Chateauguay Valley Regional High School
1597 Route 138A
Ormstown, Quebec
J0S1H0
(450) 829-2381
MUSIC DEPARTMENT
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Challenge #5: Musical Preference Audio Collage Journal
Introduction:
Our musical preferences are shaped by a number of external factors — exposure, peer and family influence, culture, gender, the activities we listen to music during — as well as internal preferences we have for rhythm, harmony, timbres, structure or lyrics.
Although most people have their own preference on the type of music that they enjoy listening to, each culture can agree that the tunes are an important part of life with expressing ourselves as human beings. By appreciating the musical art form, it makes it easy to unite and relate to others who are different from ourselves.
The Activity:
Your task is to create an audio collage journal about the music you like and what you think your choices say about you.
You may include favorite songs from your childhood and/or music that you have only recently started to enjoy.
You may shape your project in many ways:
1. A written journal with song clips
2. A video journal
3. A PowerPoint with visuals and audio links
THE FORMAT IS UP TO YOU!
Materials Needed:
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Pen/Pencil
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Paper
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Access to musical selections (personal listening device or Internet)
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Computer
Instructions:
STEP 1: Reflect on the music you listen to
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Write a few paragraphs on the music that is important in your life.
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Make sure to talk about the music that helps shape your identity.
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You might also want to discuss the music that you secretly love, but other people don’t know about.
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You might want to start listing favorite artists, songs, or genres.
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The important thing here is to focus on the music that relates to you and helps define you in some way.
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Why do you love it?
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What does that say about you?
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What do you hope it says about you?
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Write down ALL of your ideas!
STEP 2: Dig through your music collection
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Using the thoughts and comments that you wrote in Step One and try to find examples of the music which best illustrates those ideas.
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Remember, you will be making an audio collage – so, be thinking about the sounds and feelings of your final product.
STEP 3: Compile your music…and make final selections.
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Your task is to choose 4 or 5 songs which really speak to the ideas you are trying to convey.
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This step will be different for everybody and usually takes the most time.
STEP 4: Thinking about your choices
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Once you have your collection of 4 or 5 songs, you have to determine what those songs represent to you and/or what you hope they say about you.
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Write a short piece about each song.
Here are some suggestions to get you started:
1) When did you first hear this song?
2) What does this song represent to you?
3) Is there a specific part of the music that is most significant?
4) Is this a piece of music that you share with your friends or family?
5) Is this a “guilty pleasure” song?
(It might even be a song that you don’t want other people to know you like to listen to!).
Step 5: Script Writing and creating your Audio collage
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Start by writing a rough sketch of what you want to say before you start combining your songs.
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Then, start editing snippets of sound for your collage.
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During this step, you will need to start recording your narration and then you can start to assemble/edit everything.
Step 6: Create something awesome!
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The goal of this project to have you think about the role of music in your life from a different perspective.
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Once you begin to understand how music helps shape your own identity, then you’ll be better equipped to understand music’s role in other people’s lives and other cultures.
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Remember...be honest and have fun!
REFLECTING ON THE MUSICAL JOURNEY
Once you have completed your collage, take the time to listen to it.
Consider the following questions:
1. Do you see a connection between music and identity?
2. Do you feel like the music you listen to accurately reflects your personality?
3. Do you feel any differently about music’s role in helping to shape your identity?