Groups for Workshop 5

Group 1:
If You're Reading this It's Not Too Late
Maroon 5 Mania
Railroaded

Group 2:
NuMetal Central
The Deep End
Rap and R&B from Risky B

Group 3:
1960s Rock
Fairly Local
Social Media Music Stars

Group 4:
Wake Me Up When The Semester Ends
Natural Selections
If You Are

Group 5:
Background Music: Soundtracks and Scores
My Parent's 8-Tracks
Destined to be the Queen

Group 6:
No Cover Charge
Almost Alternative
Millennials

Group 7:
Best of Both Worlds
The Pursuit of Hippieness
"It's Not You, It's Me"

Group 8: 
The Golden Aage
Second in the Best
My Parent's Playlist

R.R. 10/30

Now that you have thought about how Wilson positions his argument, tell me what you think the overall point of the argument is by utilizing your own interpretation and specific language from the text. 

R.R. 10/28

Define late style and explain what kind of understanding is reached through reading Donuts through this concept/phenomenon. To ask the question in the style of Nick Carr: how does late style help Jordan Ferguson to give "actual meaning" to Donuts "latent meaning?"

R.R. 10/21

Write a response to Tavi Gevinson's Taylor Swift review in her voice and style.

Workshop

Global (Most Important)

·        Was the writing enjoyable—e.g. funny, interesting, easy to read, clever, unique.

·        Is the post focused on the album—using a discussion of culture as a tool not as the subject?

·        Does the critic give “actual meaning” to the artists’ “latent meaning?”

o   Does the critic give a reading of the album

o   Does the reading change how the audience engages with the album?

o   Does the reading add something to the experience of the album

·        Does the critic stay on brand regarding tone, style, and content?

o   Does the tone every break or drift?

·        Is the piece effectively organized

o   Do you get a sense for the over-arching argument being made?

o   Does the piece feel cohesive or disjointed

o   Could any paragraphs be moved

Meso (Second most Important )

·        Is the layout clean and consistent—paragraph break s, indents, title, etc.

·        Videos/links/images

o   Do they work?

o   Do they actually add something to the reading (not simply make sense)

o   Are they necessary

·        Are the individual paragraphs well organized?

Workshop 4

Here are the groups for Workshop 4:

Group 1:
If you Are
Social Media Music Stars
No Cover Charge

Group 2:
Railroaded
My Parent's 8-Tracks

Fairly Local

Group3:
Destined to be the Queen
Almost Alternative
The Best of Both Worlds

Group 4:

NuMetal Central
Maroon 5 Mania
My Parent's Playlist

Group 5:
If You're Reading This, It's Not Too Late
Second is the Best
The Pursuit of Hippieness

Group 6:
The Deep End
Rap and R&B with Risky B
Background Music: Soundtracks and Scores

Group 7:
Natural Selections
Millennials
The Golden Age

Group 8:
Wake Me Up When the Semester Ends
"It's Not You, It's Me"
1960s Rock


Also, here is a reminder of the priority for reviewing each others work:

R.R. 10/16

Dead Prez tells us, "it's bigger than hip-hop." What exactly is the it that is bigger than hip-hop? Provide a detailed and specific description of what it entails, and tell me if/how it is "bigger" than hip-hop.

R.R. 10/14

If music is in part a cultural practice, then songs function as cultural artifacts that tell us something about how an individual within a group creates, inhabits, and understands the world. In other words, any piece of music will engage with cultural values (with support and rebellion acting as the two extreme forms of engagement). Watch "Smash Your Head," a song from the mash-up artist Girl Talk and write a review of the song that discusses the songs relationship to cultural values.

R.R. 10/12

When discussing the importance of musical criticism, Nicholas Cook argues, "Words transform latent meaning into actual meaning; they form the link between words and world." While I am a bit skeptical of his term actual meaning, I do agree that words change the semiotic mode of musical meaning--i.e. they make it mean differently--which allows us to discuss how music relates to its culture and/or how we relate to ours. Listen to this track by The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble and tell me what it says about culture. Keep in mind that your critique will be subjective, but that does not mean that it has to be just subjective.

Extra Credit

The last few weeks we have been discussing genre, and we will be discussing culture next week. In her song "The Fear" from her sophomore album It's not Me, It's You, Lily Allen critiques both. Write 750 words explaining how Allen's song critiques Western Culture and pop music both lyrically and sonicly. 

R.R. 10/2

The question still lingering after our class on Wednesday was, "Does hip-hop as a medium-transcending genre have a politic (or politics), and if so what is that politics?" Combining Katz's discussion of the gender dynamics, cultural heritages, socioeconomic conditions, and conventions with your own experiences with the hip-hop arts--articulate a hip-hop politics. Try to pull specific terms from Chapter 6.