For our workshop sessions, each student will get fifteen minutes of feedback from the whole class. When you submit your piece, an ‘addendum’. At the end, tell us what you need help with. Ask questions about what you’re trying to figure out.

Be sure to read each student’s submission carefully and make notes–focusing on the questions below.

I’ll start by asking you to type observations in the chat, in response to these questions:

1. What language stands out to you as particularly effective or interesting? What words or phrases give you a vivid sense of the music? What words or phrases make the writer’s voice or persona stand out?
2. How would you describe the tone of the piece?
3. Are there details you want to know more about?
4. How would you answer some of the writer’s questions or concerns in the addendum?
5. Is there anything that confused you or tripped you up while reading?

Then, I’ll ask some of you to expand verbally on your comments in the chat. Finally, the writer will have a chance to ask us questions.

Your job is to write a 500-750 word review of an album or live performance. We’ll read several examples of reviews like these, so you’ll see that writers adopt a range of styles, personae, and analytical techniques. In your review, you should do the following:

• Find an interesting angle. In a review, you’ll want to evaluate the album or performance, but you should do it with a particular focus–for example, on an album’s relation to others in the same genre or the artist’s other work; on a performance’s cultural or political implications; or on specific musical innovations.
• Integrate at least two terms from the Wikipedia Glossary of Musical Terms into your discussion. Own these terms. Make them an organic part of your vocabulary. Get really comfortable with them and then use them to show your readers something really interesting about the music you’re writing about.
• Make careful decisions about your voice or persona. Are you writing as a fan? A musician? A cultural critic? A music aficionado? Do you want your voice to feel analytical? Personal? Poetic? Political? Rebellious? Reverent? Grossan and Woodworth ask, “How do writers show up in their reviews?”
• Take another look at the various ways they describe reviewers “showing up” (in other words, creating a distinctive voice and persona).
• Be sure to describe at least two songs or moments in detail. Make it clear to readers why these songs or moments are exemplary. What do they help us understand about the album or performance as whole.

Advice

• Take a look at some reviews from publications like The Guardian, NME, Pitchfork, and Consequence of Sound, and the LA Times. I’ve included links to these on the main page of our site. Get a sense of the range of styles and techniques music reviewers use. Look for writers whose style you admire and try using some of their techniques.
• Think carefully about audience. Who are you writing for? Is it a particular age group or demographic? Is it fans of a particular genre? Is it people likely to be familiar with the music you’re writing about or people who won’t have heard it yet? How much cultural or musical context will they need?
• Use precise, vivid language. Avoid clichés. Aim to make your writing feel fresh and exciting
• If you choose to review a live performance, it could be anything from a stadium show to one at a tiny bar or at a festival or in a park. You can also review a televised or livestream performance, unless you want to write about pre-pandemic a live performance you remember well. Examples of televised performances include Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance or the series of performers at Aretha Franklin’s funeral.

Before Class

Choose a song you want us all to listen to. The reasons you want us to listen are completely up to you.

During Class

Arrive a few minutes early, so we can get you set up. You’ll choose “Share Screen.” Then you’ll choose “Advanced Screen Sharing Options” and select “Share Sound Only.” Have your song cued up. We’ll share right at the start of class. We’ll all listen in silence, hopefully with headphones.

Once the song finishes, you’ll say a few words about why you chose it. Then the rest of the group will comment on observations that occurred to us while we listened.

After Class

You’ll post your song to our blog. To do that, you just need to create a post and paste a YouTube link into it. The video should appear embedded. If you have any trouble, go back to YouTube, choose share and then “embed code.” Switch to “Text” mode in the Editing box and paste the embed code in.

Include two or three short paragraphs, using at least two to help you describe the music, or your experience of the music. See our Music Terms page for a list of terms. Feel free to choose a term that’s not on the list. You can use the glossaries listed there to find definitions of the terms, or you can find the definitions on your own.

After your commentary, include a list of the terms you used, along with definitions cut and pasted from the source you’re using. Include a link to the source page and credit it at the end of the entry. See my Record Club post for format.

Important: When you save your post, choose “Categories” and click the “Record Club” box. That way it will appear in the Record Club menu, and we can always find it. You’ll use categories for most of the assignments you post.

After You Post: Responders

Two or three students will be assigned to respond to your post. If you are a responder, your job is to bring a song to the discussion that involves related features to the one posted by that day’s Record Club host. You’ll want a song that can be illuminated by some of the same terms the host uses in the description of the song.

Note: You can embed a YouTube video into a comment. When you’re looking at your YouTube clip, choose “Share” and then “Embed Code.” Copy the embed code and post it into your comment. It should appear. It’s much better to embed than to include a link! Include the clip and little discussion of why you chose it and how the terms apply.

After this, I encourage everybody to join the discussion, though that’s not a requirement.