Find a song or piece of music that you feel has the following characteristics: a) Utilizes “symbolism as social expression though direct lyrical imagery, lyrical allegory, or puzzles with associated
Music Hunt - example of a music hunt assignment submission
------- EXAMPLE - THE SONG BELOW, FORGET REGRET, IS AN EXAMPLE DO NOT USE THE SAME SONG OR ANSWERS – EXAMPLE -------
So, first I found a song that I thought would meet the requirements of the assignment - in this example I selected a song by Roy Hargrove called "Forget Regret" - and discovered it is on YouTube so I would be able to submit a URL. Once that’s done I then want to submit my required answers that the assignment asks me to think about .
Required item) “Song Facts” - for "Forget Regret" (I got this info from three sources: www.allmusic.com, the RH Factor website, and YouTube):
Required item) "URL" - I listed the URL for the song on YouTube and made sure that it works correctly.
Here is an EXAMPLE of how your submission should look:
Song: “Forget Regret”
Composer: Roy Hargrove
Performers: The RH Factor with Stephanie McKay (vocals)
Length: 3:52
Genre: Jazz/Rap
Label: Verve Records
Release date: 2003
URL: https://youtu.be/HMJGUMPiW1M (I got this from YouTube)
After writing in the song facts, I then write an analysis based on the assignment instructions - in this case I'm using a different one than you have for your assignment, belief systems, so remember this is just an example, not the same topic you have in your assignment.
It's important to note that as a university course about the arts, you are not trying to only write about how you feel about the song - subjective writing about likes and dislikes without good scholarly information and analysis is just conjecture and opinion. Your opinion is, of course, important, but for the assignment you are trying to convince the reader that your song selection fulfills the requirements of the assignment. So, you're trying to think about the subject based on your own thoughts and observations, AND also any scholarly research you might have done (in this case GoogleScholar - https://scholar.google.com, and Oxford Music Online), your observations from listening in class and class notes you took, and in your assigned textbook reading and listening studies, etc...
Here is an EXAMPLE of how this second part of your submission should look and the amount of writing content:
I think my selected song, "Forget Regret" by RH Factor, meets the requirements for the assignment because it expresses “belief” in a person’s innate beauty - a metaphor for the inner beauty of all human beings - as an important aspect of the human experience. It is expressed in this song as a personal testament. Also, the short phrases, melodic rhythm, and repetition of lyric focus on the connectivity of a variety of concepts. The ability of music to express ethnicity and brotherhood becomes one of the important items I thought about in this assignment.
In one of the songs examined in class, "Alleluia," there was the expression of “belief” in a spiritual, almost ethereal construct that represented a particular religious community. In that sense “Forget Regret” is not the same, but rather the difference is the point for a song that expresses awareness of the social condition of our country, the personal representation of connectivity, and also a more personal understanding that often times we forget to believe in ourselves when we are under oppression, having hard times, or simply at a particular point in one's life. In the second assigned song, "I Believe In You," the "you" of the song is left to interpretation; possibly in reference to God, or perhaps to an individual. To me that is also how I think of the song I selected.
Finally, I think that all three songs are united in offering support for someone - whether a communal (inclusive) praising of God, or a communal support of an individual or cause.
