GET ANSWER – Write an essay, blogpost, website entry or visual essay (with pictures) describing how specific songs or musical pieces have shaped events in your life. Since writing about your entire life is too huge of a task, try to concentrate on two or three major events.
Given the wide range of life experiences and depth of musical involvement of people in this class, no one formula will work for everyone, but here are some suggestions on how to approach the subject. You don’t have to answer these questions – they are just here to help you approach this topic:
- What kinds of music do you listen to when experiencing a particular emotion and is that emotion linked to an event?
- What life events have you personally experienced in which music played an important role? How did that music influence the event and impact your self-identity as a result?
- Were there moments in your life when a certain kind of music or even a particular piece seemed exactly appropriate or inappropriate? Why?
- Are there songs/genres that connect you to a peer group, to your racial and ethnic identity, to your immigrant culture?
- Did you experience music in connection with particular rituals in your life?
- Is there a music shared between you and your siblings, parents, and grandparents? How do these differences and commonalities relate to your personal identity as both an individual and as a member of a group?
- Do you play an instrument or sing? What type of music do you play and how has that shaped your connection to your community?
No matter what your focus, relate your thoughts about music to specific experiences that have affected you in your life.
You have options to complete this assignment
Write an essay or a visual essay
Whatever options you choose, your work needs the following:
- A main idea statement/thesis
- major events in your life or identity and how your chosen music connects to them
- proper citations for source materials and songs – this page will help
- if you use visuals, cite them
- A conclusion
- A works cited page listing the sources you used
- MLA format
- At least two pages in length