Spring 2015 Writing Class Syllabus

Welcome to the High Five writing class!

This should be a pretty low key but educational class for those of you who want to read books, write about them, and then get your writing edited by me:) Here is how the class will work:

Format: Online

There will be no set time for a formal class or instruction.

Requirements:

1. Read three books (one book per month).
2. Complete the writing assignments for the first two books. There will generally be one assignment per week, including reading the book.
3. Complete a final paper.
4. Post your thoughts weekly on a discussion board for this class, at least once before Wednesday night, and comment once more by Saturday night. (Someone might have to help me figure this out...)

Books:

January: 1 Nephi (Book of Mormon)

February: Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate

March: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

NOTE: I believe all of you have access to 1 Nephi. If not, ask the missionaries! Home of the Brave is available on Amazon as Kindle book, a hard copy, and it is also available at the public library. A Christmas Carol, if you don't already have it, is available free in various places on the web as a digital file. I believe you can also find it as an audio file for free. And again, it is available at the library, for free.

Theme: The theme for the books is "Journey to the Promised Land". We will be exploring the journeys taken in each book, as well as how journeying applies in our own lives, and education.

Discussion: I will be posting general discussion questions that we will comment about online each week.

Instruction: I will post helpful information and instructions for writing assignments as needed.

Writing assignments: Some of your writing assignments will include the following:

1. Write an introductory paragraph for your paper.
2. Write an outline for your paper.
3. Write a conclusion.
4. Write a paragraph for the body of the paper.
5. Write a rough draft.
6. Write a final draft.

You may or may not have to do all five parts each month. I will assign a suggested topic for each paper. You can choose to use that topic, or if you have something similar in mind, we can discuss that individually.

I am excited to get started! Please feel free to ask questions, or comment.

    

Synonyms

Active Listening Exercises

Here are some fun listening exercises for you to try as you start writing music. The first step is learning to listen.I found these in a book called "Hearing and Writing Music" by Ron Gorow. Most of it was a little advanced for our class, but it had some awesome stuff about harmonics and the golden ratio, or the golden mean, and the scale of harmonic proportion that is found in nature and the intuitive designs of humankind.

EXERCISE 1:

1. Find a spot where you can quietly sit or lie down. Relax. Listen to your breathing for a few minutes. Let any inner conversations play out; let that inner commentator settle down.
2. Now you've created space to allow all exterior sounds to enter your awareness. Listen to the sounds around you--near, far, high, low, intermittent, sustained. Notice that each sound occupies a certain portion of the total sound spectrum.
3. Concentrate on one sound for as long as you can.
4. Switch to another sound and focus for as long as you can.
5. Switch back to the first sound.

EXERCISE 2:
1.Listen to a sound from nature and relate it to music. Birds are especially musical, usually maintaining the pitch as they repeat a phrase.
2. What register does the sound occupy? (high, low, middle)
3. What instruments are suggested?
4. How would you orchestrate it?
5. Visualize the notation you would use to describe the sound.

EXERCISE 3:
1. Notice the acoustical properties of objects of various materials--woods, glass, plastics, metals--and how the shape, size and density cause differences in sound as the objects resonate. Who among us hasn't banged on everything in the kitchen?
2. Build an instrument with found objects. Choose the material for its acoustic properties. It may be as simple as suspending an object and finding the optimum striker to produce a resonant sound.
3. How can you alter the object to change the pitch, the timbre, the duration?

Music Writing Resources

Here are some resources for you to look at. Hopefully they will help you get a better idea about some of the inspirements. These pages are from the book "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition" by Michael Miller. The book is a great resource if you want to check it out from the library, or if you are really interested in writing music, you could buy it.

November

Week 1

Free writing: Write about anything at all without editing and without stopping for ten minutes.

·         Read Aspire Chapter 8. Write your thoughts in your journal.

·         Complete one of the songwriting/analyzing inspirements.

