Homework this weekend

For those not in class today, the assignment is to write a review of a movie, album, or concert and post your review by Sunday evening. Please remember that attendance and participation make up the majority of the grade for this course. Examples of music reviews can be found at Popmatters.com. Here are some guidelines:

ALBUM REVIEWS

∑ Lead: Who. What. When. Name of group/artist, name of album, release month, record label, producer if important, how long since last album, your overall impression and summary description

∑ You can also use an alternative lead that offers a funny or engaging story or description of the music, but then you must follow up with the who, what, when (the “nut graph”)

Secondary graphs

∑ Bio graph on band, focus on highlights and recent history, include names of main band members

∑ Graph on most recent album (before this one), how successful, how received by critics, summary description of sound

∑ More detailed graph giving description of this album. Reviewers often give a couple sentences each to the best songs including a sampling of lyrics and description of music.

∑ Graph comparing how the album compares overall with earlier efforts by same artist

∑ Graph comparing how the album compares with recent releases from other artists is same sub-genre

∑ Wrap-up. Recommendation, ratings, rate how the album compares with other’s in sub-genre released this year. Is it one of the best so far of 2005?


CONCERT/PLAY REVIEWS

∑ Lead: Name of event/show. Who (artist name). Where (venue). When. Brief description of scene, brief summary of what happened including your overall feeling of it.

∑ Bio graph. This would be a short bio of the band or play.

∑ Description of event, describe the venue and audience as a way to ease into talking about the actual performance.

∑ How did the performance begin? Describe first song, scene.

∑ Describe highlights. Best songs, best scenes, best individual performers.

∑ Especially for concert reviews allow yourself to be creative in describing the sound of the music and the feel of the experience. Use lots of colorful, imaginative, metaphors, adjectives, adverbs, and active verbs. Take notes of all the things you see, hear, and smell, and your different emotional reactions to the performance.

∑ Wrap-up. This could be a rating, but it is better to find a witty or honest way of summing up the experience. If this performance is ongoing, then end with a recommendation.