Hello, my name is Cynthia Perez and I am a senior majoring in Biochemistry. In this Advanced Seminar we have been asked to write and analyze music through various perspectives. We completed three writing projects, along with other discussions about several readings. The first writing project was a track-by-track annotated playlist about our favorite artist or band. The purpose of this assignment was to choose 8-10 songs that best represented the artist’s career and evolution. Each song is then explained and its significance to the artist is discussed. The second writing project consisted of picking an album that we would take to our desert island. We talked about our personal connection to the album and explained why we chose it. In the third writing project we were asked to attend a live show or concert and then do a live review of the performance. The purpose of this is to experience what is it like to write professionally for an audience. Here our writing skills were put to practice as we analyzed the performance so that the reader can get a detailed summary and feel of what the show was like.
The two writing projects that I chose to revise is the track-by-track annotated playlist and the desert island disc. I chose to revise the track-by-track annotated playlist because I did not embed or include links to outside media. As a result, it was not very interactive or fun to read. By adding more pictures, links to songs, and embedding videos, I was able to enhance my annotated playlist for the reader. Additionally, adding supporting evidence helps further strengthen my points and statements. For my desert island disc, I decided to revise it because I was not going in depth about my connection to the album and there were also grammatical errors that challenged the credibility of my piece. By being more specific and fixing errors, the writing flows more smoothly for the reader to understand.
My portfolio reflects my personal experiences with music by connecting it to my experiences. When I talk about the duo Oh Wonder in my desert island disc, I mention how it is important to me because it has had a positive impact in my life. Struggling with self-confidence, I am able to connect my interpretation of the music to the purpose of their music, and their message to the audience. My experience with writing about music to public audiences is that it can be a little hard. This is because you are writing to different audiences such as the fans of the artist, and the people who have never heard of the artist. Therefore, it is important to be intentional and bridge the gap between the wide variety of audiences. A brief introduction of the artist is always helpful and an easy way to satisfy the different types of audiences. Adding links to outside media is always helpful too since it adds supporting evidence to conclusions that are made.
My portfolio contains many links to outside media for additional support. By doing a fair amount of research on the artist, I was able to compare my initial interpretation of their music with what the artist’s ultimate intention was. This leads to discussions on agreements or disagreements based on the evidence that is found. This reflects on how I will approach music and music writing in the future because it is important to be both professional in a respectful way when it comes to writing about music and sharing personal opinions. Additionally, the more interactive it is, the more the audience will be able to connect with the content. Also, it is important to edit many times to make sure that my writing is credible and trustworthy.
Music has a very big impact on different cultures. However, music writing has an even more powerful influence. This is because our own interpretation of music is what matters most. For example, Oh Wonder’s song Livewire might have a different interpretation than I have. For me it can be a song completely about love, but for someone else it can simply mean the importance of being someone’s person. Everyone has their own favorite genres of music based on their own personal connections to the music. In my portfolio I make sure to include many interpretations to the music and not just my own, so that the reader can connect and agree with one of the interpretations.
Music is very important to me and it forms a part of my daily life. Music is a form of poetry, art, and storytelling. We can feel, visualize, understand, and relate to the artist as we connect it to our own experiences.
ASEM: Writing About Music 