The Final is a take-home essay asking you to compare and contrast the lives and music of three film composers covered in the second half of the class.
General Education Learning Goals to be Assessed
- 1. Gain visual and performance literacy through the scholarly observation of culturally and historically significant art with an emphasis on the endeavor of the artist/creator.
- 4. Understand the broad, unifying themes in the arts from a wide array of perspectives.
- 5. Deepen previously acquired artistic appreciation and understanding through participation either in making or performing of art forms or through the experience of such a process by direct observation
Guidelines
- Choose three composers discussed in class. For the Final Essay (see Film Music Notes Part 2).
- For each composer, briefly summarize their biography and the discuss at least two specific cues from selected film scores. For each film discussed, briefly discuss the background of the score. For each composer, at least one of the selected cues must be from a film discussed in class. Cues may be selected from the same film or different films. (3 composers x 2 cues each = 6 cues total).
- For each composer, include at least one footnote citation from a source such as the textbook, Oxford Music Online, an official website (but not Wikipedia), Interview from a source such asScore: The Podcast(Links to an external site.), or academic books and journal articles from ProQuest, See the tutorial video “How to Cite Articles from Oxford Music Online and Proquest(Links to an external site.)” in the Zoom Lecture Recordings folder. Format footnotes and bibliography according to theChicago Manual of Style(Links to an external site.). See the Sample Attribution, Footnote Citation and Bibliography below
- For each selected cue, discuss elements such as the instrumentation, harmony, texture, tempo, and function of the music in the scene. Avoid clichés such as “upbeat” and “heavy.” A strong essay will demonstrate knowledge of material discussed in class and include some original observations.
- Composer names must be capitalized (First and Last), cue titles must be placed in quotations, and film titles must be Italicized and include the year of release. For example: Howard Shore, “A Knife in the Dark” fromThe Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring XXXXXXXXXXRefer to composers by last name when using abbreviations. For example: In the second film, Shore brings back the Shire theme.
- The conclusion should compare and contrast similarities and differences in the musical approach, training, style, instrumentation, and techniques of your three selected composers as demonstrated in your selected film scores.
- The essay must be single spaced in a 12-point font and least 2 pages in length. Include the following section headings in bold, replacing the template information with the names of your chosen composers, films, and cues. See theEssay Templatefor an example of the correct format. Essays must be submitted as a word document file (.docx) to the link on the course website by the date indicated in the syllabus.
Composer 1
Film 1(Year)
“Cue 1”
“Cue 2”
Composer 2
Film 2(Year)
“Cue 1”
“Cue 2”
Composer 3
Film 3(Year)
“Cue 1”
“Cue 2”
Conclusion
Bibliography
Sample Attribution, Footnote Citation and Bibliography
According to Palmer and Marks, John Williams freely acknowledges his debt to 20thcentury concert composers.[1]
Sample Bibliography
Palmer, Christopher, and Martin Marks. "Williams, John."Grove Music Online.31 Jan. 2020; Accessed 30 Apr. 2020.https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/ XXXXXXXXXX0001/omo XXXXXXXXXXe XXXXXXXXXXLinks to an external site.)
Timm, Larry.Film Music: The Soul of Cinema.Pearson, 2014.
[1]Christopher Palmer and Martin Marks, "Williams, John,"Grove Music Online,31 Jan. 2020; Accessed 30 Apr. 2020,https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/ XXXXXXXXXX0001/omo XXXXXXXXXXe XXXXXXXXXXLinks to an external site.)
Grading
The essay is worth 100 points distributed according to the rubric below.
A – Complete and correct information about composers, films and cues, examples selected from films discussed in class as well as films not discussed in class, thoughtful and original analysis, appropriate use of terminology,
B – Complete information about composers, films and cues, examples selected from films discussed in class, detailed analysis, appropriate use of terminology, some inaccuracies in format and or detail
C – Incomplete information about composers, films and cues, examples selected from films not discussed in class, insufficient analysis, frequent inaccuracies in format and or detail or misuse of terminology.
D – Incomplete information about composers, films and cues, examples selected from films not discussed in class, incomplete and poorly worded analysis, gross inaccuracies, lack of relevant terminology.
F – Essay includes plagiarized information.