Exam 3: Take Home Exam

MUSI 1306 (Understanding Music) Exam 3 – Take Home Exam

Essay (25 points per answer, 100 points total)
Choose FOUR of the following questions. Be sure to outline your thoughts and find appropriate support for your argument. Your answers of 300-400 words (for each topic) should draw from class readings, lectures/videos, discussions, and your own insight. Post your answers as one file on Turnitin.com by 11:59pm on Tuesday, May 11, 2010. No late submissions will be accepted.

1. The consultation of ethnomusicologist Wanda Bryant in the music of Avatar is significant in understanding the steps taken to produce a film score of this nature. How do James Horner and Wanda Bryant separate the soundscapes representing the Na’vi and humans? Discuss the differences in musical characteristics and point to particular songs or scenes in which these differences are heard. Also consider the implications of these two soundscapes. How does this shape the audience’s watching/listening experience? (Tip: Avatar is now available to rent or purchase in stores, and it may be helpful to watch this movie again if your original notes are not detailed.)

2. This semester, we discussed four opera cultures: early 19^th century Italian opera, late 19^th century Italian opera, opera’s presence in music cultures today, and the operas of Philip Glass. Write about one music culture, and include all four aspects of music culture (ideas, activities, repertoires, material culture).

3. Our discussion of American musicals focused on the impact of Oklahoma and its reflexivity of musicals to American culture of that time. How was this musical reflexive? Be specific and include support from the article reading, class lecture/video. Since this musical is still widely performed today, what aspects of this musical still reflect American society in 2010?

4. The film The Language You Cry In presents an interdisciplinary project involving an ethnomusicologist, anthropologist, and linguist to trace the roots of one Gullah family to Sierra Leone. Why is this significant? (Be sure to refer back to video rather than to focus on merely personal feelings regarding this issue.) This project also brings about new concerns in ethnomusicology with regards to preservation documentation and analysis (that is studying music cultures in collaborative projects with the intent to preserve them). Unfortunately, there are far more music cultures than ethnomusicologists or funding for this type of research. In the Dallas area, list one music culture which should be preserved and studied. What other specialists should be involved?

5. The discussion of urban versus electric blues often leads to a heated debate over authenticity and the long time question: “Can white people sing the blues?” Address both sides of this argument without making your own personal opinion known.

6. Choose to write about one subgenre of rock. Be sure to address all of the following: a tradition in which this subgenre was created (i.e. influential genres), ideas which make this subgenre unique from other subgrenres of rock, performance-related aspects of this music culture (i.e. mosh pits), notable artists and songs, and patterns of audience members of this music culture (i.e. age ranges, genders, ethnicity/race, etc.).

NOTE: To prevent collusion, these answers should not appear on your class blog. You should also avoid copy/pasting from your class blog as well as this will appear on your originality report.
Please submit to Turnitin.com early to avoid any problems in the way of originality long before the deadline.