Listening Journal Explanation

Blogger.com is what you are going to use for your weekly Listening Journal entries. Here's what you need to know:

Listening Journals are intended to get you thinking more deeply about music. These weekly exercises are designed to go far beyond the average passive listening that most people engage in. The Listening Journals are going to help you recognize learned musical elements, detect subtleties and nuances, analyze the actual sounds you're hearing - the music, and teach you how to write about music while supporting your opinion(s) with music information and knowledge.

Students will listen to a predetermined number of minutes of music each week (listed below). You are to do nothing else but listen to the music - do not work on homework, read, exercise, sleep, use your phone, tablet, computer, or other device - literally just sit and listen, and pay attention to what you're hearing. Note that students are welcome to write down hand-written notes about the pieces, as needed. You are on the honor system with Listening Journals, but experience has shown me that it's pretty obvious when students are attempting to multitask while completing this. **It is my hope that you will become motivated to listen to your music selections more than once each week. In doing so, you will not only notice more things within the music, but you might actually grow to like the music you're listening to!** ;o)

Logistics

1. Entries are to be posted no later than 10pm on Friday of each week.
2. Once all entries have been posted, you are to respond to 1 classmate's post that you find compelling, and respond to him/her by 10pm on Sunday of each week.

Listening Journal Entry Parameters

1. Your initial post should be thoughtful, insightful, and reflective. Your commentary should address key issues from your listening (e.g. likes/dislikes and explanations of why); you could raise questions about the piece or composer (e.g. why does this happen here? or why did the composer do this?); offer praise or criticism and supporting statements (the "why") about the piece or composer (e.g. "I think this song is too slow - it just seems to drag in tempo [grave]. I think if it were a bit faster [andante], the song would have a more compelling drive and I would like it better."); and should apply course concepts/vocabulary to demonstrate a full understanding of knowledge of concepts and ideas pertaining to the class and chapter of study.
2. Your response(s) to other students should also be thoughtful, insightful, and reflective. It should offer respectful commentary and discussion (either positive or negative - with support [why you are for/against] to their statements); could offer devil's advocate, rhetorical/"food for thought," or legitimate questions that require a response from your peer(s); could offer support or opposition in the form of a direct quote from the textbook; could include a link to an article or a YouTube video about the subject or topic of discussion; etc. 
   
   You do not have to listen to your peer's music (although you certainly can!) - you are simply responding to what they wrote. The idea here is to "have a conversation" with a person about what s/he has said about his/her listening experiences for the week.

Components of the Entry

What should my entry include? Here are some things to get you thinking:

1. Your entry must include the title (or movement) of the song(s) you listened to and the duration of each piece
2. What did you hear in the music?
3. By focusing on just listening, what did you notice that you haven't before?
4. How would you describe the music you listened to? What was new? What was familiar?
5. What did you have to block out in order to focus/concentrate? How did that change what you heard?
6. Identify the following (if you can) - and how do these elements factor in to your listening experience?
     a) Ensemble performing (band/choir/orchestra)
     b) Tempo - speed of the beat or song
     c) Meter - organization of beats into groups (2, 3, or 4's)
     d) Melody and Harmony - how or why are these important to the song?
     e) Key - major or minor tonality
     f) Texture - monophonic, polyphonic, or homophonic
     g) Form - binary or ternary (the horizontal layout - beginning to end)
     h) Performance - good or bad? why? what would make it better?
     i) Time period of composition - Middle Ages (Medieval), Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, 20th Century,    Modern/Contemporary, Popular (pop music), Country, Jazz, Rock, etc.
7. Any other elements or thoughts you wish to share

  Listening Journal Schedule

	Familiar Music	Unfamiliar Music		Familiar Music	Unfamiliar Music
Week 1	5 minutes	5 minutes	Week 5	15 minutes	15 minutes
Week 2	10 minutes	5 minutes	Week 6	20 minutes	15 minutes
Week 3	10 minutes	10 minutes	Week 7	20 minutes	20 minutes
Week 4	15 minutes	10 minutes	Week 8	25 minutes	25 minutes

Listening Journal Grading Rubric

Objective/Criteria	Performance Indicators
	Excellent (3)	Good (2)	Acceptable (1)	Unacceptable (0)
Insight, Support, and Substance of Response and Reply	Commentary addresses key issues, questions, or problems related to the issue, applying course concepts very well.	Commentary offers insight, analysis, or observation on the issue, but may not demonstrate a full understanding or knowledge of concept(s) and ideas pertaining to the discussion topic.	Commentary does not directly address the question or issue posed by the discussion issue.	Commentary is incomplete, inaccurate, or inappropriate, and does not meet necessary requirements. - OR - Commentary not submitted or shows a minimal effort toward completion.

Don't forget: you can always ask me for help, either in class or by email: jennifer_mills@ivcc.edu

Here's to a wonderful semester!