Grade 7 & 8 - Lesson 1 (Q4) (Composition Research)

Composition Review

DUE DATE: You will hand in a hard copy of your assignment with the rubric attached by 12:00pm on Thursday April 30^th 2015.

You will also upload a soft copy of your assignment on Google Drive by 12:00pm on Thursday April 30^th 2015 in your personal folder. Do make sure to make me as the OWNER of your document.

Aside from practicing, listening to high quality music is the most important contributor to playing music and maturing as musicians.  As young musicians, it is important that critical listening become a part of your regular listening practices, particularly music that is in direct comparison to the music we perform/ study in class i.e. march, swing, Latin, symphonic etc.

Your assignment will be to choose a composition from the list below.  Listen to the composition in its entirety several times and write a two-page review of the piece. IT IS EXPECTED THAT YOU WILL OBSERVE MUSIC COPYRIGHT LAW WHEN DOING THIS ASSIGNMENT.  If you are using a YouTube link please include the URL in your report.

The following is a list of things you should consider when writing your review:

1. Do a bit of historical research on the composition, it will give your review more depth;
2. Make reference to the elements of music i.e. tempo, rhythm, melody, dynamics, instrumentation, texture, timbre;
3. Be sure to use proper music terminology;
4. When making subjective comments, remember to be professional in your vocabulary; 

Below is the list of compositions you must choose from.

• Symphony #9 - Beethoven
• It don’t mean a thing if you ain't got that swing – Duke Ellington
• Symphony #40 - Mozart
• Fur Elise - Beethoven
•  Sing sing sing - Benny Goodman
• St Louis Blues – Louis Armstrong
• Mercy Mercy Mercy – Buddy Rich
• Superstition – Stevie Wonder
• Flight of the Bumble Bee – Various
• Canon in D - Pachelbel

Rubric

Please take note that your rubric has been shared with you

         Google Drive > Grade 7&8 > Term 4 > Classical Music Composition

Report Layout

1. Two pages, double-spaced (12 font) is the expectation for this assignment
2. The page length is not negotiable and should not be over two pages