Assignment #2: Brief Listening Investigation
Listening to Music (MUZA99H3S)
Winter 2025
Assignment Details
General Description
This assignment applies the elements of music we have learned thus far to a song of your choice. The pedagogical goal of this assignment is to increase your retention of course content by making the content more relevant to your life.
Specific Tasks
Choose any piece of music that you like (EXCEPT a piece on the listening list for this class).
Please identify the piece of music using the title, artist name (or composer name),and year (the year in which the recording was released).
Discuss your chosen piece of music in relation to each of the following four musical elements:
1. Genre
2. Instruments
3. Rhythm (and Time)
4. Metre
When you discuss each element, make sure to use two or more sub-concepts from the lectures. These sub-concepts should be terms discussed in the lectures in relation to the four musical elements above. Some examples of potential sub-concepts:
Genre
• Genres (e.g. classical, hip-hop, jazz, pop, R&B) and subgenres (e.g., Baroque period, bebop, Bossa Nova, Motown)
• Common instruments in the genre (e.g., guitar, piano, voice)
• Common ensembles in the genre (e.g., band, choir, jazz big band, orchestra)
• Common forms in the genre (e.g., 12-bar blues, AABA, sonata allegro, verse-chorus)
Instruments
• Orchestral families (woodwinds, brass, percussion, strings)
• Hornbostel-Sachs categories (aerophone, idiophone, membranophone, chordophone)
• Performance techniques (e.g., staccato, arpeggio, riff, pizzicato, strumming, walking bass)
• Instrument construction (e.g., valve, bell, mallet, drum set, fretboard)
Rhythm/ Time
• Tempos (e.g., adagio, moderato, presto)
• Tempo changes (e.g., accel., rit.)
• The beat/ pulse
• Notes vs. rests (e.g., different note and rest values)
• Phrases (e.g., phrase lengths)
• Swing rhythm
• Arhythmic
*Note that ‘rhythm and time’ is considered one musical element for the purposes of this paper; only two total sub-concepts must be used for rhythm and time together.
Metre
• Metres (e.g., 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/8); including duple/ triple/ quadruple, and simple/ compound
• Bars/ measures
• Downbeat
• Upbeat (is there an upbeat?)
• Backbeat (is there a backbeat?)
• Syncopation (is there syncopation?)
• Mixed metre
• Ametric
Using Concepts ‘Accurately’
Make sure you use the musical elements and relevant sub-concepts accurately. This means that you will need to demonstrate your understanding of the concepts by using them in contexts in which they make sense.
For example, if you incorrectly identify the genre or metre of your piece, or use a sub-concept wrong, you will not receive points for using those terms. You are welcome to do your own research in order to check that you have correctly applied course concepts to your chosen song.
Length of Answers
You should discuss the four musical elements for approximately 1-3 paragraphs each. Make sure to separate the elements clearly so that theTA grading your assignment knows that you have responded to all four elements. For example, you can start the paragraph on rhythm/ time by saying “I am now going to discuss my song in relation to rhythm/ time” and then go on to mention the rhythm/ time in your chosen song.
In total, the document should include approximately 750 words.
*Additional Requirement — Include Link to Recording*
Please make sure to include a link to your chosen audio recording within your assignment. This should be a link to either YouTube or Spotify ONLY (i.e., no other streaming services). You can add the link by copying and pasting the web address directly into your assignment, or creating a hyperlink in your word processor.
If you do not provide a link to your chosen piece, the grader may have difficulty finding a recording, which could result in a lower grade.
Prompts to Get You On the Right Path
Starting Your Assignment
You can start your assignment by stating the title, artist name, and year of your chosen piece of music, and providing a link to the recording. Then you can talk a bit about why you chose this piece of music. Is it your favourite song? Is it a piece of music which has been meaningful to you for some time?
Discussing the Genre of Your Chosen Song
Identify the genre and potentially also the subgenre of your song, then see if you can identify other elements related to the genre. What is the ensemble? Is this the typical ensemble in this genre? How does the date of this recording compare to other recordings in the genre?
Discussing the Instruments of Your Chosen Song
Try to identify some of the instruments heard in your chosen piece of music. What are the
families/ categories of these instruments? Are there any special performance techniques being used?
Discussing the Rhythm/ Time of Your Chosen Song
What is the tempo of your chosen song? Does it stay the same throughout, or does it change at all during the piece? What are the phrase lengths (i.e., how many bars per phrase)? Is swing rhythm used at all? Is any part of your song arhythmic?
Discussing the Metre of Your Chosen Song
What is the metre of your chosen piece of music? Is there an upbeat? A backbeat? Syncopation? If it does feature an upbeat, a backbeat, or syncopation, how are these concepts used in the song? Is any part of your song ametric?
Ending Your Assignment
No special ending is required here, but you may wish to tie your investigation together by mentioning what you learned about your chosen song through this assignment, and how you might apply these concepts to other music you listen to in the future.
Grading Rubric
|
Category
|
Description
|
Point Calculation
|
Points
|
|
Discussing Genre
|
The student accurately
discussed the genre of their chosen piece of music,
mentioning two relevant sub- concepts.
|
1 point is awarded for each genre-related sub-concept discussed accurately, up to a maximum of 2 points.
*Note that genre and subgenre count as 1 point; these are not separate sub-concepts.
|
2
|
|
Discussing Instruments
|
The student accurately
discussed the instruments used in their chosen piece of music, mentioning two relevant sub- concepts.
|
1 point is awarded for each
instrument-related sub-concept discussed accurately, up to a
maximum of 2 points.
|
2
|
|
Discussing Rhythm and Time
|
The student accurately
discussed rhythm/ time in
relation to their chosen piece of music, mentioning two relevant sub-concepts.
|
1 point is awarded for each rhythm or time-related sub- concept discussed accurately, up to a maximum of 2 points.
|
2
|
|
Discussing Metre
|
The student accurately
discussed the metre of their chosen piece of music,
mentioning two relevant sub- concepts.
|
1 point is awarded for each metre-related sub-concept discussed accurately, up to a maximum of 2 points.
|
2
|
|
Using Complete Sentences and Paragraphs
|
The student wrote their
assignment using complete sentences, grouped
appropriately into paragraphs.
|
1 point is deducted if the assignment is not written in complete sentences and
paragraphs.
|
1
|
|
Writing ~750 Words
|
The student wrote a total of approximately 750 words.
|
1 point is deducted if there are fewer than 650 total words or more than 850 total words.
|
1
|