if it is just “Final Project”
At least two pages of writing. (Multiple pages are ok but try to keep your assignment to 2 or 3 pages).
Discussing your chosen piece in depth and thinking critically! Simple descriptions of the work (i.e., “The piece started with strings, then there was an oboe solo, then the brass entered at a forte dynamic…”) are discouraged. Instead, discuss how the musical elements create a certain feeling, or how the composer used elements like melody, rhythm, color, etc. to paint a musical picture. Ask yourself why the composer made those musical choices.
Using terms and ideas that we have used in class. Look for the dates for each composer and composition dates of each piece. What other pieces have we heard that were written at this time? Is this work similar? Different?
A personal response. What do you like about the piece? What do you dislike about it? How did it make you feel? The humanities are different than other research and science-based fields: Opinions and first-person pronouns are encouraged!
* Note: Footnotes and bibliography are not necessary, but if you quote from our textbook, notes, information from a website, or any other printed matter, you must cite this information, giving credit to its author.
