Make a themed playlist of at least 6 songs that includes music from at least four of the following genres: classical/traditional, rock, jazz, hip hop/rap, country, folk, blues, electronic. The playlist should have some unifying idea or ideas, but will also demonstrate some range. The unifying idea could be something conceptual – like a lyrical/title/subject theme, or it could be sonic or musical in nature, or it could be a mix of both. For instance, suppose you chose the theme of bells. This playlist could show its range by including AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells” (rock), LL Cool J’s “Rock the Bells” (rap), the traditional Christmas song, “Jingle Bells,” and the folk-blues song “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean,” in which Blind Lemon Jefferson sings the line, “have you ever heard a church bell toll?” and then makes his guitar sound like a chiming bell.
Once you have put together your playlist, be sure and post links to all of your musical examples on the discussion board or on your blog. Along with the links, post an introduction describing what your theme is, why you chose it, and what relevance it has to you. Finally, write a short description of each piece of music you’ve included. Each piece’s description should explain the way it ties to the theme, but you should also explain each piece musically, deploying some of the chapter’s technical vocabulary to do so. Describe its melody, tempo, its degree of consonance and/or dissonance. What is the piece’s structure? Be sure and relate these ideas to the issue of affective content: what emotion does each piece invoke? How does it communicate this emotion? How does a piece’s style contribute to its message and emotional content.
There is an important limitation on this assignment. Since this exercise should entail a certain amount of light research, “love” is not an acceptable theme, on account of its too-common use in all genres. Have fun, and stretch out with this assignment. With the help of Google and Youtube you should be able to produce an interesting collection of pieces.
Posting should be at least 350 words. This assignment will be assessed on its formal clarity, the quality of the writing and editing, its degree of engagement with its topic, its creativity/inventiveness/originality of ideas, and the sophistication of thought it expresses.
