- Run your titles for each piece in your portfolio by your group. Do some collective brainstorming to see if you can improve your titles. Remember, a title should do some combination of informing and exciting readers.
- Talk about what your portfolio will show about your writing? About your take on music? About what you’ve learned in this course? What do you hope readers will gain from it?
- Read the first sentences of each piece out loud. Are they sharp? Are they interesting? Do they make people want to keep reading? How might you revised them, either with slight editing and coming up with something new?
- Are you using music terms like they belong to you–like they’re part of your vocabulary? Do they feel organic? Do they add meaning? Are there places where adding terms would help you expand your ideas?
- Are there places where you can expand your thinking by adding quotations from some of our readings–Ann Powers, Hanif Abdurraqib, our shorter readings–or from a podcast like Song Exploder?
- Choose the piece you think needs the most revision. Talk about why. Where might you expand? Where might you cut?
- Choose a description of sound you think you got right. Talk about why it works, what it helps readers understand.
- Choose a moment where you think you can improve description. What can be improved? Are your verbs strong and distinctive? Do you use interesting adjectives? Are the lengths of your sentences varied?
Portfolio Workshop #2
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