Paper details:

Create a strong thesis statement on your chosen topic, and develop an argument defending that thesis throughout your essay. Investigate this issue at length: how does popular music address, challenge, and change our thinking on the issue? Who are the participants in this discourse? What are the power dynamics inherent in the rela- tionship between musicians, the music industry, and listeners? How can that power balance shift in one di- rection or another? It’s important to remember that music can either reflect a particular subject position on any given topic, or it can construct a subject position. That is, music may be written in response to an event or paradigm shift; music can also work to create that shift itself. Your job is to demonstrate music’s role in our thinking about your chosen topic. You will choose one musical example to analyze at length. Examples should be limited geographically to North America and Britain, to stay within the confines of the course. Examine how the example illustrates the argument of the essay, using terminology from class. What instrumentation do performers use? What textures, timbres, forms, harmonies, rhythms, and other musical gestures further a listener’s understanding of the topic at hand? Your essay should present a clear picture of the social issue you have researched, connecting musical per- formance, audience reception, performer intent, and an analysis of the music’s role in our understanding of the issue. *All papers must contain musical analysis based on the terms used in class. This analysis must be incorpo- rated into the paper, not separate, and can include video analysis. Analysis should occupy approximately 15- 20% of your paper. (1-2 pages)* *Essays must be based on scholarly research, and must include at least two peer-reviewed sources, plus three other (e.g., journalistic) sources.* Citation Requirements Students are expected to use reference materials in the library or available through the library website (books, journals, encyclopedias, recordings). You may use more than one article or entry from a peer-reviewed source to count towards your two peer-reviewed sources (such as two entries from the Grove Dictionary of Music). Reliable online sources, such as the official website for an artist, may be consulted for the additional three sources. Official biographies or non-peer-reviewed magazine articles or books on popular music in gen- eral are also acceptable secondary sources. Authors must be cited in all websites used, and proper biblio- graphic format used. Use of Wikipedia is prohibited. Students should use a minimum of two peer-reviewed written sources in addition to other sources and recordings, and must cite all directly or indirectly quoted and paraphrased material, including the prof’s notes or lectures. Essays with citations, bibliographies, and discographies that do not meet the format of the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style will lose 10%. Bibliographies and discographies must be single-spaced, with sec- ond and subsequent lines of each entry indented and all punctuation in the correct place. Either author-date format or footnotes may be used for in-text citations. You may put your bibliography and discography on the same page. There will be no exceptions to this rule. Misplaced punctuation, misnumbered citations, and other minor mis- takes will be grounds for losing the full 10%. The library has reference guides on reserve, or check the Chi- cago quick guide online for assistance in citing sources: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html. Essays that do not use the minimum two peer-reviewed sources and three additional sourchkzes will lose 5% per missing source.