Week 2

Everyone:

“There is an art of listening. To be able really to listen, one should abandon or put aside all prejudices, pre-formulations and daily activities. When you are in a receptive state of mind, things can be easily understood; you are listening when your real attention is given to something.” J. Krishnamurti: The First & Last Freedom

“I listened more than I studied.” Haydn

“Listening is the primary musical activity. The musician listens to his own idea before he plays, before he writes” Susanne K. Langer

“Deep within us is the never-silent sound of our own vibrations…which is the musical core of us all.” Yehudi Menhuhin and Curtis Davis: The Music of Man

Free Writing: How can you listen to the “sound of our own vibration”? What does that mean to you?

Listening to Music: Listen to four songs.

Giving Up

Barcarolle

William Tell Overture

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing or I Need The Every Hour

·         Write about the differences in lyrics (when present), rhythm, complexity, the feelings you have as you listen, and what you picture in your head as you listen. Draw a picture if you want.

·         Complete one of the songwriting/analyzing inspirements

Week 3

·         Free writing: Write about anything at all without editing and without stopping for ten minutes.

·         Read Aspire Chapter 9. Write your thoughts in your journal.

·         Complete one of the songwriting/analyzing inspirements.

·         Select your submission for the monthly journal.

Week 4

·         Free Writing: Write about why you like or dislike a song for ten minutes.

·         Complete one of the songwriting/analyzing inspirements. You should have completed all four.

·         Turn in your submission for the journal.

This month there will be two groups of inspirements: one for those who want to try writing a song, and one for those who don’t. These need to be completed by week 4. You can do one per week. They can be done in any order, but make sure you do one per week.

For song writing

USING the information I have provided below:

·         Write the lyrics for a song.

·         Write the melody for your lyrics.

·         Choose and use one of the chord progression options.

·         Write a harmony.

For non-song writing

·         Choose a song you like and analyze the lyrics, preferably one that you have sheet music for so that you can have a visual copy. Think about how the lyrics make you feel, how they fit with the melody of the song, and if you think the lyrics effectively portray the message of the song.

·         Analyze the melody. How does it support the lyrics? Try to figure out the contour, or shape of the melody. Is it ascending, descending, arched, or an inverted arch?

·         Listen for rhythm and rhythm instruments. How many can you name?

·         Listen for other instruments that play a harmony, or listen for the harmony. What is harmony? How does the harmony contribute to the fullness of the song?

Chord Leading Reference

These chords….                                                                                Lead to these chords

I                                                                                               Any chord

ii                                                                                              IV, V, vii(dim)

iii                                                                                             ii, IV, vi

IV                                                                                            I, iii, V, vii(dim)

V                                                                                             I

vi                                                                                             ii, IV, V, I

vii (dim)                                                                                I, iii

These chords are based on the scale. If you play the chord based on the notes in the scale, you get these chord numbers. For example, in the key of C, the I chord would be C-E-G, the iii chord would be E-G-B, and the vii (dim) chord is B-D-F. If you have questions (which you probably will because I know this is not very clear), please let me know. I will try to get some visuals put together soon.

 

Things to Remember:

Lyrics

·         Words and music are of equal importance

·         The melody should fit the pacing of the lyrics in both rhythm and feel

·         The contour of the lyrics should match the tone of the lyrics

·         One common form for a song is:

Introduction

Verse

Chorus

Optional Bridge

Melody

·         Focus on your melodic shape to create movement

Overall contour

Combining contours

Motifs and melodic phrases

·         Building an outline from structural notes

·         Start at home, end at home.

Chords

Choose one of the following chord progressions, or make one of your own based on the chord progression chart.

I-vi-ii-IV-V-I

I-IV-I-V7-I

I-IV-V-IV-I

I-IV-I-V-I

Harmony

Use the chords in your chord progression to develop the harmonies in your song.

WARNING!!! I know you don’t know all of this stuff! If you do, you are awesome. WE WILL GO OVER IT IN WEEK 2! If you have burning questions before then, please feel free to ask. I will answer. See you soon!

Motif: A brief melodic or rhythmic idea, the piece of the melody that reaches out and grabs you. It is fairly short—usually a few notes, but sometimes up to two measures. It repeats in the same way and with variations throughout the song. (Think Beethoven’s Fifth)

Melodic Phrase: A segment that is unified by rhythms, melodies, or harmonies, and that comes to some sort of closure; often composed in groups of 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 measures. Many times it is the motif repeated and varied with a starting and ending point.