Category Archives: Participation

These assignments can be completed to earn participation credits.

How not to write about female musicians: examples [participation]

In today’s class, we’ll be discussing criticism of female rock and pop musicians. In her article, “How Not to Write About Female Musicians: A Handy Guide,” Maura Johnson highlights some of the ways that sexism becomes apparent in criticism.

Find an example or two that illustrate one or more of her points from recent articles in music blogs, magazines, etc. Send them to me before class, and be prepared to lead class discussion about your example.

Due:

Blackboard engagement [participation]

Earn one participation credit for regularly starting, reading, and commenting on Blackboard discussion threads.

You should start at least one thread during the semester about a topic related to the class, and also comment meaningfully on your classmates’ posts and assignment responses (in other words: ask a follow-up question, provide additions or constructive feedback, offer some reflections, etc.) at least four times–and more would be good!

Toward the end of the semester, you should send me an e-mail with a list of your posts.

Dressing for success (or failure!) [participation]

In class today, we’ll be considering how the way a woman looks on stage contributes to the way audiences and critics perceive her performance. To earn a participation credit for today, e-mail me ahead of time with at least two examples we can use in class for discussion. These can be controversies over a female musician’s dress or looks, images, video clips, etc., from any historical period. Include a few sentences about why you think your examples are significant or interesting, and be prepared to explain them in class.

Due:

Women in opera plots [participation]

In the chapter of her book we are reading for today, Catherine Clément critiques the plots of operas that end in the heroine’s death. In other sections of her book, she shows other ways that things don’t seem to turn out well for female characters and demonstrates that operas can reinforce gender stereotypes in a number of different ways.

Search through the opera plots in the Metropolitan Opera’s plot summary database (see www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history) or a similar site. Pick an opera or two from the nineteenth or early twentieth century. How are the female characters treated? Can you identify any strong female characters? Be prepared to BRIEFLY summarize the plot for the class. You should also try to find an audio or audio-visual example of a key scene for one of the female characters.

Due:

Bring examples of women in African drumming to class [participation]

Locate additional audio or video examples of women drummers in African or Afro-Caribbean music (other than those on the listening list) that we can look at as a group. Post these examples in the “Drummers” thread on Blackboard before class so that I can access them. Then, be prepared to say a bit about your example in class.

Due: