A significant amount of emphasis is placed on the discussion forums. I feel this is necessary in order to simulate the kind of group discussion that occurs in a traditional classroom. For this to work in an online setting, we must have meaningful dialogue. This means providing:
• A substantial initial posting (three paragraphs) that fully answers the question(s) presented
Discussions will be graded based on the following criteria:
• Completeness: The extent to which the student fully answers the relevant question(s) and provides meaningful comments on the contributions of at least two classmates.
• Insightfulness and Originality: The extent to which the student’s contribution demonstrates thoughtfulness and an individual perspective that is somewhat unique.
• Professional Rapport: The extent to which the student’s conduct in discussions is professional in nature: articulate and clear, polite and empathetic, yet engaged in scholarly debate
• A substantial initial posting (three paragraphs) that fully answers the question(s) presented
Discussions will be graded based on the following criteria:
• Completeness: The extent to which the student fully answers the relevant question(s) and provides meaningful comments on the contributions of at least two classmates.
• Insightfulness and Originality: The extent to which the student’s contribution demonstrates thoughtfulness and an individual perspective that is somewhat unique.
• Professional Rapport: The extent to which the student’s conduct in discussions is professional in nature: articulate and clear, polite and empathetic, yet engaged in scholarly debate
Here is the discussion post:
On p. 2 of the ebook, Kamien states the following:
“Recorded performance is a sensational innovation of the twentieth century. Today, the Internet gives access to a practically unlimited variety of recorded sounds and images. Portable audio and media players permit us to hear and watch what we want, wherever we want.
“Live performances provide special excitement. In a live performance, artists put themselves on the line; training and magnetism must overcome technical difficulties to involve the listener’s emotions. What is performed, how it sounds, how the artist feels about it that evening—all this exists for a fleeting moment and can never be repeated. An audience responds to the excitement of such a moment, and feelings are exchanged between stage and hall.”
Before we embark on the study of different musical styles of the past, it is important to remind ourselves that most of the music we will be studying this semester was, initially, only experienced in a live performance setting – since recording technology had not yet been developed. As Kamien alluded to, in live performance, performer(s) and audience share a common time and space. With recordings, the “fleeting moment” that Kamien speaks of can be preserved and repeated indefinitely. The advantages of recording technology should not be overlooked – not only do recordings allow us to preserve performances, they also make music much more accessible than it used to be. On the other hand, recordings seem to undermine the communal and ephemeral nature of music.
Kamien wrote mainly of how our experience of recorded music differs from our experience of live performances. Please expand on this by discussing how the setting (live performance vs. recording) affects how we perceive of what music is. Is music an activity or a commodity? Recordings have the capabity to imbue a particular performance with a sense of authenticity or authority. In such cases, one particular performance of a composition may be considered (either consiously or subsonsiously) to be the authoritative version that serves as the reference point for all other interprations of the piece. Have you ever gone to a concert and noticed differences between the live performance and the recordings with which you were already familiar? If so, were you disappointed or did you enjoy the variety in intepretation? Have your most memorable musical experiences involved live performances or recordings?
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