MUS 115 Grossmont College Neil Sedaka Music Journal MUSIC JOURNAL Note: This is an ongoing assignment! During most classes/assignments, recordings will b

MUS 115 Grossmont College Neil Sedaka Music Journal MUSIC JOURNAL

Note: This is an ongoing assignment!

During most classes/assignments, recordings will be played. It is your responsibility to keep a music journal and make an entry for every designated recording in class. For each recording, you need to list four points under the title:

(A) The artist,

(B) the instrumentation (instruments heard),

(C) the theme (what is this song about?), and

(D) your impression of it (what is your feeling about it?).

Here is an actual example, from one of my students:

36. Manic Depression

A. Jimi Hendrix

B. Guitar, bass, drums

C. Manic depression is hard to live with

D. I am familiar with Hendrix’ music, and have heard this many times. I love the jazzy feel of the drums and bass, while Hendrix sails above it all with psychedelic sounds. Still sounds great after all these years. The drum fills at the end are cool also.

Note the length of the letter D entry. This type of response is what I am looking for! Don’t just write “I like it,” or “I don’t like it.” I find that boring. Try to be expressive in your entries. Listen to the song again, if needed. Also, I know some of you might have trouble listing the instruments. Do the best that you can.

It’s interesting that the title, artist, and instrumentation are objective. C, or the theme, is a mix of objective/subjective, and D is totally subjective, because those are your thoughts! Here are 2 examples of what your music journal should look like: