Passion Project: Music Production and Audio Engineering

Reflection:

I think that this project was a great assignment to add to the course curriculum. I think that all of us have a big idea in terms of something that we want to do in our classrooms, but haven't really put pen to paper. For me, this was a great start in developing an actual class I want to teach. I wanted to teach a class like this, but I didn't have much in the way of how. I probably would have kept this idea on the back burner because it was so daunting and abstract. I will be developing this project further next semester because there is still a lot to be done.

The problem I am still wrangling with is describing abstract ideas with concrete language. The more I think about it, the more I am leaning towards letting students write descriptors and then have them debate their validity. Maybe having one person tell what is and what is not a "rough" sound isn't a good idea.

Additional Resources:

I believe in teaching by modeling. Anthony Fantano is the internet's most popular music critic. He uses all of the skills that student's will learn in this class. Although I don't always agree with him, I respect his analysis and articulation. The first video is a favorable review, while the second is not.

Just because a student doesn't play an instrument does't mean that they wont use an emulated one in a DAW or work with an artist to record and mix a live one. Students need to understand how the greats used their instruments to help guide their art.

Students should know why certain sound qualities evoke specific emotions.

As of 11/12: I'm still looking for resources. If you know of anything I can use, put it in the comments!

Visual Understanding:

A link to the document

1) How did you select the images and digital platform for your project?

I selected the images based on how well they conveyed a mood or a physical feeling of a song and its quality. Take for example the quality of "rough" which used the physical feeling of touch for asphalt, and the emotion of fighting to the death.

2) In what ways did creating the visualization deepen your understanding of the topic in ways that reading alone might not have?

I had to think critically in order to put to words what I heard and felt in order to make definitions to suit the concept. It was pretty difficult, to my surprise. I had to debate myself whether or not what I was writing was true. I had to let go of a lot of what I had previously thought.

3) How has the process influenced your thinking on visualization as a vehicle for learning and/or how might you use visualization in your future teaching?

This processes has strengthened my understanding of the phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words." I thought that this process was easy, but that was based on my understanding of depicting an event in a sense of historical events. It turns out trying to visualize feelings and musical qualities is very difficult. This is definitely a skill that I will need to work on.

In future teaching, I will ask students in my history class to draw a picture that does not depict an event, but invoke feelings of an event.

Text Complexity:

All of the songs considered

Alexisonfire. “Rough Hands.” Crisis, Distort Entertainment, 2006, track 11.

Carey, Mariah. “Someday.” Mariah Carey, Columbia, 1990, track 4.

Death Grips. “I’ve Seen Footage.” The Money Store, Epic, 2012, track 6.

Idles. “Samaritans.” Joy as an Act of Resistance. Partisan, 2018, track 7.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience. “All Along the Watchtower.” Electric Ladyland, Reprise, 1968, side 4 track 3.

Mangan, Dan. “Pine for the Cedars.” Nice, Nice, Very Nice, Arts & Crafts Productions, 2009, track 4.

Romano, Daniel. “Time Forgot.” Sleep Beneath the Willow, You’ve Changed, 2011, track 1.

Death Grips: I’ve Seen Footage (2012)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sticXkHxZC (warning: flashing images)

Text to World: “I’ve Seen Footage” is a song about the prevalence of disturbing media on the internet and on broadcast television and the effect that it has on the viewer. In this instance, the viewer/artist is both captivated by the material and paranoid that it he might end up on the screen. The refrain “Noided” means to be hyper aware of your surroundings.

Text Complexity: StoryToolz rates this song at a 3.8 grade level due to the short verses/sentences, but in reality this is a very complex song. The lyricist, MC Ride, speaks in both practical and metaphoric terms about videos he has seen on broadcast television and the deep recesses of the internet. This is further complicated by his syntax which he takes great creative freedom with. Phrases like “Creeps up behind me, over my shoulder, try to see but its no where” are fairly straightforward to understand. Others such as “Juke step wit so much boy rude looseness seem like no bones in him skin” take multiple listens to understand. MC Ride’s bars do not follow a consistent or typical flow, further disorienting the listener. This is all most likely intentional.

Question: How do students feel about having their whole adolescent lives available on a social media server somewhere? How do they feel about big tech companies crunching their data?

Idles: Samaritan (2018) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmOxkgVRy9M

Text to Self: The lyrics of this song describes the lead singer’s feeling of dissociation from traditional masculinity. This song would be appropriate for any teenager who is questioning who they believe they are and who society wants them to be.

Text Complexity: StoryToolz rates this song at a 1.8 grade level. This rating is probably due to the short and repetitive verses/sentences, many of which are under four words in length.

Question: What stereotypes do student’s feel that are placed on them? How are students disproving stereotypes? How are students owning stereotypes?

Daniel Romano: Time Forgot (2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=no3tNgZXIvE

Text to text: There is a joke that is a commentary on classic country; if you play a country song backwards you get your house back, your truck back and your dog back. Daniel Ramano’s plays to the strengths of this trope. “Time Forgot” is written as a story similar to other great country songs such as Brad Paisley’s “Mud on the Tires”, Travis Tritt’s “Where Corn Don’t Grow” and Johnny Cash’s “Don’t Take Your Guns To Town.” Modern country has increasingly strayed from the storytelling tradition since the mid-2000’s and the genre suffers because of it. Today, Country music would be indistinguishable from Pop. Both value a vibe than good songwriting and instrumentation.

Text Complexity: StoryToolz rated this song at a 5.5 grade level, the longest of the three songs analyzed in this post. I believe that “Time Forgot” obtained this score because, like most country songs, is structured in a story-telling format. There is a logical progression the protagonist makes and his story is told in complete sentences.

Question: What kinds of stories can our students tell us?

Using music to teach literacy skills:

Music production and audio engineering:

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