Student blog post

Each student will create a blog post as a formal writing assignment this semester. These will also form the basis of online discussions led by students.

All SBP for section F1 (Mondays) happen here, and all SBP for section F4 (Thursdays) happen here.

Assignment instructions and prompts: 02-student-blog-post-overview-and-prompts
Final draft prompt/handout: 02 SBP final draft prompt
How do I submit a Student Blog Post? Instructions with pictures available here. (Downloadable PDF of instructions: 02-how-to-post)
Rubrics being used to grade your work:
- Proposal: 02-sbp-proposal-rubric
- First draft: 02-sbp-first-draft-rubric
- Final draft: 02 SBP final draft rubric
- Leading the discussion: 02-sbp-curate-rubric
- Discussion participation: 02-sbp-discuss-rubric

Due dates

	F1 (Mondays)	F4 (Thursdays)
Proposals due via email by 11:59pm	March 17	March 12
Proposals returned in class with instructor feedback	March 20	March 16
First draft due in class – hard copy	March 27	March 23
First drafts returned in class with instructor feedback	April 3	March 30
Final draft due (online submission) with revision reflection (via email) by 5pm	April 9	April 11
Student Blog Posts are live (5 one-week discussion periods)	April 10-May 14	April 12-May 16

Examples of music blog writing across the Internet

I Care If You Listen, a blog/digital magazine with several contributing authors
Jenn Jolley (composer), Why Compose When You Can Blog?
Marc Myers (music journalist), JazzWax
Will Robin (musicologist), Seated Ovation
Alex Ross (music critic), The Rest Is Noise

Examples of professional think-piece essays

Kyle Chaykya, “The Oppressive Gospel of Minimalism,” in The New York Times (July 26, 2016): Chaykya – The Oppressive Gospel of ‘Minimalism’ – The New York Times
Brad Evans and Henry Giroux, “The Violence of Forgetting,” in The New York Times (June 20, 2016): Evans and Giroux – The Violence of Forgetting – The New York Times
Eve Ewing, “A Tale of Two Recluses: Remembering Harper Lee While Waiting for Frank Ocean’s Follow-Up to ‘Channel Orange’,” in The Atlantic (August 6, 2016): Ewing – A Tale of Two Recluses – The Atlantic
Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (1926): https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/essays/detail/69395
Jordan Kisner, “Can a Woman’s Voice Ever Be Right?” in New York Magazine (July 2016): Kisner – Can a Woman’s Voice Ever Be Right — The Cut
Stephen Metcalf, “Donald Trump, Baby Boomer” in Slate (May 1, 2016): http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/05/donald_trump_baby_boomer_how_the_candidate_was_shaped_by_his_generation.html
Alex Ross, “When Music is Violence,” in The New Yorker (July 4, 2016): Ross – When Music Is Violence – The New Yorker
Scott Timberg, “The Revenge of Monoculture: The Internet gave us more choices but the mainstream won anyway,” in Salon (July 30, 2016): http://www.salon.com/2016/07/30/the_revenge_of_monoculture_the_internet_gave_us_more_choices_but_the_mainstream_won_anyway/

Examples of past Student Blog Posts

Students from previous semesters have submitted some really great blog posts — informative, well-written, entertaining, thoughtful, and personable. Don’t take these examples as an exact template for your own blog post because 1) the assignment is slightly different every semester, so the requirements they wrote for aren’t the same as the ones you’ll be graded on; and 2) blogs are highly personal!

Think of these examples as just that — examples. Your blog post can go in any direction and be about any piece of music that interests you. As you read these, think about what each author does well, how their personality comes through in the post, and various aspects of blog presentation: what makes for a catchy title, layout, headings, inclusion of images or videos throughout the post, etc.

Due dates

Examples of music blog writing across the Internet

Examples of professional think-piece essays

Examples of past Student Blog Posts

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