Big Blog no. 2: One Last Music-Culture

 The time is here--our last Blog entries! We'll talk more about this next week, but I'd like to start out by thanking you for being such a wonderful class this term. Your curiosity in your blogs, your kindness to each other in the comments, and your honesty in the "quizzes" has been one of the Good Things that has helped me navigate this most curious semester. 

This last blog is (obviously) a Big Blog, and the scope (but not the content) will be the same as the first Big Blog. In fact, let's just copy them here: 


In terms of scope, think of this as a short term paper, but more informal, and with a fair amount of media embedded. As a guidepost, aim for about 1000 words, plus media. You'll need a handful of sources at the end (use full citations, rather than just web addresses), but you don't need to include footnotes or parenthetical references....While a bit of fan-girling is just fine, do remember that you're teaching other people about your chosen topic, and they need to learn about that topic from you.

The content will be quite different from the first Big Blog, though. As we've discussed in class, pick a music-culture that we haven't explicitly covered in class. Let your imagination run wild! You can pick a people, a country, a repertoire, or something else along those lines. The Maori of New Zealand, the Inuit of Alaska, the Tango of Argentina, the country of Madagascar, traditional Bulgarian music, Tuvan throat-singers, Chinese opera, etc. Your goal is to teach the class sort of like how I've been teaching y'all throughout the semester--give us something of a broad overview, but pick some deep pockets to expand on. It will help you if you pick a topic of medium breadth. For instance, "China" is way too big--it's a huge country with many ethnicities and traditions and a much-recorded long history. C-Pop is way too narrow--it's a fairly recent popular music genre without much real variety. Chinese opera, however, comes in lots of different styles has been around for centuries but is fairly contained--it's just right. Smaller countries--like Madagascar--that have much less of a written tradition and are therefore trickier to research are just right all by themselves. Don't even think about doing your whole blog on Russia (way too big) or K-pop (way too small). 

As before, leave a comment on this blog entry letting us all know what your topic will be, so that everyone doesn't happen to flock over the Chinese opera. In fact, leave your topic by this coming Thursday, November 12--I'll be sure to check over the list and try to head off anything that's undoable. 

This final Big Blog is due the final Friday of classes (November 20) by 11:59 pm, with Comments happening over the weekend and due by the following Monday (November 23) at 11:59--just a bit earlier than earlier Blogs so that we can move on to Thanksgiving.

Oh, and Chinese opera? Here's a short clip of just one type of Chinese opera--it's just a bit different that what you might expect in a European opera house....


Comments

  1. EmorieNovember 11, 2020 at 5:25 PM

    Topic will be on the musical culture of Ireland

    ReplyDelete
  2. Asa Murphy-CaldwellNovember 11, 2020 at 5:28 PM

    I would like to do the the Inuit of Alaska.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Chasidy RoachNovember 11, 2020 at 6:12 PM

    I'll be doing my blog on the musical culture of Ukraine

    ReplyDelete
  4. faith sidesNovember 11, 2020 at 10:40 PM

    I would like to do my blog on the musical culture of Jamaica

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mackenzie WeatherfordNovember 12, 2020 at 10:45 AM

    I would like to do the musical culture of Dominican Republic.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cristina LeonNovember 12, 2020 at 10:46 AM

    I'll be doing my blog on the musical culture of Mongolia

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sierra StilesNovember 12, 2020 at 1:32 PM

    I'll do my blog on the musical culture of Iceland

    ReplyDelete
  8. Terri JNovember 12, 2020 at 3:19 PM

    I'll be doing my blog on Argentinian music. I'm thinking about focusing on the traditional types.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dr. Kelly VanemanNovember 12, 2020 at 5:00 PM

    So far, these are all great. Looks like a really fun set of blogs!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Grace MontgomeryNovember 13, 2020 at 9:13 AM

    My blog will be on the music in Ethiopia.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Dr. Kelly VanemanNovember 16, 2020 at 3:02 PM

    Ethiopia is just fine, too!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cameron McGaheeNovember 17, 2020 at 9:34 AM

    The music of New Zealand

    ReplyDelete
  13. Dr. Kelly VanemanNovember 17, 2020 at 1:55 PM

    New Zealand. Great!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Bayley RobinsonNovember 19, 2020 at 9:59 AM

    My blog will be on the music culture of Japan

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gracie Crocker :)November 19, 2020 at 10:36 AM

    I will be doing mine on the musical culture of China

    ReplyDelete

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