Summer 2022 AFAM 356-51 11272: 51: African American Music Apprec

Summer 2022 AFAM 356-51 11272: 51: African American Music Apprec

Assignment Details

INTRO 

In popular music studies, we think about close listening as doing a close reading of music and its sounds. Here, we describe the sounds (vocals, vocal tones, instruments, rhythms, lyrics, etc.) in great detail -and then tell a story about how the piece of music tells us something about a particular person or group or people in a specific historical moment in time. We then pair this with close readings of an artist s physical presentation. We have practiced close readings through describing photos of musical artists and have practiced close listening through describing the sounds and expressions of racial, gender, and sexual identity in different songs.

THE SCENARIO 

You did such a great job with your Music Video Analysis that the GRAMMY Museum has invited you to contribute to a new exhibition: Music Videos of Yesterday and Today. In this exhibition, the museum pairs the 1980s music video that you wrote about in your Music Video TikTok Analysis (your "historical object") and a music video or performance of your choosing from the 2000s (your "contemporary object"). What this means is that you ve been asked to write two different music analyses: one for your historical object and another for your contemporary object. For your historical object, you can carry over what you wrote in our Music Video TikTok Analysis. For your contemporary object, you will write the analysis from scratch for the Final Paper. On top of that, you ve been asked to write a new third section of analysis: one where you write about your contemporary object and your historical object together-and then talk about what has (or has not) changed from the recent past (1980s) to today (2000s). All in all, you will perform a close reading and close listening of the sounds, visuals, and representations of race, gender, and sexuality in your historical object and contemporary object to tell a story the changes in life experiences for racial, gender, and/or sexual minorities between the recent past and today.


The expected breakdown of your paper is as such:

1) Introduction to paper: .5 pages

2) 1980s music video analysis: 2 pages

3) 2000s music video or performance analysis: 2 pages

4) Comparison of two videos to say what has/hasn t changed --> conclusion: 1.5 pages

DUE DATES 

• Final Paper: Sunday, July 3rd at 11:59pm PT on Canvas

OTHER REQUIREMENTS 

• Page length: 5 to 6 pages double-spaced pages in size 12 font

• Citation format: MLA or Chicago School

• Sources: three readings from class

• Quotes: three short quotes from homework or lecture

• Late work will be marked down 10°/o/day

Please note that I added a new criteria to the prompt: you are expected to revise the 1980s music video analysis based on the feedback I gave you. I will be checking, so make sure you do this. I have attached the grading rubric for the assignment here (and also put it in the assignment prompt), where you will see there is a section worth 10 points for revising the 1980s piece.  

One piece of general advice I would give for this assignment is to remember that we re in an African American Music Appreciation course. So, you need to talk about representations of Blackness (both sonic and visual) in your final paper. Of the 16 TikToks I already graded, most people had more gender and sexuality analysis and less analysis about race, and, more specifically, Blackness. Fortunately, you can practice this again in the final paper!

AFAM 356 Final PapeGradinRubric

Summarizes the sounds + visuals in 1980s music video(MV)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O
Summarizes the sounds + visuals in 2000s MV
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O
Zooms in on sounds + visuals in 15-30 seconds in 1980s MV
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O
Zooms in on sounds + visuals in 15-30 seconds in 2000s MV
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O
Describes race,gender, and sexuality in 1980s MV
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O
Describes race,gender, and sexuality in 2000s MV
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O
Connects two music videos via historical context and aesthetics
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O
3 quotes from readings/lectures
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O
Has a short intro &conclusion
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O
Revised the 1980s section
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 O

Grade: